Here’s your chance to tell the team behind I, Psychopath what your think about the film. Please post your comments here or ask the filmmakers a question.
Thanks having the courage to make this documentary.
I have to admit, by the end I was feeling pretty sorry for you. It looked as if Sam was completely destroying you.
But it is exactly this graphic depiction of what a psychopath can do to you - how they operate - that people need to be made aware of.
After I saw your documentary, I went out and bought the book “Without Conscience” in order to learn more. I found it very interesting, informative and helpful, but it could not capture the reality of what it is like to deal with a psychopath as well as your film did.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, I do have more than a passing interest in your subject. I believe my brother may be married to a psychopath. Your depiction of Lidija was sadly familiar.
I’d like to applaud Ian, first of all, because venturing to do a documentary on psychopathic tendencies as a general topic is one
thing…but being brave enough to actually do a documentary ON a psychopath is something only a certain population of people would truly
understand the emotional stress of.
I had quite a traumatic experience with a ski coach when I was between the ages of 11 and 15, and while I quickly came to realize that he was a
misogynist, it’s taken years more to conclude that he was indeed a psychopath. A shameless self-promoter and relentless liar. I know only
too well the emotional consequences of having a relationship with someone - whether family member, romantic partner, or coach - who
continually manipulates you (often to the point where you’re not sure if your thoughts are even your own). Ultimately it was this abuse that led to the destruction of my skiing career when I was 17.
Knowing that you’re not alone in your plight is always reassuring. I rest assured that the issue
will continue to find it’s way into the media, and I truly hope that one day these men that prey on good people will meet an appropriate form of
justice - one that would finally put the minds of the preyed-on at rest.
Just watched the CBC broadcast of I, Psychopath. You did a brilliant job, arguably the first documentary to capture the complex, fascinating, and destructive interplay between psychopath and victim.
Perhaps most remarkable was your insightful and amazing documentation of the manner in which you became an integral part of the action. You experienced first-hand what it is like to be caught in the psychopath’s web of deceit, manipulation, domination and control, and to be subjected to psychological and emotional abuse that can be every bit as debilitating and demeaning their physical counterparts.
Fortunately your exposure was time-limited, and you were able to extricate yourself from the situation. The other victim in the documentary clearly is not so fortunate. Like many victims she is trapped in a macabre dance with an unfeeling, controlling partner.
Awards for this documentary should follow if there is any justice in the media world.
Congratulations and thank you for your excellent documentary on psychopaths. It truly opened my eyes on some aspects of life I had not been able to understand before.
My problem was that I had always believed in the good side of human beings, whereas your documentary, and some further scientific evidence I have read since, clearly show that some people have only the physical appearance of human beings but are, inside, very little human. What I really understand now is that those people suffer from a pathological lack of inner life and emotions while being overly self-assured and convinced of their superiority, although, at the same time, they suspect that they should give the outer world the appearance of normality, or even of kindness and friendliness. Therefore, they will devote all their energy to one thing: trying to hide their emptiness behind a “mask of sanity”, at any rate, and at whatever cost for others. For them, it is a matter of survival. In this respect, I think the shot in your documentary which shows a cat playing with a mouse is extremely meaningful in so far as psychopaths are just social predators who cannot live without preying on people unfortunate enough to find themselves on their way.
I believe it is vital to know that such people exist in order to protect ourselves from the damage and suffering they can inflict. That means not being naïve, and not finding yourself in the position of the mouse. One of the principles that guided my whole life is the answer that Alexander the Great gave when warned that the cup he was about to drink might contain poison: he preferred to take the risk of drinking it rather than despairing of human kind. I had always been eager to stand by people accused without evidence, to credit them with qualities and excuses until otherwise proven, to offer my help to fellow human beings even before they asked for it, etc. Human values, generosity and open-mindedness are the very qualities that attract psychopaths and put you in the position of the mouse, because they make out for their own lack of such qualities. Therefore, psychopaths will try first to suck those qualities out of you, then to destroy your personality, resorting to lies, accusations, slander, anything they can think of to avoid being unmasked and protect their ego. The more you try to resist, to understand, to justify yourself, the harsher their attacks and their lies. For they can NEVER be wrong. They know no remorse, no shame for their lies or errors, no sense of responsibility and, very often, no emotions whatsoever. If you try to corner them, to provide evidence that they are lying, they will just come up with more lies. Human values and qualities stand as a threat to psychopaths since their emptiness will compare badly with a rich personality.
It is wrong to believe that victims of psychopaths are weak personalities that are born victims. The fact is that the two parties just do not play by the same rules. Therefore, the more honest is bound to lose, transformed into a victim. One of the lessons of History is certainly that victims can be created, by the millions.
