Why be scared of sociopaths?

Answer 1

See the Related Links for "deviantcrimes.com: sociopathy" to the bottom for the answer.


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.

In her book, Martha Stout expresses the hope that people in general will stop excluding groups of other people as less than human -- ethnic, racial, the disabled, and even the mentally ill -- except for one group among the latter. It's apparently perfectly okay to dismiss one group alone of people as less than human, and she does: the sociopaths. And many other people do, too.

And sociopaths know that. And people whose messed-up brain circuitry makes it almost impossible for them to trust others certainly aren't ever going to try again after getting hit with THAT.

Sociopaths don't always behave as though they're invulnerable. Some have said, "You don't know this, but it hurts to be me." People sneeringly say to this, "Another of your miserable lies!" But it is in fact a miserable truth.

Being angry at them is understandable, but why do people insist on justifying their anger by dehumanizing the object of their rage? Sociopaths may seem like aliens, but they aren't. Perhaps what really galls the others is that when they look at sociopaths, in certain tiny ways they see aspects of themselves, for everyone has some antisocial thoughts.

Also, sociopaths hurt a lot of people. What seems to hurt most is the idea that the sociopath is breezing happily through life having a blast while a trail of wounded victims struggle to put their shattered lives back together.

No sociopath breezes through life. They just know how to make it look like they do. It's part of the sick game they play because they can't do much of anything else, as they are.

If sociopathy is treated instead of ignored and shunned, this won't have to happen.

Those who would have been hurt by sociopaths might not be able to fully appreciate that they escaped harm because neuroscience finally found a way to treat these people who would otherwise have hurt them, but the thing that makes the most difference is that, in the final analysis, they wouldn't have to know.

Just as science understands that epilepsy is not demonic possession, that people with dissociative conditions are not harboring ghosts or devils in their bodies, and that depression is not a "deadly sin," it would and will be able to prove that sociopathy happens for a reason and that it can be dealt with. Sociopaths do very bad things. But branding them all "pure evil" isn't going to help anyone. It's just more hate.

I have commented elsewhere that the human brain is the greatest new frontier in many ways. (Although I certainly have no lack of interest in space.) Sociopaths, along with other "hopeless cases" like people with Alzheimer's disease, Down's syndrome, Asperger's, ADD, ADHD, autism, and the schizophrenias, along with more common disorders such as depression and addiction, and so on, are a mystery, but scientists have a way of hammering away at mysteries until they unravel them, and, be assured, they are well on their way to the core of this one.

And that will benefit everyone.

Answer 2

Sociopaths are scary, yes, but BEING a sociopath can be scary. It is an experience of being alone even in a crowded room.

Even if one is the center of attention. It never touches the ice around one's heart.

These people know something isn't right with them, but they usually have no idea why or what.

If they did, possibly their undying hatred for the luckier, warmer, feeling members of the human race would relent...that is, if something could be done to helpthe sociopaths.

As for immaturity, what is immature on or in a sociopath is actually some parts of the brain. The cerebral cortexof a sociopath is chronically underaroused, and some parts of it that should be active are strangely silent on an EEG (electroencephalogram). Some neurotransmittersare in short supply or missing entirely. So, parts of the brain do not ever mature, remaining as they were in infancy. Others mature faster than normal to compensate, but not very well.

On top of all this is the fact that, rather than having certainfunctions in the left brain hemisphere and certain ones in the right,sociopaths have these things scattered seemingly randomly around in both hemispheres. This is believed to be part of what cripples them emotionally.

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

Itis certainly vengeance: "If I can't have any of this, 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 emptyand damaged beyond repair.

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

But if the devices ofneurosurgeons can be tweaked to avoid this shock, and all else relatedto this idea is workable, it's feasible that small electronic devicesplanted in the brain (these already exist in a rudimentary form, but are not yet being usedfor mental illness) could open up a closed connection.

