Is Testosterone Therapy the Answer? Can Psychopathy Be Prevented?

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Dear Friend of Scientific American,   Testosterone therapy—prescription supplements in the form of pills, patches, injections or implantable pellets—has probably never been more popular. Podcaster Joe Rogan is on it. Testimonials praise it on Reddit, TikTok, and in TV commercials. The global market has been estimated at $1.9 billion. For men with seriously low levels of the hormone, TRT can improve mood, energy levels and sex drive, increase muscle and decrease fat.   But in our July/August issue, journalist Stephanie Pappas reveals that many men getting supplements may not actually have low testosterone. Profit-motivated clinics prescribe it anyway—legally—and boosting levels can cause harm. Elsewhere in the issue, journalist Maia Szalavitz examines the difficult subject of psychopathy—its origins and chances for treatment. A child who hurts animals or other kids and shows no remorse for harming others may be diagnosed with conduct disorder with callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Left untreated, children with CU traits have a significant chance of growing into psychopaths as adults. Psychopathy has immense social costs but is very hard to treat.   Drawing upon neuroscience, developmental psychology, and lived experience, however, psychologists have devised ways of treating children with CU traits so that they can live as productive, rather than destructive, adults​. This nuanced article explains how CU traits manifest, why traditional approaches often fail, and what newer, research-informed methods offer in their place.   Read these stories and more for $1: from a one-of-a-kind blood type to migraine-inducing weather and bird flu's stealthy spread.    All the best, Seth Fletcher Chief Features Editor Subscribe Top Editor Picks The Truth about Testosterone To boost mood and manliness, men are spending lots of money on the hormone testosterone—yet they may see trouble instead of benefits. Read more What If We Could Treat Psychopathy in Childhood? New strategies help to reduce callous and unemotional traits in children, guiding them toward productive lives. Read more Doctors Discover a Woman With Her Own Unique Blood Type Newly discovered "Gwada-negative" is the rarest of 48 known blood groups. Read more Where Did Bird Flu Go? Bird flu was nearly everywhere in the U.S.—in chickens, cows, pet cats and even humans. Cases have gone down, but experts warn that it hasn't disappeared. Read more Can Weather Really Trigger a Migraine? A neurologist explains why weather changes from heat waves to thunderstorms might bring on painful headaches. Read more Sign up for our Health & Medicine Newsletter!

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