The importance of being able to identify psychopaths lies exactly there: once you know such deceitful people exist, you must keep away from them and, if you have been their victim, truly work towards a recognition of your own values and qualities. The worst mistake is to try to understand where you could have been dishonest, wrong, where you could have lied, failed, departed from your principles of truth and justice, etc. The most probable answer is that there is nothing of the sort. The psychopath’s whole strategy is exactly to reverse the roles and make you believe YOU are to blame. But only after having hidden him/herself behind the mask of sanity for what can be quite a long time. This is not to say, however, that we should despair of human kind, but it is essential to regard them as they are: scorpions, snakes, wolves or other predators, according to the seriousness of their pathology.
Furthermore, I would say that psychopaths are a real threat to society as a whole. Because of their thirst for power and domination, they frequently find themselves in a position to exert their propensity to use and abuse people, to lie and to do away with responsibilities, whether at work, in the family or in the neighborhood. The competitive world where we live gives them an advantage in this respect, as can be seen with some traders or managers for example. To that we must add the failure of more and more parents to give their children the limits necessary to conduct themselves as true human beings respectful and mindful of others, which is precisely where psychopaths perform very badly. Predators are not known to respect their preys.
So, Mr. Walker, thank you for opening our eyes (mine, at any rate) on the world of psychopaths. Although I had always suspected that something might be deeply wrong with some people who accused you wrongly, who showed disrespect and disregard for others, who slammed the elevator door on you, I tended to believe that they were not truly bad people, that you would recognize truly bad people at first sight. I preferred to think that I had misunderstood their intentions, that they did not really mean what they had done or said. Now I know this is exactly what they meant. I have read quite a lot of grey literature about psychopaths after seeing your documentary. One question that tends to dominate is whether they are conscious of the harm they do to other people. Scientists do not seem to agree on that issue. Whichever the answer, I, as a layperson, think psychopaths simply do not care about others and, therefore, are not entirely human. They just need treatment and their (potential) victims information.
Information is the key to protection from psychopaths but also the key to recovery. Before seeing your documentary, I had been desperately trying for a whole year to clean myself from all the mud and slander a neighbour had splashed on me, just like you in your bathroom at the end. After seeing it, everything started to fit together and it suddenly dawned on me that I was in no way the dirty one. The type of information you provided led to an unexpectedly complete and quick recovery and actually made me a stronger person, more self-confident and better equipped to face the “world of psychopaths among us”, as I am sure it did to other people who saw your documentary.
Sam the psychopath is right! Ian Walker IS a shitface with the voice of a croaking frog. I’m kidding. He’s not. What he is is a brilliant
filmmaker who has made a fascinating, idiosyncractic, compelling film about psychopaths, and what happens when one gets it’s claws into us.
You can see I, Psychopath on ARTE/ZDF (Germany) in Europe, CBC Newsworld (Canada) in North America and ABC TV Science in Australia. Please go to their websites for detailed session information.
I, Psychopath will also be screening at select festivals around the globe. Check back here in the news pages for more information on screenings as it comes.
That´s great!!
Is it planned to have the german dubbed version included on it? I saw it on ARTE on TV in german, but the can´t make any copies available.
Where and how can I get to see I Psychopath?I live in the U.K.Scotland to be precise.As far a I know there has been no information about any screening at the film festivals or on T.V.If dvd’s are available I would buy one straight away.I am very interested in the subject of psychopaths.Than you.
I think the importance of this documentary cannot be understated. Mr Walker has given the world a gift, shining light on a very dark area.
The more people who see this film, the better, because I bet so many people have been victimised by a psychopath at some time in their lives and been left psychologically and emotionally (not to mention physically) wounded.
The affect that a single psychopath can (and yes, DOES) have on a mass of people, though, is where the next level of application takes us.
Look at the banking crisis we’ve had. It is psychopathic values and traits that have brought the world economy to its knees. Everyone should seriously think about that for a moment.
We are not all created equal, and the sooner people learn this, the sooner the world can begin to recognise pathological thinking, traits, as well as see how those things have penetrated our culture, societal structure and values and we can all put a huge piece of the puzzle of humanity’s history into the frame.
Thankyou for making this documentary. I hope it opens peoples eyes to the manipulations of certain people around them, and helps lead society away from their machinations. It is a bigger issue than seems on the surface - and may be the an explanation as to what is “wrong” with this planet!
Thank you! I personally met Mr. Vaknin 15 years ago. He resonated in a very bad way even that I never try to judge people. Since 1998 I suspected that his PhD is not quite valid, I checked PWU on the web, published the findings and since then I tried to denounce him. Unfortunately, he made very good friends around Macedonian politics and managed to work as a consultant for the government on various occasions. Nowadays some TV stations like him very much and call him as an expert on quite different topics. Unbelievable!
Now, after my doubts about PWU were reconfirmed, I was struck by the fact that he’s in fact a genuine medical case. And that, probably, explains why he decided to publicly expose himself - he’ll probably lose all credibility in Macedonia after this documentary.
Again, thank you - it just shows that I should stick to my basic plan to never judge people. And it leaves a bad taste in my mouth as it is quite a moral issue what to do in such a situation and how to react when an alleged con artist turns out to be a medical case and spends taxpayers’ money and influences people through media.
