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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 10:34:43 AM | agrees with random, eccentric. holing up inside your own head only leads to festering. maybe if you talked about these things more you would find that they become less intense. just a thought. i don't know what would work for you.
on another note, here's some more info from a different source. one of the biggest reasons these people aren't considered to be conventionally treatable is that they don't think there's anything wrong with them...
Atlanta Medical Psychology
The clinical practice of Dr. David B. Adams is located in The Medical Quarters in the northside of Atlanta at the junction of Scottish Rite, Northside and Saint Joseph's Hospitals. Dr. Adams consults to occupational medicine, surgeons, nurse case managers, insurers and employers regarding the psychological impact of work-related injury and the role of psychological factors in short- and long-term disability.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF DISABILITY
Psychopath
Sociopath, anti-social personality, psychopath. Everyone should be wary of an individual who has glib charm, a soothing voice, a penetrating gaze, dramatic gestures, and engages in meaningless flattery and vague/inconsistent responses to personal questions. When a psychopath complains of how others treat him, it should be remembered who the real victims are likely to be.
INTRODUCTION
Callous, deceitful, reckless, guiltless, often intimidating and sometimes violent is the standard description of psychopaths, whose maladaptive patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving impair their daily functioning and disrupt the lives of those around them. Sociopathy in males has more serious implications than in females, and this disorder is found three times more often in men than in women.
The psychopath understands the wishes and concerns of others; he simply does not care. He believes that he has the right to do what he wants and to take what he can. He manipulates others by deception and/or intimidation, has an inflated opinion of himself and seeks out, then uses, the weaknesses he finds in others. There is no fair mindedness, no self doubt, no compassion or true affection.
THE PSYCHOPATHIC EXPERIENCE
The psychopath believes that rules and morals are for other, weaker people who obey because they fear punishment. He feels indifference and contempt for these others, who “have it coming.”
No matter how bright, and a psychopath is often very bright, he rarely maintains a regular job, pays his debts or serves the role of a responsible parent. He repeatedly abuses, abandons, or betrays sexual partners and any children he produces. It is estimated that 15-20% of prisoners carry this diagnosis. Conning and manipulating others is a way of life. For the woman in his life, he may have an ingratiating manner and superficial charm, be persuasive, poised and self-assured because he lacks the (self)conscious feelings that others would
have. Lying, evasiveness, feigned forgetfulness, vague and inconsistent answers about his past...his goal is partially to confuse and manipulate, but he also is indifferent to the truth. And he will lie simply for the fun of it, so much so that he eventually becomes caught. Yet even when cornered and confessing, he will offer flimsy excuses or insincere apologies and then go back to lying again.
THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE SOCIOPATH
The sociopath or psychopath is incapable of loyalty, shame or guilt. He has no lasting close relationships. Although quick to anger and often irritable, he rarely feels sustained hatred since people mean so little to him.
What he refers to as love is, in fact, sexual attraction, a desire for flattery, physical comfort or material support. Quick to rage, he is often shallow and holds grievances toward anyone whom he perceives to be in his way. He refers to his own crimes as harmless pranks. He will often watch others for a clue of what emotion a situation demands. When he calls sadness is the failure of his most recent manipulative attempts.
The range of the antisocial personality is narcissism (self love) on one side and paranoia/sadism on the other. The narcissistic psychopath is less likely to be violent than the paranoid/sadistic. Hotheaded and coldhearted, he is provoked by perceived challenges to his inflated opinion of himself, is more likely to attack male strangers and more likely to respond to trivial or even non-existent provocations.
There may be two groups of psychopathic individuals: a. one who knows how to be glib, selfish, callous and deceitful and b. another group who is thrill-seeking, irresponsible, self-defeating, impulsive and lawbreaking. Due to short patience and impulsivity, the second group has recurrent problems with the law. The first group, however, can be more intelligent than individuals around him and achieve social success while doing appreciable damage in his public and private life.
Such individuals are more troublesome than troubled. They do not suffer the consequences of their own actions. They may be bored, tense, irritable and have physical complaints as well as inconvenient rages, but they do not emotionally pay for their own mistakes.
