What are symptoms of a sociopath?

Answer 1

There are 20 key traits which have been identified by pioneering psychologist Robert Hare. From what I know Glibness, Superficial Charm, Conning and Manipulative Behaviour, Sexual Promiscuity, Low Impulse Control, Emotional Poverty (aka flat affect) and, of course, No Conscience or Empathy are the key traits.

They score a person either as a 0 (trait not present), 1 (trait present to a limited degree) or 2 (trait present to a great extent) for each of the 20 traits. A score of 30 out of 40 is the threshold for a diagnosis using the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R).

So, if you want to watch out for them then watch out for someone who seems to be quite arrogant, who successfully charms people (particularly women) but who, under the surface, is unpleasant and who leads a parasitic and criminal lifestyle. You won't get it right 100% of the time but these things are a good indication.

Answer 2

Physical Symptoms of a Sociopath

As for PHYSICAL manifestations, they may include any of the following, according to the newest research and the information available on the incredibly numerous websites out there on the subject:

Bizarre brain waves from some parts of the brain and none from some other parts; epileptic seizures (usually grand mal); speech impediments caused by a chaotic way of storing information in the brain; low blood-pressure (hypo tension); bradycardia (low heart rate); pseudoneurolepsy (falling asleep suddenly); a type of night-blindness caused by constriction of the pupils; sleep apnea; sleepwalking (somnambulism); other sleep disturbances; migraine or cluster-headaches with visual 'auras'; varying degrees of incontinence; lethargy OR wild excitement; unexpected sexual arousal; loss of sense of taste or smell; trouble with depth perception; inability to recognize facial expressions; inability to concentrate on more than one thing at a time; occasional inability to concentrate on anything at all; certain types of muscle spasticity or non responsive reflexes associated with a peripheral neuropathy if present.

Disorganized Episodic Aggression: (psychopath-born)

Organized Sociopathic Hatred:(sociopath-made)Ritualistic behaviorSuperficial charm and "good" intelligenceAttempts to conceal mental instabilityAbsence of delusions and other signs of irrational behaviorCompulsivityAbsence of "nervousness" or psychoneurotic manifestationsPeriodic search for helpunreliabilitySevere memory disorders and an inability to tell the truthuntruthfulness and insinceritySuicidal tendencieslack of remorse or shameHistory of committing assaultinadequately motivatedantisocial behaviorHypersexuality and abnormal sexual behaviorpoor judgment and failure to learn by experienceHead injuries; injuries suffered at birthpathological egocentricity and incapacity for loveHistory of chronic drug or alcohol abusegeneral poverty in major affective reactionsParents with history of chronic drug or alcohol abusespecific loss of insightVictim of childhood physical or mental abuseunresponsiveness in general interpersonal relationsResult of an unwanted pregnancyfantastic and uninviting behavior with and sometimes without drinkProduct of a difficult gestation for mothersuicide rarely carried outUnhappiness in childhood resulted in inability to find happinesssex life impersonal, trivial, and poorly integratedExtraordinary cruelty to animalsfailure to follow any life planAttraction to arson without homicidal interestSymptoms of neurological impairmentEvidence of genetic disorderBiochemical symptomsFeelings of powerlessness and inadequacy

Many people without ASPD can have any of these problems; without the key psychiatric markers for ASPD, these physical manifestations alone CANNOT be used as evidence of the diagnosis. (For example, Borderline Personality Disorder, which is in most ways the opposite of ASPD, can cause hyper alertness and very fast talking, behavior that also resembles that of a sociopath in a temporary state of excitement.)

The general rule is that the autonomic nervous system of people with some Axis II personality disorders does not respond normally; in BPD the sympathetic nervous system (Fight-or-Flight) is over reactive; in ASPD it is usually (though not always) underreactive. Most of the physical problems a sociopath exhibits are neurologically based.

Beware of persons such as this because they can become psychopathic (cruelty to others, injury to another person or even murder.) They have no fear, and no conscience.