Keep up the good work, looking forward for new projects…
Kiro
Skopje, Macedonia
Thankyou for your brilliant, meaningful and highly informed documentary. I love the picture of one of you with a stick and dressed as a monk. Tangling with evil is a dangerous business.
I was married to a psychopath and so I am one of those women who live in the grey world of confusion and hurt that seems to be unable to make sense of what happened to me. Basically, I was slandered, arrested, cheated on, huge amount of my retirement money is gone and the rest of it.
Since then I have tracked down information on psychopaths. The labelling helps a bit but the most helpful part in your documentary was seeing him in action and seeing the scrambled brain working with deception and lies. He gets going in this vein and he cant remember what he said from one day to the next. Lies are the lynchpins of someone’s character and a liar can take an organized sane persons mind and really undo them. Sometimes it takes a lot of time. The psychopath so relishes this that they take the time. Rarely, does one see the glee that they experience in doing this. It is clearly the rush of power. You captured so many nuances and at the same time nailed it beautifully.
There must be more footage and I would love to see more exploration from you. That would be the stuff between the lines, that can be so rich.
Thank you for making this video. There are thousands of people who have been hideously manipulated and slandered who have no recompense for their suffering. Shining a light on psychopathy and learning about it helps a lot. At another level things are more complicated and the psychopaths damage to their victim is emotional. That takes enormous time and back to your picture of the monk: a kind confessor who understands the beast.
I hope you make buckets of money from this too so that you can follow your very good intuition and keep making documentaries that really are meaningful.
Hallo Mr Walker,
I saw your film in April and it’s a fantastic one for persons who know a little bit about this disturbed behaviour of a pschopath. It’s not so easy to make understandable something like this for the large public. But I agree that this film must be distributed the largest possible. I lived during ten years with a psychopath, I left him five years ago. Now I’m working on a book about my life with this person. About the last five years I have collected many information as well as I have talked to many specialistes. Not at least, because I suffer of a trauma which one has a big and negatif influence on my life today. Fortunately I am somebody who is positiv and who believe in life. I hope that my book would be finished at least for the end of this year. Maybe you are interessted in it? If you require one, I can send you one edition. I think it’s really also necessary to show the influence on the physique and psychique of the unsuspecting victim.
So I would be glad to hear something of you.
Furthermore I’m also interested in a DVD of your film. So I hope it would give one soonly.
Regards
Pia Baum
I wish I could find it. I cannot seem to buy it and I cannot find where it is showing. I am very interested in seeing this film. When will it be released on dvd?
what country do you live in? You can see the film in Germany, France and North America/Canada. Check the websites for ARTE/ZDF (Germany, France) and CBC Newsworld (US via cable, Canada) to find screening dates.
Alternatively, once the film has shown here in Australia, we may be able to sell some DVDs directly, via the website.
I just found this documentary’s website thru Robert Hare’s web site for the study of Psychopaths. I had just come to the conclusion that I was married to a psychopath for 14 years followed by a year and half of court divorce - custody and 4 protection order arrests all fabricated by her.
I look forward to seeing the movie, but I can tell just by the comments here, I wont be surprised by what a psychopath is capable of doing. My x-wife is a highly regarded successful professor of political sociology. Capable of manipulating all kinds of people like they are puppets on a string. Including the New York City judicial systems, schools, senior committee federal legislators, ivy league professors…and you! (I have two years of recordings and other evidence documenting all of it. What is so amazing is how easily the entire society and smart individuals willingly rejected me to follow a psychopath.
Yesterday I was going to watch the documentary with Spanish subtitles in Barcelona in the Docupolis Festival but it was cancelled last minute due to the bad condition of the tape and it’s not previewed to show it any more.
I think I had a love relationship with a manipulator for one year and until recently (to call someone you think you still love a psychopath is truly shocking) and I maybe this documentary can help me understanding the incomprehensible, clearing my mind and starting the work “towards a recognition of your own values and qualities” as Claude from France said in a previous post. “Information is the key to protection from psychopaths but also the key to recovery”.
I’m highly interested in watching the film so I would like to know if there is going to be on Spanish screens soon or whatsoever since
If this is not the case, I would love to buy the DVD (Spanish subtitle would be important to understand the film completely..) Please, as you said in a previous post, it would be great for me to get contacted by you when the DVD is available as well.
I have a question to which no one seams to be able to answer…
For some 30 years now, I have been friends with a woman whom I just discovered, is a psychopath. This woman was my brother’s girl friend, that,s how I got to know her. After a friend of mine revealed to me that this woman was a psychopath, I began to believe that many people surrounding her are psychopaths, as well. I think that her actual boy friend is also a psychopath and have discovered that her father is also a psychopath. Those two love, adore to fight of unbearable fights. This woman has two brothers and one sister, but the father only fights with the psychopath; never with the others. This is how I begane to suspect that psychopaths may not only recognize and choose their victims but may also recognize the other psychopaths in their surroundings. Is that possible, and how do they recognize them??? To know such a thing would be a precious asset.