Anti-social individuals not only rely upon alcohol and illicit drugs from very early in life (and represent a very difficult group to treat); they are also among those most likely to traffic in drugs.
THEORIES OF PSYCHOPATHY
There are theories that hold that psychopaths conceal their anxiety because they cannot handle it in themselves or others. They deny depression to the extent that they cannot experience it. Such theorists hold that what these individuals really have in common is the fascination with fear, dislike and distrust that they inspire in others. Whatever the developmental nature of the antisocial personality disorder, the diagnosis is not applied to an individual under the age of fifteen to insure that there is a differentiation between a true psychopath and a merely rebellious adolescent. However, within the years following mid-adolescence, the existence of a psychopathic personality becomes increasingly clear. Adolescent gang members are not often psychopathic. They have strong loyalties and strict codes within their peer group. A true psychopath has adopted no cultural values, and all actions are for self-servicing strategic purposes, not to adopt the values of a peer group. He truly has no peer group.
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES OF THE PSYCHOPATH
There are physical findings among sociopathic individuals which suggest a biological difference between them and others. They appear to have a weak startle response, low heart rate, low tendency (galvanic skin response) to perspire in stressful situations, and low anticipatory anxiety...they do not worry. This imperviousness to anxiety may explain why they fail to learn, since much of our learning is based upon the need to avoid future anxiety for ourselves and others.
There is some evidence that anti-social personalities begin to burn out in their 40’s with regard to impulsive aggression and crime. Most do not wind up in treatment; they wind up in trouble. And for their doctors, they represent treatment dilemmas since the pain they inflict upon their victims and society as a whole makes it difficult to imagine wanting to help them. It is also clear that good outcome to treatment does not appear to be related to IQ, family history or imprisonment. Bad outcome does appear to be related to alcohol and other substance abuse.
Whether tending toward the narcissistic or tending toward the sadistic, the antisocial personality represents a consistent legal and moral dilemma.
MANAGEMENT OF THE ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY
Management rather than treatment is likely the most appropriate term. Since these individuals will inflict rather than experience suffering, it is exceedingly rare that they seek treatment except to access prescription drugs. Clearly, early identification and attempts to contain their victimization of others and misuse of resources becomes the primary goal. Since true remorse does not occur, motivation for change is absent. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 10:52:35 AM | I have little faith in the psychiatric community as they consistently miss the mark when trying to understand.
They say that there is lack of emotion because it easier to accept that these people do not feel anything.
The reality is that they feel a wide array of intense emotions that sometimes come out as anger because they are so strong that they are unable to deal with them.
You are right on one aspect, there is a complete lack of caring for people in general, but that is motivated by the belief that they are living wrong.
If a women gives herself to prostitution or some other activity that the sociopath deems as unnacceptable, he feels he is doing her a favor and society a favor by ending her life. As her disregard for herself leads to societal degradation.
There is also the motivation of intense pain and shame, as in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer. He felt so alone and in such pain he wanted a lover that would not hurt him and would not leave him. His initial intentions were to labotimize his victims, but he accidently killed them. His frustration and pain combined lead him to anger which he vented on the following victims. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 10:56:34 AM | what you are describing sounds a lot more like a bi-polar disorder. main characteristics being violent mood swings, inability to control moods, and paranoia. most often a physical problem (insufficiency of lithium salts in the brain), that causes mental difficulties.
as i said before, i have not much faith in shrinks in general as they are often incapable of seeing past their own preconceptions. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 10:59:48 AM | Then why are quoting said misconceptions?
Presenting them as fact when in reality they are an outsiders attempt to understand something that is beyond their comprension.
It is not bi-polor because bi-polor people have no regard when and where they vent.
