Tuesday, September 17, 2013

19 Facts about Sociopaths



Keywords: sociopath, psychopath, ASPD, evil, relationships, domestic violence, trust, anger, conflict, conscience, emotions, expression, hurt, love, ego, dominance, oppression.
1.       It is estimated that 1 in 25 Americans is a sociopath. 
2.       Contrary to popular belief, sociopaths and psychopaths are NOT psychotic. They are NOT insane. They simply have no conscience to guide their behavior.
3.       Sociopaths are not necessarily evil because there are other forces at work besides a conscience that can discourage bad behavior.  That being said, many sociopaths enjoy finding ways to work around constraints because it proves once again that he’s smarter than everyone else.
4.       From the time they are teenagers, sociopaths will often misinterpret negative facial expressions that are non-hostile (i.e. confusion, worry, hurt feelings, pain, deep thought) as angry or hostile.  This contributes  greatly to misunderstandings and helps to fuel many arguments.
5.       Sociopaths do not give sincere apologies.
6.       Sociopaths do not stay in committed relationships. They are sluts.
7.       A sociopath will often take a new lover while they still have their old one so he (or she) can parade the new one in front of the old one.  He knows this is cruel and will hurt his former lover  even more plus his ego is hoping they will fight over him.
8.       You cannot reason with a sociopath. If you try, you’ll make things worse. At the very least, you’ll frustrate yourself and annoy your psychopath.
9.       Sociopaths believe that people with feelings are weak and those with a conscience are stupid.
10.   Do not expect a sociopath to learn from his mistakes or to make better decisions in the future because sociopaths are unmoved by consequences, punishments, pleas or newly acquired knowledge.
11.   A sociopath’s goals are never what they say they are. They will say one thing and do another. They will appear to act in direct conflict with any values and goals they claim to have.
12.   Sociopaths are egotists -  They believe they are smarter, better, and more important than anyone else.  
13.   Sociopaths will never respect another human being. However. they will pretend to have respect for someone if it serves their purpose OR if they can be frightened into acting like they do – good luck with that.
14.   Statistically, everybody knows at least one sociopath. Chances are you even interact with them on a regular basis – completely oblivious to their evil capabilities.
15.   Psychopaths comprise about fifteen to twenty-five per cent of the North American prison population. Of the un-incarcerated adult male population, the general consensus among psychologists is that about one percent are psychopaths – think CEOs and politicians. Female psychopaths are thought to be much rarer (but those psychologists don’t know the crazy bitches that I do!)
16.   Sociopaths will pit people against each other for no reason - other than its fun for them.
17.   Every emotion displayed by a sociopath is calculated. Even the ones that seem spontaneous are calculated – and they are calculated to do exactly that – seem spontaneous. Fake emotions are always evidence of a bigger strategy in motion to manipulate you.
18.   Any interest they seem to take in you or whatever you like to talk about – i.e. your problems, concerns, passions, kids, marriage, whatever – is an act. They couldn’t care less. But they will ACT like they do so that after you’ve spilt your guts to them they can take what you’ve told them and turn it against you – probably when you least expect it. Fair or not.
19.   Currently, there are no drugs or therapies to treat  psychopathy.  Drugs can’t create a conscience and psychotherapy (talking to a psychiatrist) only empowers a psychopath, quite often giving them the tools to make them more dangerous.

Intro

keywords: sociopath, empathy, conscience, psychopath, relationships, love, domestic violence, oppression, fear, trust, emotions, common traits, strategies, damage, pain, cheating, lying, liars, pathological liars, antisocial personality disorder.



I call this blog “Understand2Bfree” because it is about understanding the things that need to be understood in order to have a better life. It is almost impossible to be truly free from something that is not understood. Otherwise, I will always wonder about it or, more annoyingly, fall prey to it again.  So this is where I share the interesting things I've learned in my quest to understand different things.

This blog will touch on many different subjects, but I’m going to start with sociopaths since they have been my biggest challenge for some time.  Most likely, you know one too. But maybe you just don’t know it yet.

They say that 1 in 25 people are sociopaths; that’s 4% of the population. Apparently, most of them are either in prison as repeat violent offenders or at the top of the food chain as politicians, CEOs of corporations, and various types of trust-invoking professionals. They are the people who are out for themselves only and don’t care who they hurt in the process. They have no empathy, no conscience and no remorse.  Unfortunately, I feel like I know an inordinately high number of them although none have been officially diagnosed as such, but most of them never are. Sociopaths don’t seek help. They don’t feel that there’s anything wrong with them. They consider their condition as an advantage rather than a problem. 

They are also very charming and attractive, so it’s really easy to fall under their spell. You will mistake their glibness for warmth and friendliness, but in reality,  it is a trap. Think of sociopaths as spiders – they have to lure you into their web before they can kill you. So the trick is to NOT get lured.  Hopefully, the information I provide here over the next few weeks will help YOU to NOT get lured. 

I’ll be covering different aspects of dealing with a sociopath. From common traits to red flags that can help you identify them to different tactics they use to strategies you can use to minimize the damage they cause.  Do you know 25 people? Statistically speaking, one of them IS a sociopath. That doesn’t necessarily MEAN they are dangerous – but they might be.  How can you know?

Well, check what you know about them against the diagnostic criteria and list of common psychopathic traits that I'll be posting very soon. And just so you know - a TRUE sociopath or psychopath will possess almost ALL these traits – not just a few. Also, you are not qualified to decide if anyone is a sociopath or a psychopath.  This checklist is accompanied by an intense 2 day training seminar. Unless you’ve been trained by the man who the list is named for, use it as a guideline ONLY.  

DO NOT USE ANY INFORMATION FROM THIS SITE TO CONFRONT SOMEONE ABOUT BEING A SOCIOPATH!!!! There are so many reasons why it's ALWAYS a bad idea. Don't do it. It's best not to let them know what you know about them. Trust me, the more you learn about sociopaths the more you'll understand why.

Check back soon for
"Facts You Didn't Know About Sociopaths"
and
"Sociopath vs. Psychopath: What's the difference?"