Thank You, Bye to all…
I hope this reaches Ian Walker, the director of this incredible documentary.
I am not a clinically diagnosed anything in any means, but I noticed sharing many traits, and having found similar situations (spousal manipulation, empty emotions), as well as misleading, lying to, manipulating and emotionally attacking close friends and family regularly.
Recently having taken a counsellor for a walk so to speak.
I do have some insights if the topic of psychopathy is still of interest to you Ian. Tricks they use to manipulate, and how they play games, create the web of deceit, and wear you down, as I viewed it occur to you.
Please I would love to speak to you, either via correspondence, or even in person/ other methods, distance permitting of course.
Please get back to me.
I’ve just seen this great peace of film on “arte”.
It was a very impressive documentary about a man (Sam Vaknin) who claims to be a psychopath and manipulates the people around him. the filmmaker Ian Walker accompanies Sam and his wife Lidija in journey through Europe, visiting psychologist and Neuroscientist to test Sam’s psychopathy.
The interesting point of the film is not proceeding on the assumption that psychopaths are criminal, mass-murderers or even (physically) dangerous nor that they can be recognize at first sight.
In contrast to most other psychopaths, Sam wants to find out about his character/substance and why he is ready to hurt him and others to achieve his goals.
i am very sorry for Ian Walker. he sacrifices himself to his film, science and the truth, while being attacked by Sam the whole time. i have hardly seen filmmakers committing mayhem to themselves like this. (:
I have spent the past 11 years as a MH professional & have had many opportunities to meet psychopaths. I have also been fortunate to have been trained by Dr. Hare in the use of the Psychopathy Checklist. I have read Without Conscience more than once as well as Snakes in Suits. I would like a copy of the DVD when available to add to my orientation materials for new staff.
I am very excited to watch this film. Unfortunately, I’m in the US and haven’t seen it available here, but I will definitely check out the TV version on Amazon.com. And I can already tell that I’ll absolutely buy the DVD when it’s available.
My sister was a psychopath, which made for a very difficult life for me, my parents, and many others. She committed suicide in May 2009, which has been bittersweet. The year before, she stole my identity and tried to kill me. So, it has been hard to mourn her death. Besides, how do you mourn a sister you never really had? I am fascinated by this condition and strongly believe my family carries this gene (if there is such a thing).
Anyway, I, too, would like to commend you for tackling this topic. I can’t wait to see the film!
Can you please let me know when this DVD is available to purchase, or include me on your waiting list.
I am currently going through a very difficult divorce after being in a relationship and married to a P for 10 years. I have been both emotionally and psychologically abused - although I didn’t recognise it at the time - in additional to being financially crippled to the point where I now have to work 2 jobs 7 days a week. I have been in counselling for 2 years and hope that being able to understand how a P’s mind works will further help me in my recovery.
What are the ways we can access this film? The idea resonates very strongly with me. I lived with, what I know realize, was a bonified psychopath for eight months. What started out as the gorgeous and charming man of my dreams snow balled into a nightmare of abuse and harrasment. Every day I was subjected to verbal assault, beatings, kicked in the ribs, forced into having an abortion, thrown down stairs, and eventually sodomized before I had enough and disappeared. He told his friend he ‘enjoyed’ doing this to me, much to our mutual horror, and went into graphic detail of how he ‘enjoyed’ my pain when he raped me. I’m on a quest to get a more solid diagnosis, establish a court case, and prevent this from happening to any other young girls. I feel like this film could be helpful to my case.
May 14th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Thanks having the courage to make this documentary.
I have to admit, by the end I was feeling pretty sorry for you. It looked as if Sam was completely destroying you.
But it is exactly this graphic depiction of what a psychopath can do to you - how they operate - that people need to be made aware of.
After I saw your documentary, I went out and bought the book “Without Conscience” in order to learn more. I found it very interesting, informative and helpful, but it could not capture the reality of what it is like to deal with a psychopath as well as your film did.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, I do have more than a passing interest in your subject. I believe my brother may be married to a psychopath. Your depiction of Lidija was sadly familiar.
Rebecca
Canada
May 14th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I’d like to applaud Ian, first of all, because venturing to do a documentary on psychopathic tendencies as a general topic is one
thing…but being brave enough to actually do a documentary ON a psychopath is something only a certain population of people would truly
understand the emotional stress of.
I had quite a traumatic experience with a ski coach when I was between the ages of 11 and 15, and while I quickly came to realize that he was a
misogynist, it’s taken years more to conclude that he was indeed a psychopath. A shameless self-promoter and relentless liar. I know only
too well the emotional consequences of having a relationship with someone - whether family member, romantic partner, or coach - who
continually manipulates you (often to the point where you’re not sure if your thoughts are even your own). Ultimately it was this abuse that led to the destruction of my skiing career when I was 17.
