I came across a movie I’d certainly heard of, but never watched: The Wolf of Wall Street.

I remember hearing about the movie when it was released back in 2013. But didn’t feel compelled to watch it.

I imagined it would be too triggering.

But for whatever reason, I felt ready and intrigued that other night. So I rented it and started to watch it.

Five minutes in I felt a pit in my stomach and, by the end when the credits rolled, angry.

Why was I angry? 

Because the film did what I feared it would do. In many ways, and perhaps unintentionally, it aggrandized and valorized the psychopathic behavior of the main character. Instead of explicitly denigrating his actions. And educating and showcasing what the negative impacts of his actions were. 

One major streaming service bills the film as such:

“Audacious, risk-taking Wall Street stockbroker Jordan Belfort amasses wealth with his brash, drug-fueled attitude, drawing the attention of the FBI.”

I’d prefer it be marketed this way:

“A film in which the destructive and dysfunctional behavior of psychopaths is irresponsibly valorized, ignoring the extensive and potentially life-long relational and financial damage these individuals may have caused to others.”

Of course, my marketing isn’t going to sell many movie tickets (or streaming rentals as were the case now).

But it sure as heck would better illustrate what I saw as the major themes of the movie.

And so, because Netflix hasn’t yet come knocking on my door for any clinical consultations, I wanted to write today’s post specifically to talk about what the potential collateral damage of psychopaths and sociopaths can be on those around them with the hopes that, in writing this, even one person who had a “Jordan Belfort”-like person in their life can feel more seen and heard and less alone in their experience.

What exactly is a psychopath or a sociopath?

Let’s start this article off with some psychoeducation about the terms psychopath and sociopath. 

First of all, neither of them are exact clinical terms in the DSM. (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The bedrock clinical text and diagnosis book of mental health)

Psychopathy and sociopathy are terms that emerged in the late 19th/early 20th centuries to describe what psychiatrists and psychologists were then seeing as the egregious and consistent violations of legal, moral, and social standards by some individuals they treated.

Today, neither term is officially used though the characterological essence of these terms persists. 

Instead, the DSM-4 gives us the category of antisocial personality disorder which would effectively be an “umbrella” diagnosis for anyone who would previously have been called a psychopath or sociopath. 

And I personally like the added detail you can find in the Hare Psychopathy Checklist to further illustrate and drive home the qualities and characteristics of these individuals.