psychopath & psychotic

[stoogmeister]

What, if any, is the difference between a psychopath and a psychotic?

[ravenhair]

A psycopath is a person with a personality disorder such that they have a tendency to commit antisocial, often violent, acts and have no feeling of guilt about it. A psychotic is someone suffering from psychosis, that is, a severe mental disorder in which their sense of reality becomes extremely distorted.

[firefly]

In other words you have the most to fear from a psychopath (or a sociopath); though a psychotic may become violent and then become a psychopath. You are either a healthy person, a neurotic or a psychotic. However these are only really states of mind.

[incitatus]

These two , when referring to serial killers, have been renamed Organised and Disorganised. A psychopath is organised, he kills because he wants to. A Psychotic is disorganised: he kills because the moon looks angry, or the pixies tell him to.