Knowing that you’re not alone in your plight is always reassuring. I rest assured that the issue
will continue to find it’s way into the media, and I truly hope that one day these men that prey on good people will meet an appropriate form of
justice - one that would finally put the minds of the preyed-on at rest.
Emily
Canada
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:09 am
Ian,
Just watched the CBC broadcast of I, Psychopath. You did a brilliant job, arguably the first documentary to capture the complex, fascinating, and destructive interplay between psychopath and victim.
Perhaps most remarkable was your insightful and amazing documentation of the manner in which you became an integral part of the action. You experienced first-hand what it is like to be caught in the psychopath’s web of deceit, manipulation, domination and control, and to be subjected to psychological and emotional abuse that can be every bit as debilitating and demeaning their physical counterparts.
Fortunately your exposure was time-limited, and you were able to extricate yourself from the situation. The other victim in the documentary clearly is not so fortunate. Like many victims she is trapped in a macabre dance with an unfeeling, controlling partner.
Awards for this documentary should follow if there is any justice in the media world.
Robert Hare, PhD
May 30th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Congratulations and thank you for your excellent documentary on psychopaths. It truly opened my eyes on some aspects of life I had not been able to understand before.
My problem was that I had always believed in the good side of human beings, whereas your documentary, and some further scientific evidence I have read since, clearly show that some people have only the physical appearance of human beings but are, inside, very little human. What I really understand now is that those people suffer from a pathological lack of inner life and emotions while being overly self-assured and convinced of their superiority, although, at the same time, they suspect that they should give the outer world the appearance of normality, or even of kindness and friendliness. Therefore, they will devote all their energy to one thing: trying to hide their emptiness behind a “mask of sanity”, at any rate, and at whatever cost for others. For them, it is a matter of survival. In this respect, I think the shot in your documentary which shows a cat playing with a mouse is extremely meaningful in so far as psychopaths are just social predators who cannot live without preying on people unfortunate enough to find themselves on their way.
I believe it is vital to know that such people exist in order to protect ourselves from the damage and suffering they can inflict. That means not being naïve, and not finding yourself in the position of the mouse. One of the principles that guided my whole life is the answer that Alexander the Great gave when warned that the cup he was about to drink might contain poison: he preferred to take the risk of drinking it rather than despairing of human kind. I had always been eager to stand by people accused without evidence, to credit them with qualities and excuses until otherwise proven, to offer my help to fellow human beings even before they asked for it, etc. Human values, generosity and open-mindedness are the very qualities that attract psychopaths and put you in the position of the mouse, because they make out for their own lack of such qualities. Therefore, psychopaths will try first to suck those qualities out of you, then to destroy your personality, resorting to lies, accusations, slander, anything they can think of to avoid being unmasked and protect their ego. The more you try to resist, to understand, to justify yourself, the harsher their attacks and their lies. For they can NEVER be wrong. They know no remorse, no shame for their lies or errors, no sense of responsibility and, very often, no emotions whatsoever. If you try to corner them, to provide evidence that they are lying, they will just come up with more lies. Human values and qualities stand as a threat to psychopaths since their emptiness will compare badly with a rich personality.
It is wrong to believe that victims of psychopaths are weak personalities that are born victims. The fact is that the two parties just do not play by the same rules. Therefore, the more honest is bound to lose, transformed into a victim. One of the lessons of History is certainly that victims can be created, by the millions.
The importance of being able to identify psychopaths lies exactly there: once you know such deceitful people exist, you must keep away from them and, if you have been their victim, truly work towards a recognition of your own values and qualities. The worst mistake is to try to understand where you could have been dishonest, wrong, where you could have lied, failed, departed from your principles of truth and justice, etc. The most probable answer is that there is nothing of the sort. The psychopath’s whole strategy is exactly to reverse the roles and make you believe YOU are to blame. But only after having hidden him/herself behind the mask of sanity for what can be quite a long time. This is not to say, however, that we should despair of human kind, but it is essential to regard them as they are: scorpions, snakes, wolves or other predators, according to the seriousness of their pathology.
Furthermore, I would say that psychopaths are a real threat to society as a whole. Because of their thirst for power and domination, they frequently find themselves in a position to exert their propensity to use and abuse people, to lie and to do away with responsibilities, whether at work, in the family or in the neighborhood. The competitive world where we live gives them an advantage in this respect, as can be seen with some traders or managers for example. To that we must add the failure of more and more parents to give their children the limits necessary to conduct themselves as true human beings respectful and mindful of others, which is precisely where psychopaths perform very badly. Predators are not known to respect their preys.