People who cannot contain their urges to harm (or kill) people repeatedly for no apparent reason are assumed to suffer from some mental illness. However, they may be more cruel than crazy, they may be choosing not to control their urges, they know right from wrong, they know exactly what they're doing, and they are definitely NOT insane, at least according to the consensus of most scholars (Samenow 2004). In such cases, they usually fall into one of three types that are typically considered aggravating circumstances in addition to their legal guilt -- antisocial personality disorder (APD), sociopath, or psychopath -- none of which are the same as insanity or psychosis. APD is the most common type, afflicting about 4% of the general population. Sociopaths are the second most common type, with the American Psychiatric Association estimating that 3% of all males in our society are sociopaths and Stout (2005) estimating 4% of the population. Psychopaths are rare, found in perhaps 1% of the population.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) is practically synonymous with criminal behavior, but as with all distributions of a disease or whatever in a population, it is probable that the majority of people with this particular affliction are law-abiding. Aging, over involvements, and/or relationships might hold sway over the control (or lack of control) in these kind of people, and although approaching the study of offenders from a relationship & personality disorders point of view may or may not be productive, Dr. Drew is probably an adequate source of information on such matters. Dr. Drew's theory (and one with wide ramifications since he pretty much defines an antisocial tendency as thinking about one's self first) is that women with certain kinds of disorders, like borderline personality disorders, tend to be attracted to and hook up with men who manifest symptoms of psychopathic personality disorder (see Lecture on BPD & OCD) and that such match-ups may or may not be dysfunctional. On the other hand, the field of criminology tends to treat APD as so synonymous, in fact, with criminal behavior that practically all convicted criminals (65-75%) have it, with criminologists often referring to it as a "wastebasket" category. Antisocials come is all shapes and sizes, and psychologists consider the juvenile version of it to be a juvenile conduct disorder. The main characteristic of it is a complete and utter disregard for the rights of others and the rules of society. They seldom show anxiety and don't feel guilt. Although many people would hope that there's an effective treatment, there's really no effective treatment for them other than locking them up in a secure facility with such rigid rules that they cannot talk their way out. A full list of APD traits would include:

List of Antisocial Personality Disorder Traits

Sense of entitlement; Unremorseful; Apathetic to others; Unconscionable behavior; Blame of others; Manipulative and conning; Affectively cold; Disparate understanding; Socially irresponsible; Disregardful of obligations; Nonconforming to norms; Irresponsible whereas the DSM-IV "clinical" features of Antisocial Personality Disorder (with a person having at least three of these characteristics) are:

Clinical Symptoms for an Antisocial Personality Disorder Diagnosis

1. Failure to conform to social norms; 2. Deceitfulness, manipulativeness; 3. Impulsivity, failure to plan ahead; 4. Irritability, aggressiveness; 5. Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others; 6. Consistent irresponsibility; 7. Lack of remorse after having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another person

Sociopathy is chiefly characterized by something wrong with the person's conscience. They either don't have one, it's full of holes like Swiss cheese, or they are somehow able to completely neutralize or negate any sense of conscience or future time perspective. Sociopaths only care about fulfilling their own needs and desires - selfishness and egocentricity to the extreme. Everything and everybody else is mentally twisted around in their minds as objects to be used in fulfilling their own needs and desires. They often believe they are doing something good for society, or at least nothing that bad. The term "sociopath" is frequently used by psychologists and sociologists alike in referring to persons whose unsocialized character is due primarily to parental failures (usually fatherless) rather than an inherent feature of temperament. Lykken (1995), for example, clearly distinguishes between the sociopath (who is socialized into becoming a psychopath) and a "true" psychopath (who is born that way). However, this may only describe the "common sociopath", as there are at least four (4) different subtypes -- common, alienated, aggressive, and dissociate. Commons are characterized mostly by their lack of conscience; the alienated by their inability to love or be loved; aggressive by a consistent sadistic streak; and dissociate by an ability to abide by gang rules, as long as those rules are the wrong rules. As Stout (2005) indicates, it only takes three of the following to be defined as a sociopath, and some common sociopathic traits include:

List of Common Sociopathic Traits

Egocentricity; Callousness; Impulsivness; Conscience defect; Exaggerated sexuality; Excessive boasting; Risk taking; Inability to resist temptation; Antagonistic, deprecating attitude toward the opposite sex; Lack of interest in bonding with a mate

