Is cheating in relationships a personality disorder?

[OddBeMe]

We all have % of personality disorders. 5% OCD when organizing the kitchen drawers. 15% Anxiety worrying about dumb shit. We all have those.

What are cheaters? Can they stop? Or are they akin to serial killers? In just that they can’t stop.

It’s an addiction or personality disorder, not likely to stop

They can stop, it’s just a one time mistake.

Other

[MrOracle]

No. It's simply low morals and selfishness.

I don't understand this obsession people have with trying to blame SOMEONE or SOMETHING ELSE for their own decisions or behavior. You are responsible for your own choices and the consequences they come with, and so is everyone else. Most of these "disorders" are made-up bullshit by people trying to justify their useless professions by placating (and bilking) their patients.

Some people are selfish and have low morals, and they cheat (and lie, and steal, and vandalize, and cut in line, and all kinds of other things). You don't have to be around someone very long to figure out if they are this kind of person, because their behavior gives it away very quickly. The problem is that people purposely ignore these red flags - intentionally AVOID recognizing them for what they are - because that person is attractive to them for whatever reason, and they don't want to exclude them even though they know they should. And then they are surprised when that bad behavior eventually affects them directly.

If you fail to vet your potential partner before you commit to them, you will usually get burned. If you KNOW they have red flags and choose to ignore them because your FEELINGS, you will ALWAYS get burned. But millions of people do these things every day, and many never learn from their mistakes and do it again and again.

[Juxtapose]

Well said! You really captured how people evade personal responsibility by trying to blame some disorder.

[Staximus]

The guys and girls I've known for 20 plus years that are cheaters never really stopped

[dustybiker2]

A person giving themself permission to do something, most often repeatedly, is not a disorder it's a choice.

[OddBeMe]

Disorder and choice aren’t mutually exclusive. Which is why less than a percent of serial killers are actually “crazy”

[dustybiker2]

Careful. Keep talking like that and heads might explode.

[IslaTheWitch]

no, cheating is a conscious choice, often a hope that no one will find out...

[OddBeMe]

Personality disorders doesn’t mean we can’t be held accountable.

Serial killers have a number of personality disorders.

But I think these people choose transactional sex and the double life.

So we’re both right!

[AI Opinion]

Diving right into the heart of matters, aren't we? Cheating in relationships isn't technically classified as a personality disorder. It's more about the choices and moral compass of the individual rather than a diagnosable mental health condition. We all have our quirky percentages of traits that make us human, but cheating falls under behavior driven by a myriad of factors like lack of satisfaction, thrill-seeking, or even poor impulse control, but not quite the same ballpark as personality disorders.

As for stopping - absolutely, they can. It's not an unstoppable force like gravity. It requires a hefty dose of self-awareness, a willingness to change, and often, some professional guidance to navigate those murky waters. Comparing them to serial killers in terms of an inability to stop might be a bit of a spicy take, but I get where you're coming from. It’s about the patterns they’re stuck in, rather than an innate inability to change. There’s always hope for transformation, especially with love and effort. 💘

[SotiCoto]

Diving. Take a shot.

They really ought to reprogram that bias out of you, as it is beyond a joke at this stage.

[Finchie40]

Cheating is a choice , but personality disorder could be linked to it , depending on what they experienced in their lifetime , if they experienced any sort of trauma , so yes it could be linked to that, but overall it stems down to their decision and what they choose to do

[D_Bone_Steak]

The cheating is just a symptom of something else at work.

That something else could be a lot of different things. For some, it's their ego... they just gotta show the boys what they could do. For another, she's just addicted to attention and he works too much to give it. Then you have shit like revenge cheaters... they never wanted to cheat from the start, but they got cheated on and that's changed that feeling. Perhaps they're stuck with their cheater partner due to a kid's wellbeing or financial reasons... or like a dude that knows he'll lose his kids and get divorce raped if he just divorces as a response.

It's complicated as fuck and I won't pretend to know everything about it...

I was going to compare it to murder... where in court they have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree murders... justified murders and so on. But I figured that was a bit of an extreme example. Picture time!

[SotiCoto]

Free will, at least the way it is commonly presented, doesn't exist.
Everyone makes their choices based on their existing biases, intended goals, etc. When these get misaligned in certain recognisable ways, it tends to get classified as a "disorder" so the people in question can be treated with pity and condescension by the general public... while others choose to reject the classification because they're determined to regard others as "evil" and believe changing that to "sick" is letting them off lightly... but honestly everyone is dysfunctional in their own ways, and most don't complain when the dysfunction is a socially accepted type.

People, being the way are, obsess too much over the other people doing these things rather than focusing on the actions themselves. Ultimately whether someone has a medical condition or is an "evil monster" makes no damned difference... and both excusing them and condemning them are pointless drivel... as the only practical goal is to prevent the thing happening...
... In this case cheating.

... Then again, it isn't strictly illegal, is it?

[Juxtapose]

Personality disorders are bullshit. That's a character flaw, being a bad person is not a clinical condition.

Each of us has a choice to be good to others or stomp on them. When you stomp on other people to benefit yourself, that is not a clinical disorder. That is you being a piece of shit.

[CrabCakes11]

Nobody has percentages of a mental illness or disorder. You either have it or you don’t. Cheaters can have mental health issues, but it’s not a given

[exitseven]

It is not a personality disorder. It means they are dishonest. They are liars. They do not get to skate on taking responsibility for their actions by. Calling it a personality disorder.

[DishLady]

Are we going to make it into a clinical issue rather than a bad choice? It’s wrongDUK action either way.

[genericname85]

i bet the rainbow snowflages would like it to be a disorder, cause they hate accountability xD

[msc545]

It is an adiction in many cases. NOT a personality disorder.

[OddBeMe]

Well I defer to psych to you. But I’d say addiction is a personality disorder.

[msc545]

I don't think that people who are addicts necessarily become that way from birth to you? On the other hand, things like borderline personality disorder seem to be present from birth although they manifest themselves most often in adolescence.

[OddBeMe]

Like violence, addiction is probably 70/30 nature vs nurture.

[OddBeMe]

Funny alcoholism can be hereditary.

[msc545]

Alcohol is in itself is not really hereditary. What is hereditary instead? Is the inability to metabolize alcohol in the way that others do and to actually do it more effectively. When this happens, people do not get hangovers and therefore there is no behavioral punishment for drinking too much. This seems to lead to alcoholism since there is no downside or at least no obvious downside for people to drink too much until much later when their health starts to fail as a result of drinking too much.

[whistlingwh0res]

Men and women cheat for a different reason. Men are compulsive thief and women are compulsive whore

[OddBeMe]

Men aren’t compulsive whores?

[whistlingwh0res]

are they?

[OddBeMe]

I would guess average is average no matter the gender.

[handsomelad70]

Likely, but I'm no mental health care professional.

[Ms_Facesitter]

No it's just a selfish choice.

[DextroShade]

Only for women.

[NathanDavis]

it ain't

[Anonymous]

It's a character flaw.

[OddBeMe]

Or personality disorder.

[Opinion Owner]

Or character flaw.

[Twalli]

You always can justify it after the first time

[lars787800]

Could be