Sociopathy (Psychopathy)

1. Antisocial
2. Cunning
3. Manipulative
4. Narcissistic
5. Narcissist
6. Remorseless
7. Soulless
8. Unconscionable (without conscience)

Beyond that, check the links listed below.

• There is essential information about the subject of sociopathythat will help you understand it more, especially if you or someone youknow do/does end up diagnosed with this bizarre and rather uniquecondition that is as common as one in twenty-five people...

  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.Sociopaths do not usually "seem crazy" to casual observers; they are in a way 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.

  But 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 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, 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 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.

One of the things that would be necessary in the attempted recovery ofa 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 bits from several additional other writers, culled from other answers as well, on this subject.

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

Sociopaths -- psychopaths; people with ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) -- actually feel very little. The sociopath is essentially a hollow shell.

Yet, according to Robert Hare, an expert on psychopathy, they are "not fragile" -- their character is "set in stone" for life.

But there are no human beings without some vulnerability. I'm not the only one pointing this out. Two other sociopaths here have written of it. (See below, after the end of my essay answer.)

Even after being told one is a psychopath or sociopath, it often seems meaningless to the one being diagnosed.

Sociopaths rarely feel true happiness. If they do, it is usually in the condition that some kind of intervention -- such as one of the small number of medications made for other conditions that may also help somewhat with theirs -- has taken place, and it will be fleeting. For all their frantic racing around, they are really very dead inside, and this is tragic beyond description. Imagine spending your entire life trying to get your brain to wake up! And failing. Thousands of times.

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.

It is 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 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. Robert Hare agrees with that latter statement.

The matter of missing neurotransmitters in a sociopath is, of course, another problem. Would "waking up" the cerebral cortex eventually stimulate production of these? Or would they have to be synthesized? Only time will tell.

Indeed, for years I didn't really get it. But as one clinic after another rejected me, often with venom and even threats, I began to realize I'd better see what there was about the diagnosis I'd been given that could possibly carry such a terrible stigma.

So, I had no real clue what I was as an individual, until the diagnostician emphatically and angrily told me what I was.

And he said that one of my most insidious actions was to attempt to make contact with and even become friends with other, unsuspecting people.

I tried to tell him I actually wanted to help people and that I simply had a normal need to make friends, but he said he wasn't buying it. Not from the likes of me.

Yet, even though warmth almost never touches my frozen core, I still seek it...

Another psychopath (sociopath) wrote this on another question:

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

(Comment: Many of the assertions made by the main answer have no basis in medical or psychological fact. Far from being hollow shells, sociopaths are subject to almost the full spectrum of human emotions, albeit in a stunted or arrested-development fashion. After I was diagnosed, I was directed to various papers on the subject, which I would advise you to read. Ones that may be particularly of concern are in reference to diagnosal reaction.)

The essay that follows was written in another answer by another self-admitted sociopath, who actually might not be a sociopath. Still another person added the brief comment to that effect after her tragic essay.

• umm... i kindof am one... just so y'all know, it's not so much fun being one either. i read that sentence up there, "Incapable of real human 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 a dirty window and watching re-runs of people I've seen in love or with children or with friends, and scratching, sometimes banging at the glass to get in and... nothing. I'm fond of people in every sense of the word, their little quirks and habits, the way they see life, except if they went away it wouldn't bother me much other than finding someone else to be fond of. i don't have friends, i only date military men because they're ok with only having a girlfriend for a couple months and i tell them in advance i won't wait for them... i don't know what else to do to limit the damage i inflict on others just as a result of them knowing me, short of moving to the mountains... but i still move between 2-5 times a year :( it's kindof hard walking around knowing I'll never have what i see making other people so happy and running when i can tell someone is getting close just because i don't want to hurt them more later down the road... i'd like it alot to settle down, i WANT to be able to feel more with people, but it's hard to miss what you never had. i want what i THINK it would feel like... it'd be easy to give in and let someone stay because I'm so lonely... but hey, I've written enough, just know i try to be a responsible little sociopath, i won't ever get married or have kids, i practice safe sex, i won't stay in one city for long... everything you all take for granted i will never let myself have just because i WANT to take it for granted. being like this won't go away so hopefully i can limit the amount of hate thrown my way by limiting my interaction with people, i don't know what else to do. and you all might not belive 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 a sociopath because they seem to make efforts to keep from harming others, even if it doesn't benefit themselves.

• You should stop diagnosing yourself and get someone who is qualified to do it. It is very difficult to judge yourself on characteristics you've read. Let someone else who is qualified do that.

• The other poster is absolutely correct. Don't diagnose yourself! If you go under most diseases on the internet all of us could fit under most of them with the symptoms that are given. It is best to see your doctor and let him/her decide.

• I agree with the first two posts. I wonder if you are trying to diagnose yourself because of something you read here or because of someone you hurt or someone close to you who suggested that you are a sociopath. A sociopath self-diagnosing, realizing there's a problem and getting help is rare. Whatever the case, reading a description of mental illness online is not like reading your horoscope or a personality profile. You really have the potential to do serious damage to yourself or to people who love you. If you are really trying to get help and actually proceed in getting help not only to help yourself but others around you, then I commend you. But please DO IT.