Psychopathy is a concept subject to much debate, but is usually defined as a constellation of affective, interpersonal, and behavioral characteristics including egocentricity; impulsivness; irresponsibility; shallow emotions; lack of empathy, guilt, or remorse; pathological lying; manipulativeness; and the persistent violation of social norms and expectations (Cleckley 1976; Hare 1993). The crimes of psychopaths are usually stone-cold, remorseless killings for no apparent reason. They cold-bloodily take what they want and do as they please without the slightest sense of guilt or regret. In many ways, they are natural-born species/ predators who satisfy their lust for power and control by charm, manipulation, intimidation, and violence. While almost all societies would regard them as criminals (the exception being frontier or warlike societies where they might become heroes, patriots, or leaders), it's important to distinguish their behavior from criminal behavior. As a common axiom goes in psychology, most psychopaths are antisocial persinalities, but not all antisocial personalities are psychopaths. This is because APD is defined mainly by behaviors (Factor 2 antisocial behaviors) and doesn't tap the affective/interpersonal dimensions (Factor 1 core psychopathic features, Narcissism) of psychopathy. Further, criminals and APDs tend to "age out" of crime; psychopaths do not, and are at high risk of recidivism. Psychopaths love to intellectualize in treatment with their half-baked understanding of rules. Like the Star Trek character, Spock, their reasoning cannot handle any mix of cognition and emotion. They are calculating predators who, when trapped, will attempt escape, create a nuisance and danger to staff, be a disruptive influence on other patients or inmates, and fake symptoms to get transferred, bouncing back and forth between institutions. The common features of psychopathic traits (the PCL-R items) are:

List of Common Psychopathic Traits

Glib and superficial charm; Grandiose sense of self-worth; Need for stimulation; Pathological lying; Conning and manipulating; Lack of remorse or guilt; Shallow affect; Callousness and lack of empathy; Parasitic lifestyle; Poor behavioral controls; Promiscuous sexual behavior; Early behavior problems; Lack of realistic, long-term goals; Impulsiveness; Irresponsibility; Failure to accept responsibility for own actions; Many short-term marital relationships; Juvenile delinquency; Revocation of conditional release; Criminal versatility

In addition to these most well-known types, there have been criminologists who have put forward additional constructs. They are only mentioned here because of their relevance to serial criminals, and the interesting similarity in the way they compare to the FBI's "disorganized - organized" typology.

As for PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS, the original question: Hare (see his book, "Without Conscience") worked with existing EEG and brain-scan (PET scan?) technology to show that sociopaths do not process emotional information the way other people do. It is believed that in childhood, a born sociopath learns to direct such input through other routes in the cerebral cortex, but as of yet no one knows what blocks the impulses and signals from following their normal route. Cortical under arousal, under active sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, and brain waves while awake (on EEG) that resemble the alpha-waves of light sleep, are all common or universal symptoms of primary psychopaths. In addition, more and more research shows that psychopaths lack the neurotransmitter Oxytocin (secreted by the pituitary gland) and often have only half as much Vasopressin (anti diuretic hormone) as most people do. Abnormalities are thus not confined to the cerebral cortex; they can be found in the cingulate gyrus and the entire limbic system as well. ANYTHING THAT AFFECTS NEUROLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE FETUS CAN POSSIBLY CAUSE THESE DEFICIENCIES. In addition to this, a child's brain develops exponentially after birth, and early development requires physical contact and stimulation in order to form the basis for interpersonal bonding; secondary psychopaths are thought to have lacked this; refers to Reactive Attachment Disorder too.

Answer 3

MY FIRST HAND EXPERENCE WITH A SOCIOPATHI'm going to go back into a dark and disturbing piece of my past in order to share some insight with you. It is an area of my past that I would whether forget forever because the very memory still brings swirls to my stomach and causes a dreadful insecurity to wave over me.

I had my first encounter with a sociopath when I went to work for a major insurance company. We will call her Betsy. She was a secretary in customer service. I was hired on as a clerical personal. My duties were to answer over flow of calls from the customer representatives & take messages for them, file, copy and run errands. This department had two secretaries. The one secretary, I keep in touch with to this day and we both will never stop mentioning the tyrant that nearly ruined our lives. We often wonder what ever became of her or who her victims are now.