A sociopath plans their victims and attempts to control the situation so as to not be caught. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 11:03:47 AM | It's stupid to dismiss the whole legion of therapists, but doing so is a good way to protect one's ideas from ever having to change. I have no idea why anyone invests heavily in maintaining their static view of a changing experience like life. maybe that is the whole problem, being too stuck in one persective to let go and go with the flow. I understood very early on the progression of intellectual idiocy:
the first things you know are things people tell you
then you make your own views from what you have been told
then you discover your views are baloney compared to reality and other people's views
finally you see that perspective, truth and wisdom are relative
all one can hope to do is enjoy the fact of being a small mind in a huge world
to consider oneself anything other than lost and confuzed is hubris
any world view, or identity, opinion, perspective or fact that is harmful is a rock in the shoe of your mind. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 11:07:03 AM |
the first things you know are things people tell you
then you make your own views from what you have been told
then you discover your views are baloney compared to reality and other people's views
finally you see that perspective, truth and wisdom are relative
all one can hope to do is enjoy the fact of being a small mind in a huge world
to consider oneself anything other than lost and confuzed is hubris
Indeed. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 11:10:18 AM | said nothing about misconceptions. what i was referring to is an individuals difficulty with being objective, and seeing past their own PREconceptions when dealing with other people. the profiles are valid. the problem is that psychiatrists often have trouble applying them. not always, just often. try reading them. your statements make it pretty obvious that you didn't. sounds to me like you have become enamoured with the term, and enjoy applying it to yourself.
as far as bipolar disorder goes, the difficulty they have in controlling their moods doesn't always mean they can't control their actions. i have known several people with this disorder, and they often function fairly well in public. it's their private lives that are totally chaotic. once again, it's a matter of degree.
once again, agrees with random. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 11:14:08 AM | Simply because I regard therapy as a joke in no way implys that I maintain a static viewpoint or opinion. I prefer to do my own research and draw my on conclusions.
I spent several years with these "professionals" who I twisted and spun at the end of my finger leading them to believe whatever I wanted them to believe.
My file by the time I was of age was filled with conflicting diagnosis. None was any closer to having any concept of what was really going on. I did make one attempt to bring one into my world and laughed at me, much as sid did earlier in this thread.
Although, my last therapist suggested that I go into therapy as a career. She felt that my understanding of the concepts would lead me to success. She found that when she tried explain something, I already knew what she was going to say. She did say that I needed to be medicated for the rest of my life.
@sid
I did read your posts they held nothing that I hadn't already read. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 12:34:19 PM | Good post, Sid. Thanks for the new textbook! lol.... Scary, but it describes some of the ladies I've dated ... even if two were bi-polar. Like someone else asked ... how about something on neurotic behaviour? ...just to balance things out?
Not likely that anyone on POF ... or on the planet for that matter ... couldn't find several traits in themselves. Be more worried of that one who displays none of them.
What I most object to is labelling based in the generalizations spouted in "one-size-fits-all" theories in psychanalyst textbooks. Suppose that's where the paranoia crowd of post 911 came up with profiling?
Steve | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 2:23:06 PM | this thread makes me laugh and those who wrote the list make me laugh even more, just for the simple fact that if i was look at every person i know friend or foe, 90% of them would be defined as a sociopath or psychopath. So, in a world full of crazy, who the f**k really knows what crazy is.
Heck im probably a sociopath, (by this definition) and so is 90% of those in this forum , as well as most of those reading it.
Just an opinion tho.
lol | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 2:40:13 PM | Well msreddress certainly falls into the catagory of "Superiority Complex". reddress, with all due respect, for someone who apparently gets nothing out of what you characterize as the constant drivel and slop of the forums, you sure spend a lot of time in here posting and presumably reading as well.
What does that say about you?  | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/12/2005 3:17:30 PM | I say everyone is entitled to an opinion and since you dont know me
yours has little impact upon me.
I am hardly superior... I am sorry you take it that way but how you injest things is not my concern.
I am a woman who is in control of herself and her life.
This is obviously a turn off of for you... which makes no difference to me
to be honest about it.
You are a man looking for a throphy, I am not interested in anyone like that
on any level... so this makes your opinion of me even less concern.
Why I am here is none of your business if you want me to be honest about it.
any more questions?
haha | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/13/2005 7:49:20 PM | Well, I think a problem with a thread like this is that most people don't know enough about psychology to determine if they are in the presence of a psycho/sociopath. I think it is more likely that most people would label a person a psycho if they find one single instance of one single trait posted here. Such things are very common. Amateur chumps read a single page of a cheap psychology book and think they understand human behaviour. I don't see the purpose of labelling. Isn't it just easier to say, if a person is a**** then get away from them?
