I'm Not A Sociopath, I'm A Psycho!

[CHARismatic110]

Now that I have your attention, I'd like to explain the difference between what a psychopath is and what a sociopath is. I've been seeing the two referenced a bit on here lately and it's almost always used in the wrong context. So join me, this will only take a few minutes.

The main difference between a psychopath and a sociopath in my opinion, is emotions. Psychopaths aren't capable of feeling emotions. They lack that ability. Sociopaths are more prone to being emotional and that's the main thing that sets them apart.

PSYCHOPATHS

Everything about a psychopath is cold and calculated. Everything is well thought out and planned. They are very smart individuals and usually have pretty decent jobs. I'm talking surgeons and lawyers here. They're very good at turning on the charm, just think of them as master manipulators. You could be looking at pyschopath in the face every day and never be able to tell. That's precisely why psychopathic killers are less likely to be caught. As I said earlier, they're incapable of feeling emotions. Here's the thing though: they can't feel, but they can mirror. Think of it as acting. With psychopaths, it is said that something is off in the genetics. Talk about having a screw loose, eh?

SOCIOPATHS

With sociopaths, they tend to be less put together. While they can feel emotions, it's still a struggle for them too. Whereas psychopaths are that way because of genetics, sociopaths usually become sociopaths due to some type of traumatic event or series of events. Think, screwed up childhood, abuse, etc. They tend to be less smart than psychopaths. Sociopaths display more erratic behavior which is why it's easier to spot them. It doesn't take much for them to fly off the handle. When it comes to violence and sociopaths, they are more likely to be caught because they're more likely to leave a clue.

To sum things up, you're not going to easily spot a psychopath. And if you think you have, 9 times out of 10 he or she is a sociopath. While both psycho and sociopaths are dangerous, psychopaths are the ones you never want to encounter. There's no reason behind why they do what they do as far as violence goes. They lack empathy. And that concludes today's lesson.

Stay classy GaGers. 😎

#CHARismaticOut ✌

[Klara-Hitler]

Psychopathy is a condition that can be captured with PCL-R. It's being said it is related to development of parts of the brain.
Sociopathy is developed antisocial behaviours usually made by a belief system or made after a brain injury.

Both psychopaths and sociopaths share a lack of emotional and sometime cognitive empathy.

With bare eyes you can spot a sociopath more easily because of their rather confused sense of empathy and morality. The psychopath having nearly no right sense empathy and morality hides behind his/her cognitive power.

But in psychology you can actually spot psychopaths more easily with a psychological test. Sociopaths hide more easily behind emotions and lies.

Especially in today's society sociopaths also have support in the liberal culture making them bolder about their subjective feelings, easier to hide behind a non-judgemental face and the culture made them more entitled to stay how they are and stay non-cooperative. Sociopathy and psychopathic-related behaviours are being glorified in the promiscuous culture and being spread for at least 40 years after the hippie sub-culture and sexual revolution.

Simon Barren Cohen has a lot of research on the topic of empathy alone.

There is nothing classy or cool about being a psychopath or a sociopath. There is nothing too smart about a psychopath or too related to being murderous. Some of them can be cognitively powerful like many that aren't psychopaths and are cognitively as powerful as them and more powerful.

Calling oneself a psycho to feel maybe, powerful, is a very weak move.

Reason why I don't like Emo-like types of teenagers is that they are the best examples of immature brats who think psychological problems and victimhood are cool and many of them fake them.

[Klara-Hitler]

_________
www.psychologytoday.com/.../...rsus-sociopathy.pdf

[Chief16]

Indeed. Well said.

[CHARismatic110]

People are so quick to deem someone as faking and write them off as doing something for attention until it's too late. Do some fake it? Sure. A lot don't tho.

And I don't know if this:

"Calling oneself a psycho to feel maybe, powerful, is a very weak move"

Was in reference to the title of this Take, but that's all it is. An title.

[CHARismatic110]

A title*

[Klara-Hitler]

I know you were joking. I just mentioned that because some people actually do that.

[CHARismatic110]

Oh well yeah, I can agree that it's definitely not cool to pretend. And if people knew the half of having any type of mental disorder, I don't think they would even want to pretend.

Thanks for your input tho.

[Klara-Hitler]

you're welcome. and thanks for your take.

[DasVoz]

Bulletproof source.

