How can one understand the sociopath?

Answer 1

Sociopathy is a mental illness misunderstood by most thanks tomisinformation from the media. A sociopath is someone who suffers fromAnti-social Personality Disorder, which means that they do not feelnormal human emotions; they lack remorse, shame or guilt; and theiremotions are shallow.

To answer your question, they are extremely rational, but withoutfeeling. If you want someone completely gone, it is rational to killthem, isn't it? Yet it is human empathy which dictates to us that thisis wrong. A sociopath is uncontrolled by human emotion, and anyappearance of this is a facade with an ulterior motive. This condition is not curable, as you cannot force someone to 'feel'something, and it is a chronic condition that neither gets better norworse. For more information on sociopathy do a web search. I findgoogle most helpful. www.Google.com

If you are a sociopath, you probably are resistant to the idea of change.

Robert Hare, PhD., says that the personality of a sociopath(psychopath) is essentially set in stone, so to speak, by adulthood,and incredibly hard to change.

Recent research on the disparities of brain function in psychopaths/sociopaths yielded some startling results:

Structural and functional hippocampal abnormalities have been previously reported in institutionalized psychopathic and aggressive populations. This study assessed whether prior findings of a right greater than left (R > L) functional asymmetry in caught violent offenders generalize to the structural domain in unsuccessful, caught psychopaths.

Methods:

Left and right hippocampal volumes were assessed using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 23 control subjects, 16 unsuccessful psychopaths, and 12 successful (uncaught) community psychopaths and transformed into standardized space.

Results:

Unsuccessful psychopaths showed an exaggerated structural hippocampal asymmetry (R > L) relative both to successful psychopaths and control subjects (p < .007) that was localized to the anterior region. This effect could not be explained by environmental and diagnostic confounds and constitutes the first brain imaging analysis of successful and unsuccessful psychopaths.

Conclusions:

Atypical anterior hippocampal asymmetries in unsuccessful psychopaths may reflect an underlying neurodevelopmental abnormality that disrupts hippocampal-prefrontal circuitry, resulting in affect dysregulation, poor contextual fear conditioning, and insensitivity to cues predicting capture.

Keywords: Hippocampus, psychopathy, MRI, trauma, neurodevelopment, asymmetry.

So it is understandable why many people don't think anything at all can be done to change the sociopath, but in fact, that isn't true. Some keep trying to help them; giving up is not an option. Sociopaths cause too much trouble.

A good therapist can prevent you from victimizing him/her withoutvictimizing you in the process. And, as mentioned above, recent studies made byneurosurgeons and other medical experts have finally begun to pinpointthe things that go awry in the brain that are part of what causessociopathy.

In some cases, such medications as Depakote, Topamax, Risperdal, Dilantin, Pentobarbitol, andeven Lithium are being prescribed, and although some individualtherapists prescribe Ativan and the like, much more research needs Tobe done there on ultimate benefit of drug treatment. It is alreadyknown that drug treatment must be augmented by a very structured andpositive-oriented talk therapy.

Sociopaths can get somewhere in a specialized form of talk therapy if the clinician isself-confident and relaxed, firm but never authoritarian orself-important. It must not ever become an ego-contest.

Once theprocess gets far enough along so that the sociopath is actually able tofeel even a tiny flicker of genuine happiness, that is an impetus thatwill grow stronger if the process continues to move forward.

But a sociopath seeking this must be warned that at some point quitewell along in the process of therapy, there will be an interval inwhich all the newly developing strength is called upon to endure verydeep and long-buried pain. Sticking to it through that takes a verystrong will.

The therapist must repeatedly remind the patient that the process willalso reward him or her with better and better feelings, ultimatelybecoming its own reward: that terrible emptinesscalled 'boredom' or 'static' beingreplaced by feeling, both painful and joyous.

In cases where brain damage is too severe to permit of this on its own,new developments in technology in the next decades will bringimplantable devices that may be able to be used in the brain, alongwith other means including synthetic replacement neurotransmitters, tocarry nerve impulses along paths formerly silent and unused in thesociopath's brain.

Although such devices would have to be used withextreme care to avoid causing violent convulsive seizures, some of theanti-convulsant medications that are already being prescribed tosociopaths in test trials could possibly prevent this unwelcomeside-effect.

In the present, therapy is hard to come by for anybody notextremely wealthy, and for sociopaths, many of whom are unable to work,it is even that much harder to find help. But it exists. And, lookingat some observations posted at other similar questions by others, onecan see that a very popular opinion is that sociopaths, psychopaths,are all "evil" and undeserving of help!

One very important point, therefore, is that, most certainly, no onehelps sociopaths by repeatedly calling them 'evil'! That kind ofresponse cannot possibly help anyone.

Yes, of course sociopaths arouse great anger in people; one must takecare of oneself and make steps so as not to allow oneself to bevictimized. But HATRED is another issue: if hate takes you over, you become that much more like the sociopath.

A sociopath before treatmentcannot trust anyone and must learn the fundaments of trust andinteraction between people. No one who is persuaded to believe that heor she is just plain bad can sustain any hope for change.

It becomes avicious cycle: the sociopath, being told he or she is evil and cannotbe helped, gives up, and in frustration and anger lashes out again atpeople, and in response to that, people say that their original pointis proven.

The main reason sociopaths don't usually seek help is that they can'ttrust, rather than that they like being as they are. Plus, they canoften sense exactly what sort of a response any call for help on theirpart is most likely to elicit from professionals and lay folk alike.

Sociopaths are not breezing along in paradise. It isn't all a game.It's a truly miserable existence. And it can be made better.

