Psychopath is an outdated term, psychologically-speaking. You cannot be diagnosed with psychopathy. That being said, when the term was bandied about with some validity by those who travail in the psychological arts, there was no distinction between psychopath and sociopath. Being a sociopath didn't mean you were a less-dangerous psychopath (like I once thought). It just sounded nicer. Who wants to be called a psycho?
Today, psychopath and its more palatable equivalent are sometimes used by headshrinkers as blanket terms to describe a variety of personality disorders (mostly cluster A and B): narcissistic, histrionic, borderline, antisocial, paranoid, etc.
However, the terms psychopath and sociopath are still used widely in law, by the general public, and most notably, in fiction.
Personally, I get a kick out of the word psychopath.
I also get a kick out of psychopaths themselves—at least on screen/in print. Some of my favourite characters (like ol' Freddie up there) are unrepentant psychopaths, and I wouldn't have them any other way.
Some are accidents of nature, born missing that integral part necessary for empathy. Others are created; whether by physical or psychological trauma, they somehow lose that bit of humanity.
I like writing psychopaths, and I'm fascinated by people's reactions to Captain Baltsaros. I fully expected readers to have issues with him—not everyone loves a dyed-in-the-wool killer the way I do. Some people really dislike him, and many plain don't understand what he is.
Baltsaros is charming, he's intelligent... but he's not lovable. Yet, some do like him, maybe even love him.
And that makes me smile. :)