So, Mr. Walker, thank you for opening our eyes (mine, at any rate) on the world of psychopaths. Although I had always suspected that something might be deeply wrong with some people who accused you wrongly, who showed disrespect and disregard for others, who slammed the elevator door on you, I tended to believe that they were not truly bad people, that you would recognize truly bad people at first sight. I preferred to think that I had misunderstood their intentions, that they did not really mean what they had done or said. Now I know this is exactly what they meant. I have read quite a lot of grey literature about psychopaths after seeing your documentary. One question that tends to dominate is whether they are conscious of the harm they do to other people. Scientists do not seem to agree on that issue. Whichever the answer, I, as a layperson, think psychopaths simply do not care about others and, therefore, are not entirely human. They just need treatment and their (potential) victims information.
Information is the key to protection from psychopaths but also the key to recovery. Before seeing your documentary, I had been desperately trying for a whole year to clean myself from all the mud and slander a neighbour had splashed on me, just like you in your bathroom at the end. After seeing it, everything started to fit together and it suddenly dawned on me that I was in no way the dirty one. The type of information you provided led to an unexpectedly complete and quick recovery and actually made me a stronger person, more self-confident and better equipped to face the “world of psychopaths among us”, as I am sure it did to other people who saw your documentary.
Claude (France)
June 6th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Sam the psychopath is right! Ian Walker IS a shitface with the voice of a croaking frog. I’m kidding. He’s not. What he is is a brilliant
filmmaker who has made a fascinating, idiosyncractic, compelling film about psychopaths, and what happens when one gets it’s claws into us.
Jon Ronson
Writer
UK
June 13th, 2009 at 6:31 am
Where can i see this documentary?
June 20th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
You can see I, Psychopath on ARTE/ZDF (Germany) in Europe, CBC Newsworld (Canada) in North America and ABC TV Science in Australia. Please go to their websites for detailed session information.
I, Psychopath will also be screening at select festivals around the globe. Check back here in the news pages for more information on screenings as it comes.
Regards,
Admin
June 29th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Will there be a DVD in the future?
June 29th, 2009 at 10:13 am
There will be a DVD available soon. Please check back on this website for updates.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:57 am
That´s great!!
Is it planned to have the german dubbed version included on it? I saw it on ARTE on TV in german, but the can´t make any copies available.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:58 am
I hope the DVD will include the german version (ARTE screening) as well, that would be great!
July 31st, 2009 at 12:18 am
Where and how can I get to see I Psychopath?I live in the U.K.Scotland to be precise.As far a I know there has been no information about any screening at the film festivals or on T.V.If dvd’s are available I would buy one straight away.I am very interested in the subject of psychopaths.Than you.
July 31st, 2009 at 9:08 am
To all those requesting DVDs, we will in touch with you directly and also via the website when they become available.
Thanks for your interest in I, Psychopath.
Regards,
Admin
August 27th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I think the importance of this documentary cannot be understated. Mr Walker has given the world a gift, shining light on a very dark area.
The more people who see this film, the better, because I bet so many people have been victimised by a psychopath at some time in their lives and been left psychologically and emotionally (not to mention physically) wounded.
The affect that a single psychopath can (and yes, DOES) have on a mass of people, though, is where the next level of application takes us.
Look at the banking crisis we’ve had. It is psychopathic values and traits that have brought the world economy to its knees. Everyone should seriously think about that for a moment.
We are not all created equal, and the sooner people learn this, the sooner the world can begin to recognise pathological thinking, traits, as well as see how those things have penetrated our culture, societal structure and values and we can all put a huge piece of the puzzle of humanity’s history into the frame.
Tom
August 28th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Thankyou for making this documentary. I hope it opens peoples eyes to the manipulations of certain people around them, and helps lead society away from their machinations. It is a bigger issue than seems on the surface - and may be the an explanation as to what is “wrong” with this planet!
August 30th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Thank you! I personally met Mr. Vaknin 15 years ago. He resonated in a very bad way even that I never try to judge people. Since 1998 I suspected that his PhD is not quite valid, I checked PWU on the web, published the findings and since then I tried to denounce him. Unfortunately, he made very good friends around Macedonian politics and managed to work as a consultant for the government on various occasions. Nowadays some TV stations like him very much and call him as an expert on quite different topics. Unbelievable!
Now, after my doubts about PWU were reconfirmed, I was struck by the fact that he’s in fact a genuine medical case. And that, probably, explains why he decided to publicly expose himself - he’ll probably lose all credibility in Macedonia after this documentary.
Again, thank you - it just shows that I should stick to my basic plan to never judge people. And it leaves a bad taste in my mouth as it is quite a moral issue what to do in such a situation and how to react when an alleged con artist turns out to be a medical case and spends taxpayers’ money and influences people through media.
Keep up the good work, looking forward for new projects…
Kiro
Skopje, Macedonia
September 6th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Dear Team,
Thankyou for your brilliant, meaningful and highly informed documentary. I love the picture of one of you with a stick and dressed as a monk. Tangling with evil is a dangerous business.
I was married to a psychopath and so I am one of those women who live in the grey world of confusion and hurt that seems to be unable to make sense of what happened to me. Basically, I was slandered, arrested, cheated on, huge amount of my retirement money is gone and the rest of it.