When I first met Betsy, I admired her and wanted to be like her in the work place. She seemed so professional and pretty. I loved her style and wanted to be her friend, not just another employ to her. I totally looked up to her, it was as though she took me under her wing and I felt secure in my job because of her. I couldn't grasp the idea that she didn't care for me as a person, the way I cared for her.

It was the first real office job I had, it was a career change. Most my life I worked in factories. I was so glad to get out of the factory. I dreamed of this day, it was a step-up in life for me. No more hard labor and I lucked out with a nice lady who is willing to show me the ropes. It didn't take long before Betsy did and said things that literally broke my heart and sent me off crying, I can't tell you how many times. Betsy always seemed to have more power then even the bosses that were above her and many were afraid to cross her.

I soon felt like a fish out of water and as stupid as they come. I tried to justify all the insults by telling myself that I'll make it up to Betsy once I learn everything. I made more excuses for Betsy then anyone had a right to. I think because I was so grateful to her in the beginning. Now that I look back, I don't know why, she never did one thing to help me, just used me to her advantage. It took awhile before I realized there was no excuse for her.

Betsy would forward her phone to me and then complain that I was dropping her calls. I could not keep up with the reps overflow, as well as hers, but myself and another clerical employ were expected to do just that and more. I was continually being accused of not being able to do my job, as I never met Betsy's expectations as to what a clerical person should be able to do with in an 8-hour period. You cannot work hard enough for a sociopath to be satisfied.

I worked overtime most of the time and catered to Betsy's every whim. I watched her humiliate reps and bring clerical personal to their breaking point, running out crying in humiliation. I often wondered how it is that she is able to get away with insulting coworkers without being called on it? She had the edge on most employees, as she was able to go into the boss's office and paint a picture just the way she wanted it viewed. Unfortunately, she was the only one who looked good in that picture. She was cruel! I could tell you so many sickening stories about the things she did to fellow employees and their reactions to her abuse, but that would take to much space.

I often felt like a yo-yo left dazed and before I could see straight, I was being worked or attacked again. She had a way about her that was charming and professional in appearance. Very convincing to anyone who she was out to charm. When I first started working there, on the way to the cafeteria one day, I noticed pictures behind glass of different employees. I asked her about a particular man in one of the photos. I made the comment that he was cute. Betsy stated that he looked like a used car salesman to her. Later I found out that he was the company president. I also saw her put on her best charismatic performance whenever he entered the room. No one would ever believe me had I thought to share with them Betsy's statement that day.

I was lured in and shut out a multitude of times. I was charmed and then bashed. I was given gifts of apology when she felt she went to far and then when my guard was down, slammed harder then the previous blast. One morning I came into work and there was a large black yard bag just chucked full of beautiful quality department store clothes & shoes that she had cleaned out of her closet with a beautiful card setting on my desk of apology and hopes that we could forgive and forget, start a new with a clean slate, things would be different from now on. Reluctantly I chose to believe, forgive, and dive in again.

Later I realized why Betsy showered me that day, she needed me to speak up in her behalf so as not to be transferred to another building across town. She convinced me of the terrible hardship it would present for her and how she would be forever grateful to me if I would speak on her behalf. If she could only stay at this office, we could reap the benefits together. She was good at making all kinds of empty promises. She wanted me to have a talk with the supervisor on her behalf. So I did.

Soon as it was stated she would be staying, she lowered the bomb again and it was non-stop. I felt that she was obsessed with me. I couldn't shake her and I dread the day I ever went into the office to convince the boss to let her stay. I just couldn't see through her manipulative ways back then. Now who will I go to in order to get her away from me? How would I explain? I would look like a fool since I was the one that begged the boss to let her stay. I just buried myself in so deep, I can see no way out? Helping her was one of my biggest mistakes.

I finally got to the point where I couldn't quit thinking about Betsy, 24/7 she was on my mind. I became obsessed with her. She consumed my every moment. Just before I finally lost all control of my mind and had to take time off from work, I was setting in a park with a friend who lived in the apartment next to me. While I set there on a sunny wonderful day, I realized I had no joy or rhyme or reason to my life. I didn't even hear what my friend was saying to me because all I could think and talk about was Betsy. I was loosing it.

