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Letter from the President 2024 Annual Report
Hello again. 2024 was another good year for the Aftermath: Surviving Psychopathy Foundation. For us, it was a year much like prior years, in which we continued to provide information about people with psychopathy and their impact on others, translate that information into other languages, and help people who are suffering from specific relationships with individuals with psychopathic traits.
People with psychopathic traits can be different from each other in many ways. Importantly, some are quite prone to violence and anger, while others are less prone to anger but focused on controlling others. Some are largely opportunistic, looking for the easiest way to get their needs met, which sometimes involves using other people. Others are more predatory, directly targeting specific individuals as victims, sometimes working out complex strategies to assault people or steal from them. Some people with psychopathy are directly focused on revenge strategies, even when they have wronged others much more than anyone ever wronged them. Sometimes they are even successful in recruiting other friends or family members to create misery for someone whom they have targeted as a victim. That is, some individuals with psychopathic traits may persuade others to join their antisocial campaigns. Even when others do not choose to participate in this kind of hostility, they can be manipulated into accidentally gaslighting someone, as was written about by a survivor. Click here to access Through the Eyes of Survivors: Tips for Recovery.
People with psychopathy tend to have a few things in common. They generally do not appear to care about the well-being of others, unless there is something in it for them. They generally do not care whom they hurt to accomplish their goals. It is sometimes remarkable how callous they can behave towards people they have previously described as loved ones. They very often can get others to do what they want, whether it is through deception and manipulation, or through intimidation and bluster. They generally do not feel deeply attached to people or things the way most people are, but that is sometimes covered up by a hyperawareness of immediate contingencies, and sometimes an antisocial or selfish agenda can last a very long time.
Another thing they have in common: they hurt the people around them. As research by Adelle Forth has demonstrated, relationships with psychopathic people tend to be toxic relationships. The types of abuse vary, but almost everyone in these kinds of relationships reports emotional abuse, and most report physical abuse and/or sexual abuse and financial abuse. Click here to read a summary of this paper. People who have been victimized and those who have survived these kinds of traumatic relationships often want information. They are often looking for help from a professional.
The Aftermath Help Committee tries to answer questions and find people help. At the end of each year, we review the requests we have received to track how many people have asked for help and how we have been able to help them. Click here for a copy of our 2024 Help Committee report. Without spoiling the suspense, I can say that, overall, the number of requests increased from 2023 to 2024.
For anyone who has read our 2023 report, you may already know that our pilot support group in 2023 was a success. Based on that experience, we conducted another support group in 2024 for women who had survived abusive relationships with family members with psychopathy. Of course, the people with psychopathic traits were all different, and every victimization is unique. However, despite these differences, the members of the support group told us that it was very helpful to be able to share their experiences with people who had gone through some similar kinds of problems. Once again, feedback suggested that the support group members benefitted substantially from the group. As a result, we planned to do something a little bit different in 2025. See 2025 Annual Report (when it is available) for more details.
During 2024, we continued to post accurate information about psychopathy. The North American Research Committee and the European Research Committee posted 8 new items: 2 were summaries of new research articles about psychopathy or its impact; 3 were answers by psychopathy experts to questions about their research; and 2 were research presentations on psychopathy that were shared with permission. In addition, the committee developed a new question and answer for our Frequently Asked Questions – about differences between men and women with psychopathy. Click here for a copy of the Research Committee’s Report for 2024.
We also continued to support research that aims to understand the impact of people with psychopathy on others. During 2024, we helped to promote a set of studies carried out by Dr. Sara Lapsley as part of her doctoral thesis. She examined the nature and extent of financial abuse by people with psychopathy on their romantic partners. She also examined the ways that victims and survivors cope with psychopathic individuals. In this report, we include a short report by Dr. Lapsley about what she did and what she found. Click here for Dr. Lapsley’s research report.
During 2024, we also celebrated the accomplishments of our volunteers by holding what is now an annual volunteers’ meeting. At the 2024 meeting of our volunteers we heard from Dr. Robert Hare, who talked about some of the continuing controversies in the field of psychopathy research and about some of the contributions of his research. The volunteer meeting is worth noting because the Foundation only works because of the great work of our dedicated volunteers. In fact, the Foundation continues to function as an all-volunteer foundation. None of the individuals who invest their time in helping people to recover receive any financial benefits from this work.
It is perhaps worth noting that the Aftermath Foundation also does not charge for any of the help we provide. We do not charge any fees for referring people to therapists and counselors who understand psychopathy. We also do not charge for the support groups; our facilitators are not paid. We have no paid staff at all. However, we do have bills to pay. In addition to paying for our website and for hosting video and audio content, we pay for insurance so that we can carry out the support groups. We are funded only by donations from people who value the work we are doing. That is why your support means so much to our ability to do this work. If you value the work we are doing (and you can afford it), please consider donating to the Foundation to help us reach our goals.
And remember to be in touch if you can use help, or if you want to volunteer to help the organization.
Dave Kosson