Ever met a Psychopath or do you know one ?

I do think I've heard what Roamy is saying - that Psycopaths are "born" and Sociopaths are "made".


You know, there is no cure for Psychopathy...no medication...no therapy...nothing. Psychopaths best hope is to learn to control their impulses.

 

"for example, if attending a funeral, a psychopath would correctly mimic the same expressions of sadness of other mourners, but then makes sexual advances toward the grieving widow..."

if the widow looked like this chick, you bet your ass I'd be pounding it



dead husband= available

:2thumbsup:

 

Yes I've crossed paths with a number of pyschopaths/ sociopaths.

I'm not sure if its only 1% of the population. Maybe be 2% or 4% in some parts of the pop.
Maybe some people become psychopaths in certain contexts.

My view is that, once you are certain you are dealing with one, dont bother to reason with them. They dont respond to reasoning, it doesnt give them a "thrill". Really the only way is to beat them at their own game.

My head teacher in school was one. Some maniac in my social circle was one. And an extremely toxic (non) friend was one. All times, I waited for my moment, then decided to inflict the level of humiliation they deserved. These were truly dispicable people. Esp the supposed friend, who had some character facets I wont go into here...

I'm generally very chilled, so maybe I sometimes attract them. So I have to change my tone to deal with them.

 

Aerianne .Yes, I'd like this thread to not focus entirely upon the negatives of Socio/Psychopathy tho its important to share those experiences too. Theres a growing body of anecdotal evidence of people with these disorders becoming high achievers,turning negatives to their advantage for themselves & society.

Theres the guy whos a much sort-after Brain Surgeon in the UK. Another whos a top Defense Barrister. Socio/Psychopaths are found, proportionately,in larger numbers in commerce & Government where their competitiveness gives them an edge. Likewise in the military,not violent merciless crazies but people able to calculate threat & risk under pressure & act decisively & are highly valued.

I'd recommend a book ,'The Wisdom of Psychopaths' by Kevin Dutton Phd, that examines the disorder fairly but gives a positive message too. Unlike most that say that Socio/Psychopaths have no empathy ,for example,Dutton claims that they are highly empathic-in a particular way. Socio/Psychopaths use 'cold' empathy to read peoples feelings & reactions in a way that non-paths cannot. People without the disordre rely on 'hot' empathy,hot in the sense that its charged with emotion & therefore is likely to be more subjective & less accurate.

 

I have Bipolar, ptsd, and severe anxiety...and I was just recently in a psychiatric hospital for 5 days so I not only do I know psychopaths, I am one aswell. =)

 

My advice is this: generally, it is best to avoid most sociopaths. Make as little noise as possible when leaving--just cut the psychopath out of your life completely, and don't tell anybody why.

It can be very difficult to differentiate between who is antisocial and who isn't as many psychopaths learn how to adapt and pass for a typical member of society when they are still quite young.

 

Kevin Dutton ,Author of 'The Wisdom of Psychopaths', a book that examines the nature of psychopathy but also seeks to highlight positives in the condition.[ame]http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NSCWW_xRrI

 

The video paints anything / anybody it disagrees with as a 'psychopath. There are more people on that spectrum than 1% . As you know, it's not about killing people or dressing up in your mothers clothing. Infact, this is a disgusting use of the term 'psychopath'
If you want a serious discussion - then don't post BS videos.

 

ya thats exactly what i was sayin' aery

 

yeah my step-dad's a psycopath - not exaggerating here, or being melodramatic. obviously he's not the film cliche sort, just the run of the mill normal sort. he doesn't slice anyone open physically but he can't actually interact with people without being unbelievably insulting.

he's got no comprehension of people's feelings/emotions, gets off on being a nasty nasty bugger but doesn't understand why no-one likes it, is weirdly manipulative... it's incredibly difficult to deal with, evidenced by the fact i'm literally the only person he's not driven away - and even then he acts like if i don't like the way he speaks (he only ever talks in insults) then it's something wrong with me.

it's kind of funny in a sort of weird way, but it's also kind of tragic. he got prostate cancer a couple of years back and simply had no-one giving him support - not his own family, no friends, no one from work, not my late mum's family, an absolute zero for people who cared (apart from stupid ole me) - because he's driven everyone, everyone away... and he doesn't quite get how/why.

of course, he didn't realise how depressing it should have been - he has no emotion.

seriously, it's pretty messed up.

 

its not stupid ta care,but you should never allow anyone ta be abusive to you.mind yourself.

 

Kudos to you unedited. There is a level of interaction with psychopaths that can be had, but like Roamy said, mind yourself and don't be mentally and emotionally abused. I guess you understand him. He really can't help himself other than to learn to control his impulses better.

 

Many legitimate sociopaths seem to be oppossed to the idea of keeping people around whom they cannot exercise power and control over.

 

I'm uncertain which of the two videos Ive posted you are referring to. Of the two I prefer the Kevin Dutton one,the others a bit simplistic,its statements sweeping & I dispute the section on 'Superficiality'. Both vidios, however,are fairly typical of the literiture on the subject Ive seen. I see nothing 'disgusting' in them.

Neither Video 'disagrees' with anything or anyone,nor do they paint 'anybody' as a psychopath. I have taken the 1% of the population to mean Diagnosed Psychopaths,the rest of us being on the remainder of the 'spectrum' Dutton refers to. I suspect that 'dressing up in your mothers clothing' may be a Freudian slip on your part as it has nothing to do with psychopathy!

Yes I do want a serious discussion,do you think you could be serious in your critisism ?

 

what do you mean when you say legitimate? sociopaths

 

You know, I'm actually not quite sure why I used a superlative there.

I guess that I just wanted to stress that it's fairly difficult to spot an actual sociopath.

 

Interesting. I suppose that the attraction is that you have something they have not got & want,or that they're just curious.

Ive a similar age male relative,we were very close as kids. Since then we've gone our separate ways & become opporsites in almost every way.Mostly we can't bear to be in the same room together though we've both tried to get on.

He went to work abroad,got married beutiful family, earned a fortune,colour brochure lifestyle! Downside was that he missed the family though we all kept in regular touch-he & I sporadically. I can't say hes a definate Psychopath but being as objective as I can hes gota be close to it on the spectrum.

This guy lies when hes no need to,constantly turns any conversation around to be about himself, is insenitive & I don't think he understands what empathy is. Hes the most charming,friendly guy you'l ever meet & hides an explosive temper. Hes not a team member,has few if any friends & pisses most people off that he finds no use for.

At family gatherings,in his honour,when he visits the UK, Ive seen him tell the same joke to us all three times 'off the belt' because he didnt get enough laughter on the first two attempts ! On two occasions hes got agressive with me for no known reason. First time, I was chatting to a group of older female relatives & he joined us but stayed silent then smacked me in the face. There was a stunned silence in the room. Then he laughed ,slapped me on my back & said it was 'just a joke'. No one was laughing. There was a second time,again at a family gathering but this was stopped by relatives before it got physical. Again no explanation was offered.

I put it down to jealousy because I live nearer our family & see them more often than he does. On neither of the above occasions had he or I had so much as a cross word between us. No warning!

 

Narcissists come really close to Psycopaths on the behavior check list.

 

psychopath is a very loose term in modern society

 

It tends to be used that way, yes.