A dark cloud began to hover over me, no matter what the weather. Despair was my dinner plate. I soon lost interest in eating and began to loose weight without effort. I couldn't sleep at night and for the first time, realized who the night owls were in the complex. I went to work without sleep, day after day until one day I went for a walk at lunchtime and just kept walking. Hours later they found me miles from the work place and my home. I was scorched and weathered.

Four months later I gained control of my mind again and even though my knees were knocking when I walked up to that huge three story building made of concrete and glass, I walked back into that work place and prayed that no one would be able to tell that I wasn't stable enough to even be back to work yet.

While I was on leave, I moved in with my Mother, as I could not take care of myself. The Lord's word and my Mom nursed me back to health and made it possible for me to return to the work place. Not long after that, Betsy was dismissed from the work place, as she would come up stairs and walk by my cubical and make cruel and unexplained comments. I know there were others in her department that were victims but I don't know if anyone gave her as much pleasure as my ignorance did.

I wouldn't call myself a weak person, just a person with an innocent mind, having no idea the evils that lurk out in our world. I was a young girl who needed her job and was just trying to hang on. I think it is terrible how companies will turn their head to abuse in the work place all for the sake of money and for what ever other reasons they may have for taking a blind eye.

I didn't even know that sociopath existed, let alone what they were all about. Had I known, I could have been spared. The only thing I can say about the experience now is that all things work to the good and I may be able to help some other poor sap in the future because my eyes are open now. Unless you have experienced a sociopath first hand, you won't see your world crumbling until it is on top of you. You won't know what the hell hit you or when it all started. Your life will be a question mark in dismay. You can't see when your tangled up in their web. No one seems to understand what is going on or why.

Whenever employees would complain about Betsy and the work place was becoming increasingly hard to function in as a result, the company would go after Betsy and put the pressure on her to quit. Betsy would then do things such as walk across the lawn that was wet and then when she hit the sidewalk, trip and fall. She would then threaten to sue the company for unsafe premises. Before you knew it, Betsy was living high again and in complete control of her self and everyone else. Dread once again shadowed the work place because no one could see any relief from her. Seemed she was in for the duration.

Betsy's own children would have nothing to do with her and there was a time when I use to think that was terrible of them. Poor Betsy, how terrible for her. If I seen her today I would spit on the sidewalk before her. I tried to warn one of our many supervisors, that Betsy ran through. Of course this supervisor did not wake up to the possibility that I might be telling the truth until she was history. We all missed her, as she was the best supervisor yet, just blind was all. Can't hold that against her, Betsy was her right hand, or so she thought she could rely on her. Truth is she was going around campaigning for her job the whole time she was smiling in her face. Pointing out every little shortcoming and then some. It's an awful thing to set back and watch happen to a person who won't listen, expressly to a crazed person such as myself, to hear Betsy tell it anyway. I have to say, by the time she got done with me, I was what most would consider, CRAZY. Don't let that happen to you! Do you have a person in your work place that fits this description? Remember, 1 out of 25 persons are sociopaths. How many employees are in your work place?

Before I cracked, I use to fantasize about running into Betsy off work in the parking lot of Target. One day I was out front of the store with my kittens, giving them away to good homes when guess who comes walking up to the entrance? I had the perfect chance to make my dreams come true. Although I wrestled with actually going through with a hell of a beating, I resisted. Betsy got the best of me because of my own ignorance and giving her a physical beating wouldn't have helped matters at all. Just would have made it worse.

I've come along way since then babies. I now know that you cannot win when you butt heads with a sociopath. Anything you do or say will probably backfire on you, expressly if you're honest. So go your own way my friend and spare yourself the torment. Just know that nobody gets away with anything and throw your hand in or your sociopath just might kick your ass so bad that you'll never be the same again. It's hard when you need your job!

When this happened to me, I was living alone and I was the only source of income I had. I was afraid to stand up for myself because I couldn't afford to loose my job. My biggest fear was to loose my job and I truly believe that Betsy took great pleasure in knowing that about me. She could toy with me and use me to her advantage because I couldn't afford to cause waves in the work place in order to get her off my back. To afraid of loosing my job and it seems that sociopath will pickup on your weaknesses and use them to their advantage with in the first few seconds of meeting you. It's simply amazing how they can be so cold hearted and distant. I never even was invited to her house once.

