Is there a sociopath in your life?

[alwaysLearning]

sounds like my ex fuk it took me ages to realise i was being used.... hooks up with someone elkse and still rings and asks for money and favours.

edit: she calls it friends but wont answer the phone if i needa talk to her

Good that you dumped her. That doesn't even sound like a relationship. It just sounds like a 'user'.

Sometimes girls are hypnotising with their good looks. One way to get around that is to imagine how you would respond if they looked like a disgusting mess of flesh and bones. Like, imagining their internals on the outside. (seeing their blood, face, veins etc--truly disgusting stuff) Then ask yourself if you would let a person who looked and behaved like that abuse you in any way. Ofcourse you wouldn't.

So yeah, don't harm others and equally so, don't let others harm you.

But yeah, you already know that hence she is your ex now.

Hope what I said above doesn't sound too ruthless because it isn't meant to be as such...it's just that I notice that beautiful women sometimes can get away with murder and I don't think that is right. (I think it's better to go for quality rather than just good looks--which fades to uglyness after a few years/decades anyway).

 

[white_crane]

Here's a sociopathy checklist to divert your attention

http://www.sociopathicstyle.com/traits/classic.htm

I find it odd that someone who has been in "clinical practice for 25 years" still refers to these people as sociopaths. Sociopath is an obsolete term. As is psychopath. The current term is antisocial personality (DSM-IV), although there is disagreement on these being the same thing. The psychopathy checklist revised is a diagnosis tool that has been in use for some time.

In any case, most people will exhibit at least some of these 'traits', therefore it would not be a good idea to label everyone with a few 'symptoms', as a 'sociopath'.

 

[nunthewiser]

Sometimes girls are hypnotising with their good looks. One way to get around that is to imagine how you would respond if they looked like a disgusting mess of flesh and bones. Like, imagining their internals on the outside. (seeing their blood, face, veins etc--truly disgusting stuff)

holy moly


im gunna have to sleep with the light on now


seek medical attention

 

[alwaysLearning]

holy moly


im gunna have to sleep with the light on now


seek medical attention

hahaha...it's actually a buddhist practice used to decrease attachment/craving.

There are many such visualisations. Another one is about death itself and imaging what happens to the body after death and before that the aging process itself.

Most young people don't understand what happens or will happen to their body when they go from 20 to 90 years of age. So these visualisations help to put things back into perspective, so that we can focus our lives on things that truly matter.

These visualisations are not for everyone though.

 

[Tink]

LOL @ Nun

I think everyone crosses path with one of these in their lives - we live and learn

 

[Calliope]

I think everyone crosses path with one of these in their lives - we live and learn

In your case I suppose it was Captain Hook.

 

[Tink]

I have seen it in male and female

Its up to us whether we choose to say yes or no..

 

[Grinder]

I find it odd that someone who has been in "clinical practice for 25 years" still refers to these people as sociopaths. Sociopath is an obsolete term. As is psychopath. The current term is antisocial personality (DSM-IV), although there is disagreement on these being the same thing. The psychopathy checklist revised is a diagnosis tool that has been in use for some time.

In any case, most people will exhibit at least some of these 'traits', therefore it would not be a good idea to label everyone with a few 'symptoms', as a 'sociopath'.

True. However, it does make it alot easier for the majority to gain a better understanding of the situation when the term Sociopath is used. It's been etched in society for such a long time that I it would be hard to change.

If you combine DSM-IV with someone who is bipolar & who also has a touch of schziphrenia but is devilishy charming & cunning to others, you will wish they were only a sociopath.

 

[Mr J]

Trust me, it can be a very draining experience just to be with these people.

What people? You haven't described "sociopaths", just the stereotype that society assumes. From the sounds of it, you have simply described someone with a serious addiction that will do what they can to feed it. Now you've started the ball rolling, a number of other people will inevitably chime in with their experiences, mislabelling these people as sociopaths. I see a lot of herd behaviour around here.

 

[Sir Burr]

Sociopaths will not necessarily seek to damage others, because they realise that in turn can damage themselves.

Yes. When cornered by "others" will backpedal with the slickest of tongues and deceit.

 

[mastatrada]

Sometimes girls are hypnotising with their good looks. One way to get around that is to imagine how you would respond if they looked like a disgusting mess of flesh and bones. Like, imagining their internals on the outside. (seeing their blood, face, veins etc--truly disgusting stuff) .

Sounds as though you want to skin them alive lol! are you sure you're not a sociopath?

