Can serial jerks be helped?
People who are unwitting bullies can be helped by removal of pressure – then their behavior improves. Sociopathic serial jerks/bullies cannot be helped at the moment. Work on psychopaths shows that the condition does not respond to treatment – in fact, treatment may make the condition worse. Their behavior is as ingrained as a pedophile. Work with pedophiles suggests that it may take at least two years of counseling and therapy before the pedophile can begin to see their victim as a human being rather than an object for their gratification, although the recidivism (re-offence) rate is high. I suspect the same applies to serial bullies. As an adult, the serial bully has to want to change – which they emphatically do not. And who would pay for the counseling and therapy?