Turns out the company could no longer concern themselves with Betsy's threats of lawsuits. I suppose the company had to way out which lawsuit would cause them more damage. With all the many employees who had watched Betsy get away with inflecting terrible behavior in the work place over the years, they must of felt some of them victims would show up in court, should there be a suit. The company found them selves caught between a rock and a hard place having no idea that I was not the sue type. Fortunate for me, not so fortunate for Betsy....

Also:

The newest breakthroughs yield enormous insight into this perplexingand devastating condition that plagues four percent of the populationand causes those persons to plague everyone else!

Almost everyone in the world -- except psychopaths (sociopaths) anda few others, such as those with ADD -- has a neatly organized way ofstoring information in the brain. Your left hemisphere handles suchthings as speech, logic, and sequential thinking. It helps you keepthings in order. Meanwhile, your right hemisphere handles such thingsas appreciation of (or creation of) art, symbols that evoke emotion,and the way one puts together in the present time all the pieces of theworld around him or her as far as it is known.

But NOT if you're a sociopath.

Studies (see the masterful work "Without Conscience" by Robert D.Hare, PhD.) have now conclusively demonstrated that the way suchinformation is stored in the brain of a sociopath is not at all likethe way it is for others. Instead of things being organized into thosespecific regions in one or other of the brain's two hemispheresdepending upon the type of information it is, the sociopath has a brainthat operates a little bit like a computer hard drive: it breaks alldata down into tiny fragments and stores it all over the place and inboth hemispheres. Thus, to retrieve any given segment is formidable andleads to omissions and errors far more often than most peopleexperience:

(Patient in an inpatient unit, to an NP who is organizing anouting.) "No, I'm not going out with you guys this time, and I'm goingto buy some magazines when I'm there." HUH???? This kind of thing, asHare demonstrates, happens all the time.

Clinicians give numerous (including some erroneous) reasons for notwanting to treat sociopaths, and one of the more surprising ones isthat it's very difficult at times to make sense of what the patient issaying.

Unlike the jumbled mess of a schizophrenic's speech, thesociopath's speech makes sense within the fragments, but when theseparts of speech are strung together, they are often jarringlyincompatible. Did the sociopath in the inpatient hospital intend to goout and buy some magazines? Or did she decide to stay in? She seemed tothink she could do both at the same time. If the NP who had asked herwas astute enough, she might've said, "Miss Smith, if you don't want togo out, why don't you write down what you want us to pick up and giveus the money to buy it?" Although that's a realistic way to do boththings at the same time, one might wonder why the patient didn't justsay so in the first place!

When you speak, your brain is going through a staggering feat ofjuggling and data-organization at a speed that makes broadband looklike a snail trail. If your cerebral cortex is storing your vocabularyand the related ideas behind it, as well as all of the other numeroustypes of information it must handle, in the right places, this isn't sohard; if your brain has to fumble all over the place for tiny fragmentsof data and try to assemble it fast enough to keep up with yourconversation, it is not going to be easy -- and trained professionalswill know that something, at least, is awry.

So, now scientists know that the seemingly meaningless and frequentlies that the sociopath tells may not all be actual lies. Some arelies, particularly in sociopaths who have broken the law and are tryingto charm or bully their way out of trouble. But some -- especiallyimpulsive-sounding bragging or announcements of lofty intent ("I'mgonna get out of this bugbox and write a best-selling novel, climbMount Everest, and go work for NASA!") -- are not intended to deceiveothers so much as to tell them "I want to do something with my life!"But, sadly, lacking the means and wherewithal to do this, the sociopathwill undoubtedly end up in trouble all over again.