Since then I have tracked down information on psychopaths. The labelling helps a bit but the most helpful part in your documentary was seeing him in action and seeing the scrambled brain working with deception and lies. He gets going in this vein and he cant remember what he said from one day to the next. Lies are the lynchpins of someone’s character and a liar can take an organized sane persons mind and really undo them. Sometimes it takes a lot of time. The psychopath so relishes this that they take the time. Rarely, does one see the glee that they experience in doing this. It is clearly the rush of power. You captured so many nuances and at the same time nailed it beautifully.
There must be more footage and I would love to see more exploration from you. That would be the stuff between the lines, that can be so rich.
Thank you for making this video. There are thousands of people who have been hideously manipulated and slandered who have no recompense for their suffering. Shining a light on psychopathy and learning about it helps a lot. At another level things are more complicated and the psychopaths damage to their victim is emotional. That takes enormous time and back to your picture of the monk: a kind confessor who understands the beast.
I hope you make buckets of money from this too so that you can follow your very good intuition and keep making documentaries that really are meaningful.
Bev Ross
September 14th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Hallo Mr Walker,
I saw your film in April and it’s a fantastic one for persons who know a little bit about this disturbed behaviour of a pschopath. It’s not so easy to make understandable something like this for the large public. But I agree that this film must be distributed the largest possible. I lived during ten years with a psychopath, I left him five years ago. Now I’m working on a book about my life with this person. About the last five years I have collected many information as well as I have talked to many specialistes. Not at least, because I suffer of a trauma which one has a big and negatif influence on my life today. Fortunately I am somebody who is positiv and who believe in life. I hope that my book would be finished at least for the end of this year. Maybe you are interessted in it? If you require one, I can send you one edition. I think it’s really also necessary to show the influence on the physique and psychique of the unsuspecting victim.
So I would be glad to hear something of you.
Furthermore I’m also interested in a DVD of your film. So I hope it would give one soonly.
Regards
Pia Baum
September 19th, 2009 at 1:32 am
I wish I could find it. I cannot seem to buy it and I cannot find where it is showing. I am very interested in seeing this film. When will it be released on dvd?
September 21st, 2009 at 8:34 am
Hi Michelle,
what country do you live in? You can see the film in Germany, France and North America/Canada. Check the websites for ARTE/ZDF (Germany, France) and CBC Newsworld (US via cable, Canada) to find screening dates.
Alternatively, once the film has shown here in Australia, we may be able to sell some DVDs directly, via the website.
Thanks for your interest.
September 25th, 2009 at 4:59 am
I just found this documentary’s website thru Robert Hare’s web site for the study of Psychopaths. I had just come to the conclusion that I was married to a psychopath for 14 years followed by a year and half of court divorce - custody and 4 protection order arrests all fabricated by her.
I look forward to seeing the movie, but I can tell just by the comments here, I wont be surprised by what a psychopath is capable of doing. My x-wife is a highly regarded successful professor of political sociology. Capable of manipulating all kinds of people like they are puppets on a string. Including the New York City judicial systems, schools, senior committee federal legislators, ivy league professors…and you! (I have two years of recordings and other evidence documenting all of it. What is so amazing is how easily the entire society and smart individuals willingly rejected me to follow a psychopath.
September 30th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Read Mr Vaknin’s book. Regardless of what you think about him, he’s a genius. Really.
September 30th, 2009 at 7:49 am
P.S. Really nice documentary in my opinion.
October 1st, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Yesterday I was going to watch the documentary with Spanish subtitles in Barcelona in the Docupolis Festival but it was cancelled last minute due to the bad condition of the tape and it’s not previewed to show it any more.
I think I had a love relationship with a manipulator for one year and until recently (to call someone you think you still love a psychopath is truly shocking) and I maybe this documentary can help me understanding the incomprehensible, clearing my mind and starting the work “towards a recognition of your own values and qualities” as Claude from France said in a previous post. “Information is the key to protection from psychopaths but also the key to recovery”.
I’m highly interested in watching the film so I would like to know if there is going to be on Spanish screens soon or whatsoever since
If this is not the case, I would love to buy the DVD (Spanish subtitle would be important to understand the film completely..) Please, as you said in a previous post, it would be great for me to get contacted by you when the DVD is available as well.
Thanks
October 3rd, 2009 at 1:44 am
I would be interested in buying a copy of the DVD when it becomes available in the US. Thank you
October 15th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Where can I obtain a copy of the film? I’m based in Hong Kong. Thanks.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:31 am
I have a question to which no one seams to be able to answer…
For some 30 years now, I have been friends with a woman whom I just discovered, is a psychopath. This woman was my brother’s girl friend, that,s how I got to know her. After a friend of mine revealed to me that this woman was a psychopath, I began to believe that many people surrounding her are psychopaths, as well. I think that her actual boy friend is also a psychopath and have discovered that her father is also a psychopath. Those two love, adore to fight of unbearable fights. This woman has two brothers and one sister, but the father only fights with the psychopath; never with the others. This is how I begane to suspect that psychopaths may not only recognize and choose their victims but may also recognize the other psychopaths in their surroundings. Is that possible, and how do they recognize them??? To know such a thing would be a precious asset.
