Fritzl has all the hallmarks of a psychopath. The UK Guardian reports that Fritzl confesses to having had an out of control addiction

Josef Fritzl, the man who incarcerated his daughter beneath the family home for 24 years, has issued a frank confession from his prison cell, in which he has said he was driven by an “addiction” which “got out of control”.

Psychiatrist Frontier has speculated that Fritzl meets most of the criteria in diagnosing psychopathy. The author presents the criteria in assessing anti-social personality disorder and how they relate to Fritzl: He ticks all the boxes so to speak…

Psychopathy/ Personality disorder, usually coming to attention because of a gross disparity between behaviour and the prevailing social norms and characterised by:
(a) callous unconcern for the feelings of other
(b) gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules and obligations
(c) incapacity to maintain enduring relationships; though having no difficulty in establishing them
(d) very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence
(e) incapacity to experience guilt or to profit from experience, especially punishment
(f) marked proneness to blame others or to offer plausible rationalizations for the behaviour that has brought the patient into conflict with society

Mr Fritzl clearly has most of these in spades, so much so that it would not be entirely unreasonable if a whole new subtype of this personality disorder should be invented just for him.

The fact that Fritzl was able to go about his daily business whilst hiding such callous acts for so long does suggest that he is totally devoid on conscience. In writing about how to recognise those without a conscience, Paul Schneidereit reports that no one has officially labeled Fritzl a psychopath yet but…

it seems to me that he is one, based on what’s been reported. What other than an absence of conscience can explain how a father could imprison his 18-year-old daughter in his cellar/dungeon for 24 years, raping her repeatedly, while lying to his wife - upstairs, apparently unaware - about their missing child’s whereabouts?

Fritzl has reportedly said he feels no remorse - another trait of the psychopath, say experts - while his lawyer has declared he’ll try to get him declared insane.

Until this all came out, of course, no one thought Fritzl insane. He was feared by those close to him as a man who brooked no dissent. Others, though, described him as an “affable” man. That presentation of dual personalities, says Stephen Porter, a psychopathy expert at Dalhousie University, is common among intelligent psychopaths. Porter, who believes the Fritzl case has “all the hallmarks” of psychopathy, says psychopaths aren’t insane - they know what is going on and what they’re doing - but have a “pathological disorder.” They’re often quite adept at fitting into society, mimicking emotions, acting “normally.” Inside, however, they’re merely playing a game they’ve learned, one that keeps their true nature hidden.

So it would seem that the ‘uncontrollable addiction’ Fritzl has is due to his psychopathy. An excellent introduction to understanding this phenomena is the book, ‘without conscience’ - the disturbing world of the psychopaths among us - Robert Hare PHD.

Mantuition: Read up on psychopathy. We only really hear about the criminal type in the press but psychopaths also work in offices, corporations, politics and anywhere they can get what they want from their victims without getting caught.