It’s not actually surprising to me that Dr. Ben Carson does not have a boatload of empathy for rape and incest victims. I don’t think he has a boatload of empathy for anyone. Because I think he might be an actual psychopath.

I am not being hyperbolic here - and I’m talking the clinical definition rather than the horror movie definition. Ben Carson is a neurosurgeon, an occupation with an abnormally high rate of psychopathy. Quite frankly, it’s kind of an asset in that profession in some ways, because you probably don’t want the person operating on your brain to burst into tears worrying about whether or not you’re going to be OK. Carson also has no affect. I mean, people describe him as softspoken, and that is somewhat true, but I think it’s more that he has very little affect, or emotion.

To boot, this weekend he went around talking about how, while he’s softspoken now, he was volatile as a teen, and once went after his mom with a hammer and stabbed one of his best friends. Uh. That is messed up, no? That is not normal rebellious teen behavior. I knew a lot of kids who were trouble, myself included — but I sure as hell didn’t know anyone who went after their mom with a hammer. That’s not something normal people do — at least not normal people who are not on PCP or anything.

By his own account, his mother Sonya Carson was a lovely woman and not at all abusive. By his own account, he was not on drugs. All political positions aside, I genuinely don’t understand how that is something anyone does if they are right in the head. That’s just not a well you go to, you know? There has to be something not OK inside you to be able to do something like that.

The fact that he’s “soft-spoken” now - well, the “quiet, kept to himself mostly” cliché associated with psychopaths comes to mind. Essentially what Carson was saying here is “Sure, I’m quiet now — but I could snap at any moment.” He is flat out saying that he has exactly two modes — this current soft-spoken one, and the one that compelled him to go after his own mother with a hammer — and that if he’s pushed, it just might be hammertime.

More: Is Ben Carson an Actual Psychopath? Let’s Discuss! - the Frisky