A claim constantly made about sociopaths and narcissists is that they are incurably evil. That is a completely irrational standpoint. Evil is not a function of psychopathology; it is function of wrong choice. Anything capable of choice can be evil. Anything capable of choice can also be good.

I never had either diagnosis, and I’ve seen psychiatrists since I was 15. I take issue with this situation not because it concerns me personally but because it is a matter of how all sorts of people are being treated. You have to make up your mind: is character a choice or is it not a choice? Because if it is a choice then it’s up to the person to do with it what he wants to do with it, including improve it. And if some people can be evil whatever they do, then character is not a choice and not something on which people can be judged.

Someone I know once told his former girlfriend, after he put her through an emotional wringer, “I just wanted to show the real you again.” Here, what we see is abuse that cuts to the core. Someone decides that the other person is bad, and that this is the real them and nothing else that they do is. Many lives are lost to that kind of thing. People are prevented from growing, from improving and from becoming an actual real them: That is a function of their conscious choice to be what they seek to be.

At the heart of the matter, once again, is a matter of choice. The best thing about choice is that it gives us power to act rightfully, whatever may be our problem. If you have something wrong with your brain or your psychology that disconnects you from empathy, use your conscious mind to figure out how your actions impact on others. Then make a determined effort to do the right thing by others, whatever may be wrong with your psychology or your brain.

Being labelled a sociopath or a narcissist therefore does not have to be a death sentence. You are a human being. You can choose how you want to be. Even a sociopath or a narcissist can commit himself to rightful action, which means that even a sociopath or a narcissist can be a good person. Choice – and humanity – trumps the bestial dynamics. The solution is not treating these people as animals and locking these people up. The solution is treating them as people and getting them to use their brains.