[Chief16]

And your source for this is what?
1) Psychopaths may have a lack of empathy but not emotions.
2) Psychopathy is a mental disorder, it doesn't mean that all psychopaths are inclined to cruelty or criminality or even Sociopaths for that matter.
3) Psychopaths aren't immoral, they're usually amoral. That means the lack of an alignment. Not concept of good or bad. Usually morally ambiguous.
If you want sources here you go
www.psychologytoday.com/.../inside-the-mind-psychopath-empathic-not-always
And
www.psychiatrictimes.com/.../hidden-suffering-psychopath
Do not confuse criminality for sociopathy or psychopathy. There isn't enough to just say a human being can just completely lack feeling. There has been no conclusive research for it in the past two centuries.

[CHARismatic110]

Cool story bro. Never said that they were all bad.

[Chief16]

Cool story bro? Those are facts. I'm asking you if you have any sources for what you said. I'm the one who should be saying 'cool story bro'. I study behavioral psychology, and this stuff is just popular media junk. I hope you research better if you're gonna write more informative takes in the future.

[CHARismatic110]

Funny because I got some of my info from the same sources you tagged so there's that. And I studied psychology at one point too. I'm not an idiot that doesn't know shit, thank you very much.

[Chief16]

Nobody is calling you uninformed, just misinformed. So many people just think that personality disorders are just black and white. But we of all people must know that isn't simply true at all. Right? People take a very lackluster view about mental health. I just want to make sure they don't become more ignorant than they already are.

[CHARismatic110]

Well yeah, I do agree that people don't take mental health as serious as they should.

[the_rake]

this is without doubt the most valuable contribution to the discussion.

[CHARismatic110]

@the_rake this and klara's response.

[the_rake]

yeah her's was good too, I just thought this one was straight to the point.

[CHARismatic110]

@the_rake fair enough

[Rawrzz]

This.

[Offthelist]

Why do people obssess over psychos and socios? Honestly there's nothing wrong with them until they do wrong. The basis of Mental disorders and psychological disorders are those that do not blend in well with society. I dont think it automatically makes them bad or cold people. They just live differently and go about life in ways a lot of people wouldn't comprehend or find reason for because they either dont understand or just glance at the stereotypes stamped on these people and automatically assume you must stay away or give dangerous conotations when in reality i think sociopaths and psychopaths know no other way to not necessarily use but (love) and hold onto the very things they love in life by naturally or unconsciously resorting to manipulation and being resourceful. I think they love and love life even more so than most and just approach life in socially unexceptable ways. They aren't "psycho" but more so responsive and adaptable. Sure the manipulation may be a bit less empathetic and more effective but whos to say they even know they're doing it.

[CHARismatic110]

I think people expect them to do wrong because of how they are portrayed.

[Offthelist]

I think it is probably hard to live that way knowing no other way. .. just a sad life

[CHARismatic110]

Yeah it probably is.

[ilostmynewunicorn]

A psychopath is innate. He has a problem in his amygdala that doesn't connect to his brain, at all. He is unable to feel any emotion. He can feel pain, but then he forgets all about the pain he just felt, and has no fear about feeling it again. He is cold, and he doesn't care for the suffering (physical, economical, etc.) he causes to another human being.
A psychopath

A sociopath is created socially. A sociopath can be created, for example, if someone is bullied until their adult life, and that person grows an insane hate toward the whole human race.

Unlike psychopaths (and unlike you said) sociopaths WANT to hurt people; they are much colder - psychopaths usually - depends on the type - only want to do what's best for them, and if that requires hurting someone else, so be it. Sociopaths want to hurt people, whether or not that benefits them. Also unlike psychopaths, sociopaths are NEVER social, because they can't be social due to what they went through.

Sociopaths also don't feel any emotions.

Most of all, sociopathy can be cured to a degree, psychopathy can't be cured at all without a lobotomy, and I would disagree that is a source of treatment.

And before you start attacking me like you did @Chief16, because YOU ARE very much wrong, I've been researching psychopathy and sociopathy since I was 16. And I know for you sure you never even read The Psychopath Test or The Sociopath Next Door, which are the 2 must-reads before you even think about talking about this.

[ilostmynewunicorn]

*I didn't mean that "at all" when talking about the amygdala. It does connect, since it's part of the brain, but the connection is severely damaged from birth.

