Loïc De Marie, 26, who has been diagnosed with psychopathic traits, has recounted a childhood incident where he did not immediately attempt to save his drowning younger sister because he did not want his clothes to get wet. De Marie was six years old at the time, and his mother was inside preparing dinner when his sister fell into the family swimming pool.
He described watching his sister struggle and acknowledged that the situation was troubling, but his primary concern was avoiding his clothes becoming wet. Instead of jumping in, he used a plastic golf club to help her reach the pool ladder and safety. This incident is one of several childhood memories he shared that highlight his different emotional responses.
De Marie also recalled being unmoved when a classmate died in a car accident at the age of six, while other children were crying. He noted that this was an early realization that his emotional reactions differed from those around him. Three years ago, after years of feeling distinct from others, De Marie sought help from a psychologist and was subsequently diagnosed with traits associated with psychopathy, a condition often linked to antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). While not a formal diagnosis in the DSM, psychopathy is commonly used to describe individuals with traits such as manipulation, dishonesty, lack of empathy, and disregard for social norms.
Psychopathy is estimated to be present in about one percent of men and between 0.3 and 0.7 percent of women. De Marie explained that he struggled to understand the emotions of others from a young age, viewing people similarly to inanimate objects. Therapy has assisted him in comprehending his emotional differences. He stated that the popular perception of psychopathy, often associated with violent criminals like Hannibal Lecter, does not represent most individuals with these traits, adding, "I don't think I was born bad. I was born different."
As he grew older, De Marie became involved in altercations, including an incident where he brought a baseball bat to school with the intention of attacking a rival student. He recounted, "A guy was looking me in the eyes, (it was) some rivalry between men... and one day I came to school with a baseball bat. I would have smashed his head like a watermelon."
Therapy has equipped De Marie with strategies to navigate social situations that typically require empathy or compassion. He explained that before therapy, he struggled to alter his behavior even when others expressed distress. "Sometimes you need to fake it," he said. "If you're in a situation where someone has died, or a dog has just been hit by a car, you might say, 'Oh my gosh, this is terrible'. But inside, you're thinking, 'It's just a dog.'"
His father, Philippe, stated that the diagnosis provided an explanation for years of his son's challenging behavior. "It was good to put a name on a disorder, and then you understand a lot of things," he told SBS. "We try to do the best we can to support him with a lot of communication and love."
Eva Kimonis, a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of New South Wales, mentioned that research indicates callous and unemotional traits can be identified as early as two or three years old. "We've done research that found that we can reliably measure callous and unemotional traits from age two or three," she told SBS. "I think if we can address the problem when empathy is developing and it's starting to go the wrong way, then I think yes, we can teach empathy."