 

[GumbyLearner]

It's a really scary situation when your pursued by an "unrequited" love.
It's even worse when you work with them.

My only advice is to get a P.O. Box.
If that doesn't work move house.
If that doesn't work change jobs.
If that doesn't work leave the State.
If that doesn't work leave the country.

It reminds me of that movie "What about Bob?" with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfus.

 

[Naked shorts]

The only sociopaths i have dealt with have been stoners (lived with them while at uni).

This leads me to ask the question, do the sociopaths that others have dealt with have bad habits that cause them to act this way?

p.s. I should also note, not all stoners I have encountered act like sociopaths.

 

[Mr J]

Yes. When cornered by "others" will backpedal with the slickest of tongues and deceit.

This isn't necessarily true. Everyone is trying to place "sociopaths" into a neat little category here, and it just doesn't work that way. The world is not black and white, it's a big grey mess.

 

[Sir Burr]

This isn't necessarily true. Everyone is trying to place "sociopaths" into a neat little category here, and it just doesn't work that way. The world is not black and white, it's a big grey mess.

Yes, not necessarily true but add other signs and it might be true. What do you think of the list posted above?

Would you consider someone who had the majority of those traits (repeatedly) to be a sociopath or a grey area?

 

[gav]

It's a really scary situation when your pursued by an "unrequited" love.
It's even worse when you work with them.

My only advice is to get a P.O. Box.
If that doesn't work move house.
If that doesn't work change jobs.
If that doesn't work leave the State.
If that doesn't work leave the country.

It reminds me of that movie "What about Bob?" with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfus.

Well, I had to do the top 4 out of 5 on that list (only one I haven't done is leave country). You can add 'change mobile phone number' to that list too. In fact I had to change it twice.

I was with that person for over 2yrs, and it was the most miserable time of my life. Word cannot express how low I felt. She had friends in local law enforcement which made my life hell after I finally ended it with her. The feeling of weakness and helplessness was unbearable. She had many of the characteristics from that list.

The only other person I believe I know who would truly be a sociopath is a friend I went to school with. He did not have many friends at all at school. It was obvious he was very 'different'. I didn't judge him, and he did not judge me. I guess that is how our friendship started. It was quite amazing to hear his thought process... The only way I could describe him is that his personality and thought process is almost exactly that of the main character from the TV show "Dexter".

My g/f has gone back to uni to study Primary teaching. As part of the course, she teaches at a Primary school 3 days per week. She was telling me she believes one of her year 6 students is a sociopath. He often talks about killing Jews and the weak, draws swastika symbols and murder pictures. He shows no signs of physical pain whatsoever when he is hurt, seems detached from reality.

 

[Schmuckie]

I worked with the criminally insane for a while about two decades ago. Some of the psychiatrists I worked with were very careful to differentiate between "good" and "bad" psychopaths. A classic example, according to them, of a "good" psychopath were test pilots. These were people who were successful at what they did because they had absolutely no fear, which in turn was because couldn't truly appreciate consequences.

We've all read about some CEOs who are psychopaths, which is everywhere in the popular press.

 

[Mr J]

There's a difference between "sociopaths" and "psychopaths".

 

[Julia]

Is there, Mr J? Could you expand on that perhaps?
Googled it and this was one of many that came up.

Sep 20, 2007
Antisocial Behavior: Tomatoe or Tomahto?, public domain
One of the reasons the terms psychopathy, sociopathy and antisocial personality disorder (aspd) are so often used interchangeably is that even the experts don't agree.

Psychopathy or Sociopathy?

Dr. Robert Hare, one of the leading experts in the study of psychopathy, suggests that the difference between sociopathy and psychopathy may primarily reflect how the person using these terms views the factors contributing to the antisocial disorder.

More apt to view antisocial behavior as arising from social conflicts, sociologists typically prefer the term sociopath. Whereas, psychologists use the term psychopathy to describe a psychological disorder that is the product of a combination of psychological, biological, genetic and environmental factors (Hare 1999).

 

[awg]

I agree with Julia

There are different schools of thought within the field of Psychiatry

That is one reason it is taking so long to finalize DSM V

One theory doing the rounds recently re Personality Disorders

Is Type, A, B , C...covering the various sub-categories within DSM IV.

I have seen reports written by Psychiatrists that use this terminology

FWIW, my own opinion, these conditions are all spectrum disorders anyway, easy way to explain, range from 0 to 100%

my distinction Sociopath-Psychopath is the extremity and the fact to be classified as a Psychopath would normally require that acts of violence have been committed