  I commend the first three people who posted; never diagnose yourself with a mental or physical illness; seek professional help.

  That said, there is essential information about the subject of sociopathy that will help you understand it more, especially if you or someone you know do/does end up diagnosed with this bizarre and rather unique condition that is as common as one in twenty-five people...

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

  Sociopaths do not usually "seem crazy" to casual observers; they are in a way extremely rational, but without feeling. If you want someone completely gone, it is rational to kill them, isn't it? Yet it is human empathy which dictates to us that this is wrong. A sociopath is uncontrolled by human emotion, and any appearance 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 nor worse. For more information on sociopathy do a web search. I find Google 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. His test, the PCL-R, has not 20 but 24 points, and a score of 18 or more indicates the person is a psychopath. The test MUST be given by a professional mental health practitioner or researcher. Hare says that sociopaths can be helped but notcured.

  So, some believe all sociopaths to be totally beyond all help. But 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 without victimizing you in the process. And recent studies made by neurosurgeons and other medical experts have finally begun to pinpoint the things that go awry in the brain that are part of what causes sociopathy.

  In some cases, such medications as Depakote, Topamax, and even Lithium are being prescribed, and although some individual therapists prescribe Ativan and the like, much more research needs to be done there on ultimate benefit of drug treatment. It is already known that drug treatment must be augmented by a very structured and positive-oriented talk therapy.

  Sociopaths can get somewhere in talk therapy if the clinician is self-confident and relaxed, firm but never authoritarian or self-important. It must not ever become an ego-contest.

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

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

  The therapist must repeatedly remind the patient that the process will also reward him or her with better and better feelings, ultimately becoming its own reward: that terrible emptiness called 'boredom' or 'static' being replaced 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 bring implantable devices that may be able to be used in the brain, along with other means including synthetic replacement neurotransmitters, to carry nerve impulses along paths formerly silent and unused in the sociopath's brain.

  Although such devices would have to be used with extreme care to avoid causing violent convulsive seizures, some of the anti-convulsant medications that are already being prescribed to sociopaths in test trials could possibly prevent this unwelcome side-effect.

  In the present, therapy is hard to come by for anybody not extremely wealthy, and for sociopaths, many of whom are unable to work, it is even that much harder to find help. But it exists. And, looking at some observations posted at other similar questions by others, one can 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 one helps sociopaths by repeatedly calling them 'evil'! That kind of response cannot possibly help anyone.

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

  A sociopath before treatment cannot trust anyone and must learn the fundaments of trust and interaction between people. No one who is persuaded to believe that he or she is just plain bad can sustain any hope for change.

  It becomes a vicious cycle: the sociopath, being told he or she is evil and cannot be helped, gives up, and in frustration and anger lashes out again at people, and in response to that, people say that their original point is proven.

  The main reason sociopaths don't usually seek help is that they can't trust, rather than that they like being as they are. Plus, they can often sense exactly what sort of a response any call for help on their part 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 neuroscientists don't yet know, causes the cerebral cortex to process information in a chaotic way, and to miss much of the emotional information that would normally shape the growing child's mind and start the process of socialization.

  Robert 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 underarousal, underactive 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 (antidiuretic 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.

  It may not be "curable" yet, but it most certainly isn't as hopeless as so many people say. There is therefore nothing to be gained and much to be lost when therapists and lay folk try to ostracize sociopaths from the human race entirely! Sensationalism and superstition will only prevent progress.

  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 an entire group of people is absurd. That's like saying, "Since these people have dark skin, everyone should completely avert themselves from them." I am a moderate sociopath, and though part of me doesn't want to change, another does. Many times it is really entertaining to see how stupid people can be, especially when they're so gullible as to believe every word that mellifluously flows from my lips. Yes, I am parasitic, but even so, there are some people I would like to stop hurting. I can't find any websites that can provide a way to help my sociopathy. Maybe people like you should stop your self-victimisation and start trying to actually help people like me! I knew I was a sociopath before the age of ten but have only recently had it officially diagnosed. I am eighteen years old now, and I have been lying and destroying others' sanity for a long time. So, please post some helpful tidbits that might help sociopaths resist the sweet urges we get when we encounter weak human beings. When you cut us, do we not bleed? When you kill us, do we not die? Do you honestly think that you're being lied to and manipulated when we sincerely ask for help. Listen to yourselves! This is the internet; ergo, you're safe from our fortified mental grasp.