That leaves us with the problem of whether a lifetime of scatteredinformation can ever be set into order. Probably the best that could behoped for would be a kind of retraining -- like what is now done withstroke survivors and head injury patients -- that would be bothintensive and compensatory.

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

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

With no knowledge of howto cope with the emotions the rest of the world has been dealing withall their lives, the recovering sociopath would be rendered asvulnerable as a baby.

Which makes sense, because some of the most basicaspects of the human mind would be developing from the primordialstasis 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.

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.

Hard to change, not impossible.

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

Structural and functional hippocampal abnormalitieshavebeen previously reported in institutionalized psychopathic andaggressive populations. This study assessed whether prior findings of aright greater than left (R > L) functional asymmetry in caughtviolent offenders generalize to the structural domain in unsuccessful,caught psychopaths.

Methods:

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

Results:

Unsuccessful psychopaths showed an exaggerated structuralhippocampal asymmetry (R > L) relative both to successfulpsychopaths and control subjects (p < .007) that was localized tothe anterior region. This effect could not be explained byenvironmental and diagnostic confounds and constitutes the first brainimaging analysis of successful and unsuccessful psychopaths.

Conclusions:

Atypical anterior hippocampal asymmetries in unsuccessfulpsychopaths may reflect an underlying neurodevelopmental abnormalitythat 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 canbe done to change the sociopath, but in fact, that isn't true. Somekeep trying to help them; giving up is not an option. Sociopaths cause too much trouble. And experience as much.

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 the emotional response of a sociopath will always be to some degree abnormal.

Why does a sociopath cry? Is it like the crying of a "spoiled" child, or is it like the crying of a damaged person?

Maybe both.

Thenear-constant state of frustration and dissatisfaction felt by a truepsychopath is the source of not only their rages but those eerie,on-and-off-like-a-faucet tears. (Yes, tearsare seen even in some men,though of course still more common in children and women.)

Another comment, thus, from the diagnosed "primary psychopath" who wrote much but not all of the text that follows [EXCEPT the input from the other two sociopaths]:

The last time I tried that tears bit, I got "stuck" crying and couldn't stop for most of THREE DAYS!!! Now I avoid it at all costs.

Anyway, don't assume anyone is a psychopath based only on the person'sapparent attitude and behavior. It is far more complex than that,including factors in the pattern of the person's life and many othercharacteristics.

Please don't go around assuming or calling someone apsychopath just because he/she may have some of the warning signs.

For information on what the warning signs are, look up other questionswith answers on sociopaths, psychopaths, and antisocial personalitydisorder herein.

Geta professional opinion from a qualified mental health professional ifyou think you are involved with a psychopath. And then ask what to do,not only for the psychopath but for yourself, because being involvedwith a psychopath is risky.

And what then? Only time will tell.

Answer 3

I don't disagree with the fact that they crave power, but to say that they are "Emotionally stuck at about age 7, lacking any conscience and powered by hatred," is wrong. You can NOT possibly understand what the feel emotionally unless you are a sociopath or were one. Hatred is not what motivates them. It's insecurity and the fact that they feel like they need to validate their own worth. Not because they want to look good to other people but because they want to be able to look in the mirror and say "Hey there is someone i like." and i can say from experience that the people that socipaths choose as victims aren't all happy and moral, nor are they complete losers with no self esteem. If a sociopath wants a victim they can choose virtually ANYONE, family, strangers, friends.(DF-04/0) In agreement. Emotional state is far more complex than "stuck at age 7" - to better describe it, the person as matured differently - into something else, not necessarily stayed a child inside (all life experiences shape people to an extent, and a person of twenty or forty years wil not be a 7-year-old.) However it takes an unusually self-aware sociopath to be able to see those above reasons behind their actions and state.

In addition, sociopaths do lack a conscience, which makes hurting people easy, amusing and painless.

Answer 4

Society has formed a very negative view of sociopaths, and sociopaths tend to be logical so why would they want people to know?

Answer 5

they might be insane and kill you