Who would have guessed that Wyoming is as psychotic as New York? A recent study published by Ryan Murphy states just that. The Cowboy State is the fifth most psychotic state in the nation.

Top 10 "Psychotic State in the U.S.

1st - District of Columbia

2nd - Connecticut

3rd - California

4th - New Jersey

5th (tie) - Wyoming & New York

& New York 7th - Maine

8th - Wisconsin

9th - Nevada

10th - Illinois

What is a psychopath? The first thing most people think about is an ax-wielding serial killer, or an evil overlord trying to take over the world. There is a clinical definition that is a little broader. In all actuality, someone who has "psychopathic" traits probably will never kill anyone. They could be a politician, businessman, or a journalist.

According to Psychology Today, the term psychopath or sociopath originated in the early 1900s. It was used to describe someone who was morally depraved. That they lacked a moral compass and had a lack of empathy. There are many schools of thought and many different levels of crazy from antisocial personality disorder to a full-blown psychopath killer.

The study by Ryan Murphy, Psychopathy By U.S. State, ranked each continental state and the District of Columbia by five factors. These factors are the 5 Big Personality Traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

The author of the study, Ryan Murphy, questions Wyoming's rank. He wrote:

One possibility is that the sample size in Wyoming was the smallest of the 49 regions ... and this data point is simply incorrect, although Wyoming still had 3,166 observations.

That means the small population makes the state a bit of a puzzle. It is also true that this study has yet to go through peer review and be published by a scholarly journal. It could be that in another six months there will be an entirely different conclusion.