“Greens leader, Richard Di Natale apologised to Kevin Rudd after calling the former PM a ‘sociopath’ on live TV. ‘I unreservedly retract the suggestion that you are a sociopath’, he wrote to Mr Rudd. ‘I realise that this is a serious slur on your reputation as it is a clinical condition of a mental illness'”.
Source: The West Australian
We were wondering why a doctor was using the term ‘sociopath’ for a ‘clinical condition’ when the clinical term was ‘antisocial personality disorder’. Anyway, we looked it up at Psychology Today, which describes the symptoms as:
- Disregard for society’s laws
- Violation of the physical or emotional rights of others
- Lack of stability in job and home life
- Irritability and aggressiveness
- Lack of remorse
- Consistent irresponsibility
- Recklessness, impulsivity
- Deceitfulness
Di Natale’s snap on-air diagnosis seems rather curious, because essentially he’s describing the former PM, the top lawmaker in the land, as someone with symptoms including “Disregard for society’s laws”.
Di Natale’s diagnosis seems even nuttier when you try to envision the architect of ‘The Apology’ as someone exhibiting a “Lack of remorse”.
In fact, if you consider Di Natale’s own Irritability and aggressiveness, Consistent irresponsibility in relation to ‘Climate Change’ and border security, his recklessness in making on-air diagnoses then Di Natale might want to seek a diagnosis for himself. We don’t recommend Q & A for diagnosis of anything!
Rudd exhibits another symptom exhibited by frequent emotional outbursts which he doesn’t seem to have resolved:
- Lack of stability in job
The cause has been identified however and it is not APD.