Oh yeah, it's about time eccentric got banned! | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/13/2005 8:16:13 PM | < ------- this girl knows one when she sees one
lol
I think I put him in his place.. least till he found some new enemies and people
to call names...lol
just think of the lucky lady to find that work... complete with his toys :)
what a nice future
(barf) | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/13/2005 8:43:37 PM | | Well thank you for that! I was almost sure I was normal. No I have to face the fact that I am a psychopath. I think I am more of a sociopath. I can't tell anymore. Why don't you tell me. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/13/2005 10:23:30 PM |
I think it is more likely that most people would label a person a psycho if they find one single instance of one single trait posted here.
All you have to do is read the rest of the damn list and see that having one or two or three of those things is not uncommon.... it's if you have more than what's normal.... and the more you have... the more you fit into a classification for said group.
Unfortunately too many people apparently simply can't be bothered to read, so they spout out, "I've got like 90 percent of that stuff! Oh my God, I've got whatever that list thingy says I've got derrrr".
You don’t have to have a degree in psychology in order to understand a simple evaluative checklist. However, at the same time you should not jump to conclusions about yourself or others just simply based on said checklist…..
Misunderstandings come from ignorance and ignorance is oftentimes the result of a willful act to stay ignorant. Self imposed, in other words.
She was trying to help out by getting people to think and question the bullshit that gets spewed around the forums, as-well-as our so called ‘real life’. | |
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| To:sidheanwwyn
Posted: 5/13/2005 10:26:11 PM | sidheanwwyn:
Your forum was so true, it explain my X-boyfriend all the way he was the kind of person that seemed sooo smart always had something to say of a comment to give very critical and judgemental,He thought he was above all other people and was self centered and very selfish,He has been in and out of trouble since he was 12,and he is in prison now!Foe selling drugs. He never thought he had enough, or enough would never be enoough! He was dependant, and clingy and very very very possesive and controling! unsatisfiable and very very very abusive but if you just met him you would think he was the most intellectual, smartest , funniest, charming quick witted ass hole you ever met untill you live with him... His dad killed his mother and then took his life and he does not feel sorry for his mom or any one else in this world! except hisself! I dont know if it is entirly true but sometimes the apple dont fall far from the tree! I think you should get the information out to other young women and all women it would have beeen nice to have long time ago, but a person still has to learn for themselves but mabe this could help vefore it would be to late!!
GREAT FORUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NICOLE | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/13/2005 11:24:22 PM | Sid
I would like to see some other posts on more female related things
that are common to females...
not sure what, maybe depression ? hmm not sure
thanks for the info on this thread. you sure did lots of typing or pasting | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/14/2005 7:30:33 AM | awww, dragon, i doubt you fit the profile, at least not from what i've seen of you anyway.
msreddress, i'll try later to find some of the stuff you are talking about. glad that guy is gone. there are a few men in here that, if you read their posts, seem to fit the profile. i posted this to help people who are dealing with this kind of person more easily identify them. also figured this thread would bring them out of the woodwork. of course, the ones who actually fit the profile would never admit it, preferring instead to use it as an excuse to put down others.
giggleparts is right. i have been seeing a lot of people who respond to this forum posting silly things like "one of those fits me, so i must be a ...", or "those things apply to everyone." they don't. if these folks bothered to READ the whole thread, they would see the part that says that most people have one or two of these traits. you have to evaluate the person on ALL of the points, and use the scoring system in one of the posts. the average person rates a 5, with a score of 30 or more needed to form a diagnosis of sociopathy or psychopathy. read, people. | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/14/2005 11:49:50 PM | | I have read up about, alot of this stuff.....If I was younger and was going to change,my carrer ....I'd become a criminal profiler..... | |
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| characteristics of a sociopath/psychopath
Posted: 5/15/2005 12:10:15 AM | @sid........ah very good plan.
genuis if ya ask me... lol
so what is a common crazy woman syndrome? The men say there are lots of crazy women online.
I like these learning threads... they are more useful than people realize as we are in an enviroment here that can bring us into contact with.. well... basically anyone.
Thanks for posting info... keep it coming
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