Think about it: you know something isn't right, but you can't tellother people, because you have not the slightest idea how to phrasewhat's wrong. Plus, for some odd reason, everyone keeps getting rubbedthe wrong way by you. You try to get ahead in life, but everybody keepstelling you about these strange rules you're supposed to obey, thatthey all seem to know by heart, but you don't. So you study them andtry to memorize them and use them by rote, but keep messing up becauseyou have no mechanism to tell you (from within) that you're stumblingover the line again, and inevitably, you do. Then everyone gets mad atyou and among other things tells you that you know perfectly well whatthe rules are, so why don't you obey them? You start tosecretly suspect they're adding new ones or changing the old rulesaround just to get you to screw up, but actually that isn't true --however, you have no real way of knowing that, either.

As if all this isn't enough, you feel at the very leastuncomfortable, and at the worst like a human bomb, most of the timeyou're awake, which at times can be several days in a row. You noticethat the very things that make other people happy have a very oppositeeffect on you: your head fills with jarring "static," like a radioplaying with the tuner caught between two or more stations. Reactinginstinctively to this, you try to push people away because theircloseness causes the static to get worse, but then you discover a newproblem: you seem to need them anyway.

You seem to need something from other people, but you don't knowwhy. That hug each other and smile, not a phony smile but a real one,and their eyes light up. They get close and they talk to each otherwithout having to closely study the other's eyes to try to figure outwhat to do in response. This seems to be a delicious pleasure to them,much better than anything you've ever experienced. But if you try it,and if you are actually lucky enough to persuade one of them to attemptsuch a relationship and interaction with you, it immediately starts toturn sour on you. Their touch does not warm you; you feel colder anddeader than ever. You don't know how to give back, so you end upgrasping for words you've heard used by other people and trying to fakeyour way through it so they won't figure out how you are; you'veexperienced enough to know by this time that when others figure outyour difference, they hate you for it; in fact, you've been told you're"not a real person" and that you "have no soul" (you're not too surewhat a soul is, anyway) and that people like you "ought to be lined upand shot"!

After trying several times in this new relationship to get thepleasure other people are always basking in, and failing, you start toget angry at all of this -- and the anger builds into a terrible,towering rage that begins to make you feel like a human bomb. "I willactually, physically explode if I don't..." you're thinking, and yetunder the rage there is a weird, disconsolate feeling that even yourburgeoning hatred is as hollow and empty and starved as you are. Youconsider taking your life, and certainly you think about taking livesof some of these lucky, smugly superior others. You settle forembezzling money, or something of the sort; you're clever andmanipulative and you don't get caught. Triumph!

Or not. The things you buy please you for five minutes; a day,tops. Then...flat, meaningless, like everything else in your life.

Of course, you don't HAVE a life -- and you never will. That's starting to become increasingly clear.

But WHY???? You see "The Others," as you're starting to think ofthem, studying diligently to help and even to cure other kinds of weirdthings wrong with people's minds, most of which seem to have to do withthe brain. But no one seems to know what's going on in you. It occursto you that to get some kind of attention from them, you might pretendyou have one of those other problems they study, and then once they'repaying attention to you, maybe somehow it'll lead somewhere. What haveyou got to lose?

You're about to find out you can still lose more.

You go into a clinical situation presenting withcarefully-memorized symptoms of the mental illness you have decidedwould get you the attention you want. But faking whatever it is turnsout very quickly to be a lot more complex than you'd thought. In fact,it turns out to be impossible. And, branded a malingerer, you arerejected yet again, told that all that's really wrong with you is thatyou don't want to try to better yourself.

That, and you're "evil," and it's not paranoia on your part torealize that EVERYONE HATES YOU. Once they figure you out. Yes: to knowyou is to hate you.

And you will go to your grave (as gloats Martha Stout of "TheSociopath Next Door" book fame) never knowing the wonders of real humaninteraction, meaning, and warmth.

It might just make you decide to go off the rails and kill everyone you can before turning the weapon on yourself.

Except for one thing: the mere fact that some scientists know thatmuch about the brain of a sociopath means that solving the problem isno longer an impossible and obscure wish -- it's moving within therealm of concrete possibility.

As soon as large numbers of sociopaths begin to be treated in a waythat actually helps them, that corrects as much as possible the chaosof misdirected signals in their confused and disorganized brains, andthen a form of therapy that in addition to that, by necessity, teachesthem to cope with the resulting maelstrom of emotion and impressionthat was formerly impossible, so that they can put it in order andstart to develop the heretofore dormant and silent segments of theirbrains and better use those formerly mixed-up areas where norecognizable order ruled, THEN THE OTHERS MAY BEGIN TO NOTICE WHAT ISGOING ON...and they will know at least this much: instead of "the kissof death," a diagnosis of ASPD (the DSM-IV way of saying sociopathy orpsychopathy) will lead someplace; that there will be things done thatactually make a difference.