Thank You, Bye to all…
Alain.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Dear Alain,
Thanks for comments. To answer your questions, you should read Prof. Robert Hare’s book Without Conscience: the disturbing world of the psychopaths among us.
It’s the best summary of and introduction to the main characteristics of psychopathy.
It’s available to preview and buy online.
Regards,
Admin
November 26th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I hope this reaches Ian Walker, the director of this incredible documentary.
I am not a clinically diagnosed anything in any means, but I noticed sharing many traits, and having found similar situations (spousal manipulation, empty emotions), as well as misleading, lying to, manipulating and emotionally attacking close friends and family regularly.
Recently having taken a counsellor for a walk so to speak.
I do have some insights if the topic of psychopathy is still of interest to you Ian. Tricks they use to manipulate, and how they play games, create the web of deceit, and wear you down, as I viewed it occur to you.
Please I would love to speak to you, either via correspondence, or even in person/ other methods, distance permitting of course.
Please get back to me.
James Tollefson,
jtollefson@accesscomm.ca
December 1st, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I’ve just seen this great peace of film on “arte”.
It was a very impressive documentary about a man (Sam Vaknin) who claims to be a psychopath and manipulates the people around him. the filmmaker Ian Walker accompanies Sam and his wife Lidija in journey through Europe, visiting psychologist and Neuroscientist to test Sam’s psychopathy.
The interesting point of the film is not proceeding on the assumption that psychopaths are criminal, mass-murderers or even (physically) dangerous nor that they can be recognize at first sight.
In contrast to most other psychopaths, Sam wants to find out about his character/substance and why he is ready to hurt him and others to achieve his goals.
i am very sorry for Ian Walker. he sacrifices himself to his film, science and the truth, while being attacked by Sam the whole time. i have hardly seen filmmakers committing mayhem to themselves like this. (:
January 17th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I have spent the past 11 years as a MH professional & have had many opportunities to meet psychopaths. I have also been fortunate to have been trained by Dr. Hare in the use of the Psychopathy Checklist. I have read Without Conscience more than once as well as Snakes in Suits. I would like a copy of the DVD when available to add to my orientation materials for new staff.
January 17th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
We will very soon be able to offer the feature-length DVD for sale via the website.
In the meantime, the 55min TV version is available via Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/I-Psychopath-Ian-Walker/dp/B002W6ZI1Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1263702472&sr=1-1
Thank you for your interest.
Admin
January 25th, 2010 at 8:23 am
He was not a psychopath as far as I could ascertain, but largely a narcissist.
January 29th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
I am very excited to watch this film. Unfortunately, I’m in the US and haven’t seen it available here, but I will definitely check out the TV version on Amazon.com. And I can already tell that I’ll absolutely buy the DVD when it’s available.
My sister was a psychopath, which made for a very difficult life for me, my parents, and many others. She committed suicide in May 2009, which has been bittersweet. The year before, she stole my identity and tried to kill me. So, it has been hard to mourn her death. Besides, how do you mourn a sister you never really had? I am fascinated by this condition and strongly believe my family carries this gene (if there is such a thing).
Anyway, I, too, would like to commend you for tackling this topic. I can’t wait to see the film!
January 29th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
The feature-length DVD is now available. We are just arranging a PayPal facility and will be ready to dispatch orders by the first week of Feb 2010.
January 30th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Pls let me know when DVD is available for purchase…
Thanks.
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:14 am
Hello,
Can you please let me know when this DVD is available to purchase, or include me on your waiting list.
I am currently going through a very difficult divorce after being in a relationship and married to a P for 10 years. I have been both emotionally and psychologically abused - although I didn’t recognise it at the time - in additional to being financially crippled to the point where I now have to work 2 jobs 7 days a week. I have been in counselling for 2 years and hope that being able to understand how a P’s mind works will further help me in my recovery.
I live in the UK.
Many Thanks
February 8th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
What are the ways we can access this film? The idea resonates very strongly with me. I lived with, what I know realize, was a bonified psychopath for eight months. What started out as the gorgeous and charming man of my dreams snow balled into a nightmare of abuse and harrasment. Every day I was subjected to verbal assault, beatings, kicked in the ribs, forced into having an abortion, thrown down stairs, and eventually sodomized before I had enough and disappeared. He told his friend he ‘enjoyed’ doing this to me, much to our mutual horror, and went into graphic detail of how he ‘enjoyed’ my pain when he raped me. I’m on a quest to get a more solid diagnosis, establish a court case, and prevent this from happening to any other young girls. I feel like this film could be helpful to my case.
February 8th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
The DVD is now available through PayPal. Please go to the DVD page http://www.i-psychopath.com/?page_id=56