Encounters with Psychopaths and Sociopaths

[Ideologue]

Sometimes I think I have a stripe of sociopathy in me, due to lacking much sense of the value of human life, but it's more like I'm socially awkward and hateful.

Asshole does not equal sociopath.

[Fate]

I don't think that's true.  They only care about gratifying themselves, and just don't care about hurting others; have low thresholds for boredom, so they tire of normal pleasures easily, so hurting others can become a preferred outlet for some.

Is there a sociopathy spectrum, like for autism or Green Lanterns?

Before the age of 18  we say they have conduct disorder. Above the age of 18 it becomes antisocial personality disorder. It's not graded from my experience.

[Fate]

We should test for it in early childhood and then involuntarily commit those who test positive to psychological institutions where they would be experimented upon in an effort to fix their brains. It would markedly improve society.

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It would be quite oppressive, but it actually would improve society. Sociopaths don't have any legitimate desires because they only get off on harming others.

this plays on the incorrect assumption that all sociopaths hurt others and are evil evil people. we only hear about the bad sociopaths for a reason. who knows how many "good" sociopaths exist in the world and function normally

There is no good form of sociopathy. That's akin to saying there's a good form of diabetes or cancer. People who truly have this disorder without exception have a long history of run ins with the law and a profound lack of respect for the rights of others.

[Ideologue]

What about the CEO population?

[Fate]

What about the CEO population?

It's highly unlikely anyone who could get through high school, college, graduate school, and years of professional life is a sociopath. There's just too many boundaries they'd have to respect and social norms they'd have to uphold.

[Ideologue]

Can I still use sociopath as an epithet?

[Razgovory]

I don't think that's true.  They only care about gratifying themselves, and just don't care about hurting others; have low thresholds for boredom, so they tire of normal pleasures easily, so hurting others can become a preferred outlet for some.

Is there a sociopathy spectrum, like for autism or Green Lanterns?

Before the age of 18  we say they have conduct disorder. Above the age of 18 it becomes antisocial personality disorder. It's not graded from my experience.

Hey Fate, do you know if there is any kind of treatment for the personality disorder yet?  Anything in the works?

[Siege]

There is always the led pill...

[Josquius]

Obligatory for somebody to say it since its the internet and we're all special snowflakes: me.

[LaCroix]

There is no good form of sociopathy. That's akin to saying there's a good form of diabetes or cancer. People who truly have this disorder without exception have a long history of run ins with the law and a profound lack of respect for the rights of others.

without a single exception? so, in the entire history of diagnosed sociopathy, there is not a single instance where a sociopath has not had a run-in with the law? are you sure about that? how much would you be willing to bet?

now, if one can do it, then others can do it. that we hear about those that are bad just makes sense, since they're the ones that get plastered on the news or we read about. those that don't commit crimes and for whatever reason are able to navigate around at least some of the boundaries of society (whether it's because they are high functioning, raised in a correct environment, impulse control as legbiter suggested, whatever), we wouldn't hear about them

[Razgovory]

Fate overreached, but there is a strong tendency to run into legal problems.  It's a mental sickness that leads to self-destructive behavior.  It's not like films and TV where a sociopath is some amoral genius.

[Malthus]

I'm unsure how to define a sociopath or psychopath.

I knew one guy, who was the husband of a friend of my mother's, who was a manipulative pathological liar who had absolutely no remorse when caught out - his reaction was, generally, to flee and start up again with a new gf and circle of aquaintances. He was constantly in and out of correctional facilities for small-time fraud; he was very successful with the ladies, in spite of his extreme personal ugliness and criminality - he'd have made a poster boy for the "seduction community". 

However, he never as far as I know committed crimes of violence. More like he was constantly manipulating others, men for money and respect and women for money and sex, and had zero remorse about it, and seemingly no close ties to anyone that meant anything to him. Example: one day a daughter from a previous liason showed up at his (ex) wife's door, to meet her half-brother whom she'd just found out about. When asked if she had met her dad, turned out she had as an adult - when she did, he's gone into some long (totally fictional) sob story about how her mom had done him wrong, the end result of which eventually being that 'dad' scammed the daughter out of her (small) savings she was building up to go to university. 

Was he a sociopath? I have no idea. He was a very bad dude to know, definitely.

[MadImmortalMan]

I'd guess the CEOs are just as much outliers as the ones on the "negative" end of the scale. We don't "diagnose" positive stuff though.

[Fate]

There is no good form of sociopathy. That's akin to saying there's a good form of diabetes or cancer. People who truly have this disorder without exception have a long history of run ins with the law and a profound lack of respect for the rights of others.

without a single exception? so, in the entire history of diagnosed sociopathy, there is not a single instance where a sociopath has not had a run-in with the law? are you sure about that? how much would you be willing to bet?

now, if one can do it, then others can do it. that we hear about those that are bad just makes sense, since they're the ones that get plastered on the news or we read about. those that don't commit crimes and for whatever reason are able to navigate around at least some of the boundaries of society (whether it's because they are high functioning, raised in a correct environment, impulse control as legbiter suggested, whatever), we wouldn't hear about them

I'll bet you one billion trillion zillion dollars. The disorder is diagnosed by virtue of run ins with the law, lack of respect for social norms, etc. If you aren't getting in trouble with authority you don't have the pathology. You may have antisocial traits (which all humans have, to a varying degree), but you do not have antisocial personality disorder or the most severe variant known as psychopathy/sociopathy.

[Fate]

I don't think that's true.  They only care about gratifying themselves, and just don't care about hurting others; have low thresholds for boredom, so they tire of normal pleasures easily, so hurting others can become a preferred outlet for some.

Is there a sociopathy spectrum, like for autism or Green Lanterns?

Before the age of 18  we say they have conduct disorder. Above the age of 18 it becomes antisocial personality disorder. It's not graded from my experience.

Hey Fate, do you know if there is any kind of treatment for the personality disorder yet?  Anything in the works?

Epidemiological studies show 1/3rd spontaneously remit from antisocial personality disorder in mid-adulthood, 1/3rd stay the same severity, and 1/3rd get worse.

Marriage has been shown to mildly mitigate the severity of their pathology. Antipsychotic medications can pacify actively violent individuals but does not decrease antisocial tendencies.  There is no effective treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy is largely useless.