Being born with a genetic marker that, for reasons neuroscientistsdon't yet know, causes the cerebral cortex to process information in achaotic way, and to miss much of the emotional information that wouldnormally shape the growing child's mind and start the process ofsocialization.

Robert Hare (see his book,"Without Conscience") worked with existing EEG and brain-scan (PETscan?) technology to show that sociopaths do not process emotionalinformation the way other people do.

It is believed that in childhood,a born sociopath learns to direct such input through other routes inthe cerebral cortex, but as of yet no one knows what blocks theimpulses and signals from following their normal route.

Corticalunderarousal, underactive sympathetic division of the autonomic nervoussystem, and brain waves while awake (on EEG) that resemble thealpha-waves of light sleep, are all common or universal symptoms ofprimary psychopaths.

In addition, more and more research shows thatpsychopaths lack the neurotransmitter Oxytocin (secreted by thepituitary gland) and often have only half as much Vasopressin(antidiuretic hormone) as most people do. Abnormalities are thus notconfined to the cerebral cortex; they can be found in the cingulategyrus and the entire limbic system as well.

ANYTHING THAT AFFECTSNEUROLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE FETUS CAN POSSIBLY CAUSE THESEDEFICIENCIES. In addition to this, a child's brain developsexponentially after birth, and early development requires physicalcontact and stimulation in order to form the basis for interpersonalbonding; secondary psychopaths are thought to have lacked this; refersto Reactive Attachment Disorder too.

It may notbe "curable" yet, but it most certainly isn't as hopeless as so manypeople say. There is therefore nothing to be gained and much to be lostwhen therapists and lay folk try to ostracize sociopaths from the humanrace entirely! Sensationalism and superstition will only preventprogress.

This was written on another question on the same essential topic as this one, by a self-confessed sociopath (other than me!) --

• Sociopaths, though born that way, are people too. To avoid anentire group of people is absurd. That's like saying, "Since thesepeople have dark skin, everyone should completely avert themselves fromthem." I am a moderate sociopath, and though part of me doesn't want tochange, another does. Many times it is really entertaining to see howstupid people can be, especially when they're so gullible as to believeevery word that mellifluously flows from my lips. Yes, I am parasitic,but even so, there are some people I would like to stop hurting. Ican't find any websites that can provide a way to help my sociopathy.Maybe people like you should stop your self-victimisation and starttrying to actually help people like me! I knew I was a sociopath beforethe age of ten but have only recently had it officially diagnosed. I ameighteen years old now, and I have been lying and destroying others'sanity for a long time. So, please post some helpful tidbits that mighthelp sociopaths resist the sweet urges we get when we encounter weakhuman beings. When you cut us, do we not bleed? When you kill us, do wenot die? Do you honestly think that you're being lied to andmanipulated when we sincerely ask for help. Listen to yourselves! Thisis the internet; ergo, you're safe from our fortified mental grasp.

The essay that follows was written in another answer by anotherself-admitted sociopath, who actually might not be a sociopath.

Stillanother person added the brief comment to that effect after her tragic essay.

• umm... i kind of am one... just so y'all know, it's not so muchfun being one either. i read that sentence up there, "Incapable of realhuman attachment to another." i don't even know what that is, i see it,i approximate it... it's like being outside a door looking through adirty window and watching re-runs of people I've seen in love or withchildren or with friends, and scratching, sometimes banging at theglass to get in and... nothing. I'm fond of people in every sense ofthe word, their little quirks and habits, the way they see life, exceptif they went away it wouldn't bother me much other than finding someoneelse to be fond of. i don't have friends, i only date military menbecause they're ok with only having a girlfriend for a couple monthsand i tell them in advance i won't wait for them... i don't know whatelse to do to limit the damage i inflict on others just as a result ofthem knowing me, short of moving to the mountains... but i still movebetween 2-5 times a year :( it's kind of hard walking around knowingi'll never have what i see making other people so happy and runningwhen i can tell someone is getting close just because i don't want tohurt them more later down the road... i'd like it a lot to settle down,i WANT to be able to feel more with people, but it's hard to miss whatyou never had. i want what i THINK it would feel like... it'd be easyto give in and let someone stay because I'm so lonely... but hey, i'vewritten enough, just know i try to be a responsible little sociopath, iwon't ever get married or have kids, i practice safe sex, i won't stayin one city for long... everything you all take for granted i willnever let myself have just because i WANT to take it for granted. beinglike this won't go away so hopefully i can limit the amount of hatethrown my way by limiting my interaction with people, i don't know whatelse to do. and you all might not believe this, but i am sorry,hopefully i can speak for the other people who have damaged your lives.

Comment: The above testimony is clearly not indicative of asociopath because she seems to make efforts to keep from harmingothers, even if it doesn't benefit herself.

One of the things that would be necessary in the attempted recovery of a sociopath using neurosurgery or medication would be to then try tosocialize the person whose congenital birth defect made such a thingcompletely impossible before. Sociopaths cannot be "resocialized" because they were never socialized to begin with; the parts of the brain that handle that did not develop at all in the sociopath.

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

With noknowledge of how to cope with the emotions the rest of the world hasbeen dealing with all their lives, the recovering sociopath would berendered as vulnerable as a baby.

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

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

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

The matter of missing neurotransmitters in a sociopath is, ofcourse, another problem. Would "waking up" the cerebral cortexeventually stimulate production of these? Or would they have to besynthesized?

Only time will tell.

SabrinaSingularity with several other writers.

Suggestion: Better to sign in; better to be a name rather than a number.