Crippled as they are neurologically, sociopaths are yet shrewd, andthey're always looking out for themselves in a way similar to that of aloner predator. Seeing others like them actually benefiting fromtreatment will have to start persuading them that there's something togain in going for help after all. Not being rejected or met with "Wecan't help you; you're evil incarnate," or the equivalent thinlydisguised in euphemistic psychology jargon; NOT being met with asituation where they'd have to substitute symptoms of an "acceptable"illness in place of those they bear in secret -- that would almostcertainly, if gradually, have an effect: if a sociopath can clearly seea benefit coming from admitting his or her real situation, there'snothing 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 varioustypes of preexisting medication given in attempts to counteract thechaotic way the brain of a sociopath functions. That and types of talktherapy carefully altered to avoid the pitfalls that have in the pastcaused regular therapies to make sociopaths worse instead of better.But the more that scientists such as Robert Hare and his colleaguesdelve into and experiment with the new types of brain scans andlearning what makes sociopaths tick like human bombs, the more likelythat it becomes with each passing year that a means will soon beisolated 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 canunderstand what it means. Once they start getting taken seriously, thatfrustration, and the wild rage it provokes, will lessen, and since itis a primary source of the constant distrust that makes regular therapyfail sociopaths, the defusing of that rage and its maddening causeswill be a huge step in the right direction.

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

And sociopaths know that. And people whose messed-up brain circuitrymakes it almost impossible for them to trust others certainly aren'tever going to try again after getting hit with THAT.

Sociopaths don't always behave as though they're invulnerable. Somehave said, "You don't know this, but it hurts to be me." Peoplesneeringly say to this, "Another of your miserable lies!" But it is infact a miserable truth.

Being angry at them is understandable, but why do people insist onjustifying their anger by dehumanizing the object of their rage?Sociopaths may seem like aliens, but they aren't. Perhaps what reallygalls the others is that when they look at sociopaths, in certain tinyways they see aspects of themselves, for everyone has some antisocialthoughts.

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

No sociopath breezes through life. They just know how to make itlook like they do. It's part of the sick game they play because theycan'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 tofully appreciate that they escaped harm because neuroscience finallyfound a way to treat these people who would otherwise have hurt them,but the thing that makes the most difference is that, in the finalanalysis, 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 ordevils in their bodies, and that depression is not a "deadly sin," itwould and will be able to prove that sociopathy happens for a reasonand that it can be dealt with. Sociopaths do very bad things. Butbranding them all "pure evil" isn't going to help anyone. It's justmore hate.

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

If one says that sociopaths aren't worth helping, one rather missesthe point, after all. The price the world pays for not being able tohelp these people is incalculable. Euthanasia isn't the answer. Thereare people (whose consciences I really must wonder about) who suggestthat all the sociopaths that can be located and diagnosed by theauthorities should be gathered up whether or not they've done anythingwrong yet, and killed en masse (shades of World War Two, but with adifferent group of people). This is appalling, for reasons I hope Idon't really need to explain!

But it also shows the hopelessness that sociopaths and their behavior make many people feel.

To counter that hopelessness, please know these twoincontrovertible points: (1) no, the sociopath who hurt you isn'thappy; (2) yes, the massive population of sociopaths the world overwill be able to be treated before long, and possibly the first threadsof that are already starting now.

That will benefit EVERYONE.

Answer 4

well i dont know the symptoms but i do know the traits that describe them.

well dressed

conman

into themselves

no concience

manipulative

smart

charming

picks a vounurable individual to mess with

hope this helps

Answer 5

The same symptoms as there are for any sociopath. They can be viewed here:

How_do_you_know_if_someone_is_a_sociopath

Answer 6

The main symptom is not feeling guilt for hurting others.

Others are irresponsibility, drug problems, and problems with long-term relationships.

Answer 7

Lack of empathy