: People say NOTHING CAN BE DONE.

Except for one thing: that's fast becoming untrue!

The mere fact that some scientists know as much as they do about what's wrong with the brain functioning of a sociopath means that solving the problem is no longer an impossible and obscure wish -- it's moving within the realm of concrete possibility. : As soon as large numbers of sociopaths begin to be treated in a way that actually helps them, that corrects as much as possible the chaos of misdirected signals in their confused and disorganized brains.

And then what is needed is a form of therapy that in addition to that, by necessity, teaches them to cope with the resulting maelstrom of emotion and impression that was formerly impossible, so that they can put it in order and start to develop the heretofore dormant and silent segments of their brains and better use those formerly mixed-up areas where no recognizable order ruled...

THEN THE OTHERS MAY BEGIN TO NOTICE WHAT IS GOING ON...and they will know at least this much: instead of "the kiss of death," a diagnosis of ASPD (the DSM-IV way of saying sociopathy or psychopathy) will lead someplace; that there will be things done that actually make a difference. : Crippled as they are neurologically, sociopaths are yet shrewd, and they're always looking out for themselves in a way similar to that of a loner predator. Seeing others like them actually benefiting from treatment will have to start persuading them that there's something to gain in going for help after all.

Not being rejected or met with "We can't help you; you're evil incarnate," or the equivalent thinly disguised in euphemistic psychology jargon; NOT being met with a situation where they'd have to substitute symptoms of an "acceptable" illness in place of those they bear in secret -- that would almost certainly, if gradually, have an effect: if a sociopath can clearly see a benefit coming from admitting his or her real situation, there's nothing to stop him or her from doing just that. : It's already started to happen, if in a tiny, barely perceptible trickle. : Right now, all science has at the ready for them is to use various types of preexisting medication given in attempts to counteract the chaotic way the brain of a sociopath functions. That and types of talk therapy carefully altered to avoid the pitfalls that have in the past caused regular therapies to make sociopaths worse instead of better.

But the more that scientists such as Robert Hare and his colleagues delve into and experiment with the new types of brain scans and learning what makes sociopaths tick like human bombs, the more likely that it becomes with each passing year that a means will soon be isolated to defuse those bombs. : The primary source of a sociopath's infamous rage is frustration, of a sort so alien and so extreme that almost no one else can understand what it means.

Once they start getting taken seriously, that frustration, and the wild rage it provokes, will lessen, and since it is a primary source of the constant distrust that makes regular therapy fail sociopaths, the defusing of that rage and its maddening causes will be a huge step in the right direction.

TRUE ACCOUNT FROM A FORMER PARTNER OF A SOCIOPATH:

I have been researching sociopathology because I am in my 3rd week of ending a relationship with a narcissist/sociopath. I truly feel bad labeling him, but I truly was astounded to see everything I experienced and more on this site. From what I have learned, a sociopath is centered around him or herself. For the sociopath, only their feelings exist. (So pitiful, isn't it)? Also, a sociopath tries to control his/her world and when this control is beyond their grasp, they rage. As far as I have read, the sociopath could have been unable to control or understand events in his childhood and lives in constant fear. (I need to understand this better). If they cannot control their ordered universe, they break down into fear/rage. Unfortunately, the sociopath does not see his behavior as abnormal. They think that creating havoc in their lives and the lives of their loved ones and people who love them is normal. Their lives must be in constant crisis/control. Therefore, the sociopath cannot be controlled, and in milder cases lives throughout life on the borderline of insanity...maybe not far from it. They will not admit they are disordered because THAT IS THE WAY THEY ARE. This is as far as I have gotten in understanding this personality disorder. I have read that sociopaths tend to get a little better as they age, but their narcissism, ego and inward preoccupation remains. All I know is that the further I am from it, the clearer I can see it. My sister is a doctor and she told me a year ago that this man I was seeing was pathological. I just could not figure out what she was saying. I kept telling my family that he had been through so much, yadayadayada. Then his self-pity, world against me attitude, rages at small inconveniences of life, inconsolability, drinking, drug abuse, lying, sexual bullying, lack of empathy, sheer selfishness and physical abuse of me and his Dad became just too over the top for me, I wised up. This was not a man who was mentally healthy, and nothing...not even the realization of what he had done to me or his father got through to him. It was always..."It was because you did this, or I grew up with that". Not a word about "how can I stop being like this". Sorry for rambling. Oh, before I forget. I set him up with an appointment for psychiatric help. I was so hopeful. He told me that he left the psychiatrists office because there were unsavory people there and he just was not going to put food in the mouths of the doctor's children. How intelligent and thoughtful. Especially when so many people love you enough to pray that you get help. Believe me, it is all up to that person to get help. No one wants to desert their fellow man. No woman wants to leave the man she loves. But God made men the head of women, men are supposed to be close to God. The man you love is supposed to love you as himself. Let him find his true God one day. The sociopath thinks of himself as God. Bless you, mbme Sociopaths normally do not agree or accept treatment because they tend to think that everyone else has a problem, but not themselves. They also tend to believe that the world is out to get them, and that everyone owes them something.

= So, is there ever any hope to get a sociopath into treatment? =

Yes. Now there is.

There are stories of people diagnosed as sociopaths who did improve to some degree, with the most ceaseless and diligent help. But since the vast majority of this huge body of people (there are more than three hundred million sociopaths on Earth) cannot get that kind of attention, they turn to abusing those they envy, and often to crime.

All of that is certainly vengeance: "If I can't have any of this joy in life, why should you?" This is the real reason sociopaths lash out at strong and kind people. No matter what they say, they know that inside, they are always empty and damaged beyond repair.

Only in neuroscience is there hope for these incomplete people. The key lies in awakening the brain, which is risky because sociopaths are much more prone to seizures than the rest of the population, and that -- an uncontrolled blast of electrical discharge spreading through the brain and causing violent convulsions -- is likely to be the first response from brain pathways that, after years or even decades of silence, are suddenly flooded with impulses.

But if the devices of neurosurgeons can be tweaked to avoid this shock, and all else related to this idea is workable, it's feasible that small electronic devices planted in the brain (these already exist, but are not yet being used for mental illness) could open up a closed connection.

That leaves us with the problem of whether a lifetime of scattered information can ever be set into order. Probably the best that could be hoped for would be a kind of retraining -- like what is now done with stroke survivors and head injury patients -- that would be both intensive and compensatory.

One of the things that would be necessary would be to try to socialize the person whose congenital birth defect made such a thing completely impossible before.

Whatever intervention is used, be it drugs or computer chips or what have you, it would probably -- I'd say certainly -- be excruciating for the patient at first.

With no knowledge of how to cope with the emotions the rest of the world has been dealing with all their lives, the recovering sociopath would be rendered as vulnerable as a baby.

Which makes sense, because some of the most basic aspects of the human mind would be developing from the primordial stasis in which they had remained since birth!

A person thus treated would never be fully normal, but the human brain is amazing in the way it adapts and continues to develop all through life.

And given the utterly joyless and meaningless existence a sociopath leads, any improvement is better than none.

Where did you hear that a sociopath is more prone to seizures than the general population. Speaking of general, I think there are way more sociopaths than is known. Why wouldn't there be?If there are four million, there are forty million. There are many more with anxiety disorders, than reported, and there are degrees and variances, and a chemical reason for variances, which gives hope for a cure