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

Still another 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 much fun being one either. i read that sentence up there, "Incapable of real human 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 a dirty window and watching re-runs of people I've seen in love or with children or with friends, and scratching, sometimes banging at the glass to get in and... nothing. I'm fond of people in every sense of the word, their little quirks and habits, the way they see life, except if they went away it wouldn't bother me much other than finding someone else to be fond of. i don't have friends, i only date military men because they're ok with only having a girlfriend for a couple months and i tell them in advance i won't wait for them... i don't know what else to do to limit the damage i inflict on others just as a result of them knowing me, short of moving to the mountains... but i still move between 2-5 times a year :( it's kind of hard walking around knowing I'll never have what i see making other people so happy and running when i can tell someone is getting close just because i don't want to hurt 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 what you never had. i want what i THINK it would feel like... it'd be easy to give in and let someone stay because I'm so lonely... but hey, I've written enough, just know i try to be a responsible little sociopath, i won't ever get married or have kids, i practice safe sex, i won't stay in one city for long... everything you all take for granted i will never let myself have just because i WANT to take it for granted. being like this won't go away so hopefully i can limit the amount of hate thrown my way by limiting my interaction with people, i don't know what else 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 a sociopath because she seems to make efforts to keep from harming others, 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 to socialize the person whose congenital birth defect made such a thing completely 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 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.

The matter of missing neurotransmitters in a sociopath is, of course, another problem. Would "waking up" the cerebral cortex eventually stimulate production of these? Or would they have to be synthesized?

Only time will tell.

If you are a sociopath, like me, go out and wreck someones life, vandalism an expensive car, do something that ordinary morality would consider WRONG. Then think about what you have done. If you feel no guilt, no remorse, nothing, the you are a sociopath. Now, go to a therapist, and actually try to help them help yourself. I know that my therapist has helped me immensely.

SabrinaSingularity with several additional other writers.

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

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/12/05/MN153329.DTL&type=science

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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.

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.

One very important point, therefore, is that, most certainly, no onehelps sociopaths by repeatedly calling them 'evil'! That kind ofresponse cannot possibly help anyone. 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. 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 who was officially diagnosed (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 kindof 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 kindof 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 alot 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 belive 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 they seem to make efforts to keep from harmingothers, even if it doesn't benefit themselves.

When exposing a narcissist you have to have concrete proof. otherwise it's his/her word against yours. True narcissists HATE the truth about themselves and will deny it no matter what. You can have video of them with their hand in the cookie jar and they will claim it's not them or you made them do it. This being said, don't waste your time unless you can prove what you say absolutely. If you can, well then have a ball. I have worked with a couple of clinical narcissists and usually they don't last all that long. Just never put them in a position to mess with you... since they always will... Also, keep in mind that narcissists have no respect for anyone equally. They are the ultimate suck-up's but would hang their own mother out to dry. True N's are miserable people inside and that's why they are so nasty. They lack a conscience so have no problem lying, it's how they function. N's despise happy people with good marriages and happy lives. Just wave a bit of joy around an N and watch the sparks fly. If you really want to take them over the edge prove they are liars in public.

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Only those associates who are very close to the N can see something weird. The rest may see the N as a normal person. Either ways, it is hell of a problem to expose an N. Narcisissm (NPD) is not well understood by the populace as a disorder and the difficult spelling does not help. People who are familiar with the weird behavior tend to look for a simpler explanation than accept (or get into) something called NPD.

People very close to the N may (and I have really seen this) believe that you are the person with a problem.

One of the key reasons why it takes so long to recover from such an event or person is because the truth is so shocking that for a while it is far safer to stay in denial. This could be said for his "associates". Imagine if you've known someone for a long time and his former girlfriend comes out with this information? How would anyone feel? Stupid? Blind? They' d rather not accept that they too have been victims. And I've experienced this with my own situation. It didn't matter how many stories (and oh there were so many) that I told someone, I still found it hard to convince them of the truth. No one wants to think they've been friends with someoen so dangerous. And I understand that now. So take heed in that. Unless someone says something first, there's no point. You will be scapegoated.

Answer

What you got to do is wait for them to notice something odd about the N then offer your opinions. Its one of those things you can almost never convice anyone that he is such a snake. They have to find out first hand.

Better still. Especially if they are someone very dangerous. Keep all the evidence in a safe Place. Then write a book about them exposing them to the whole world and warn everyone about them but dont mention their real name LOL. Then when they get all upset because you haven't even given even bothered to give them a name. You can reply "sorry I dont know who are your talking about" LOL

Themselves, logically.

First, Sociopathy is no longer a diagnosis in the US (according to DSM-IV). Instead, it falls under the heading of Anti-Social Disorder (ASD), which includes a spectrum of related behavior. Some of the symptoms of ASD are shallowness of effect (persons served don't react deeply to powerful stimuli), a lack of empathy, and a general failure to grasp causality, i.e. cause and effect. So it's not uncommon to see ASD suffers committing acts we would consider to be grievous, and them being surprised at others' reactions. This is one reason you see serial killers stating their innocence, yet confessing the murders; they don't quite get the idea that murder (the cause) will get you convicted (the effect).

As such, regardless of intention, ASD sufferers don't have all of the limiting factors built in that non-ASD folks have, and this may lead them to harm others, physically, emotionally, etc. These acts will of course make life more difficult for the ASD sufferer, and so we can say they harm themselves thusly, but I'll stand by my statement that they are more likely to harm others than themselves, at least arithmetically.

I should also note that, while sociopaths (in the old parlance) typically have a lower rate of survival (maybe -- the numbers are questionable as are the studies and even the diagnosis), they surely do not lack in a survival drive.