Sociopathy (Psychopathy)

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, 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.

The main reason sociopaths don't usually seek help from their fellow human beings 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 she seems to make efforts to keep from harmingothers, even if it doesn't benefit herself.

No, he cannot be in love or feel love. Sociopaths are totally lacking in that emotion.

Yes, he may become distant and silent, for that very reason. Or he may become controlling and abusive.

Sociopaths are incapable of love. They can't even love themselves. They are powered by rage and resentment. Their rage is often well hidden in everyday contact with other people.

Joncey

Added comments: SabrinaSingularity.

Don't assume that 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.

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.

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, 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.

Don't assume that 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.

And some people have said that the only way to persuade a sociopath or psychopath to seek help is by threatening him/her with DEATH!!

One way -- or another...

And the main reason sociopaths don't usually seek helpfrom their fellow human beings 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 she seems to make efforts to keep from harmingothers, even if it doesn't benefit herself.

There are several other self-admitted sociopaths on WikiAnswers, some of whom have answered questions on these issues with detailed answers. I'm not the only one, not the first, nor will I be the last...

SS

: People say NOTHING CAN BE DONE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRUE ACCOUNT FROM A FORMER PARTNER OF A SOCIOPATH:

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

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

Yes. Now there is.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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