[CHARismatic110]

I didn't attack anyone. Thanks for your input. 😊

[bluenose1872]

All the psychos I ever knew were killers or tried to be. That's the mark of a psycho, no empathy. Killing is an acceptable act to them if they are in conflict with somebody. There were 4 gangsters who ripped off a drug mule. They took him to a field in the middle of nowhere. Out came the shotgun and he got blasted when he was running away. They took turns blasting bits of him away and laughing whilst they did it. That's real life done by somebody I knew once. He still laughs about it till this day I hear. You'd know the difference if you ever met people like that. Dead eyes like a sharks. Everythings there to be manipulated or destroyed that's it. He's only 1. I've known quite a few due to the life I was born into. They're all the same. Absolutely no empathy towards their victims, victims families anybody. They're just not capable of caring

[CHARismatic110]

Yeahhh, that's scary to think that there are people like that in the world.

[bluenose1872]

I used to think you only seen things like that in movies. People like that didn't exist in real life. Then a guy across the road we lived by get nailed to his floor one night and set on fire. Us kids seen them taking his body out the next morning. There was a drug debt he couldn't pay. Trust me there's demons from hell in this world. You walk past them every day and don't know it. The things they do will make you wish you were born deaf and blind if you ever seen them

[CHARismatic110]

Oh my goodness. That's horrible. And that's the scary part, knowing that these people are your everyday people. My sister's ex husband had a friend that killed and chopped up a girl. He used to come to their house and hang out. Even after they found the girl. You would've never guessed.

[ObscuredBeyond]

And what would you call Rita "Twisted Noodle" Rigatoni from Camelorum Adventures? She has an addiction to pranking others, and has only one emotion: laughing at the results of her work. She has framed Anita and Gwen for acts of domestic terrorism, glued carousels and rubber ducks to others' heads with airplane glue, and often talks in Dr. Seuss rhymes. Her motto is "rubber bananas!" She escapes a moderate-security prison on a hang-glider, laughing all the way. Like the Joker, but less homicidal.

[CHARismatic110]

Lol is she real?

[ObscuredBeyond]

Nope. Cartoon character I developed with some friends on deviantART.

[CHARismatic110]

Ahhh, ok.

[FalloutVaultB0y]

Being intelligent is not an inherent trait of a psychopath. Contrary to what you said, your typical psychopath does not have a tendency to latch onto jobs long term and they has the tendency to be very impulsive - seeking immediate self-gratification.
Other than that, I think you're good about psychopaths.
Not too certain about the attributes of a sociopath, so I can't comment on that.

[CHARismatic110]

True

[lv4lv]

Actually - Definition varies upon nation. DSM (Multi-national "diagnostic guide") gave up because of this and threw them both in the exact same pot. Sociopath will be a Psychopath somewhere else, and a Psychopath will be a Sociopath. It's all wibbily-wobbily.

[CHARismatic110]

I agree. Definitely wibbly wobbly

[aliceinwonderland69]

I believe both were removed from the DSM decades ago. People like to belive monsters do bad things. But in reality there are no monsters. Humanity is capable of great evil.

[ManOnFire]

Actually you have it completely backward. It's the sociopaths who have no emotions and are usually very smart because they're scheming, manipulative, and caniving. They are practically experts on human behavior and have an evil way of predicting what a person will do or how they will react.

I'm not expert, but I've read a good deal about sociopaths, and the secret network me and some of my friends were in on the last site I was on used to observe the sociopaths there.

[CHARismatic110]

www.psychologytoday.com/.../how-tell-sociopath-psychopath

[ManOnFire]

https://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html

[CHARismatic110]

Hmmm... that's odd.

[Amanda2]

Very true, my ex boyfriend was a sociopath, l fell in love with him because he was intelligent and charming, he knew his way to a woman's heart. I met him when he was in Medical School, he went to Cornell undergrad and then med school, now he is a Dr working at the Harvard clinic. He did love his family, he just used people a lot to take him to the next step. Those are the worst persons to fall in love with, they leave you, confused and a mess. Luckily I went to counseling and was able to move on. It's been three years and our experience, still to do this day influence some of the choices l make in current relationships

[Trotters]

Could my cheating ex be a sociopath? She never seemed guilty or remorseful or maybe she was but she didn't show it? She ended affair though so maybe she did feel guilty?

[CHARismatic110]

Anybody can be a sociopath.

[NJ_Casanova]

So I'm a psychopath when I'm sober and a sociopaths when I'm drunk... thanks for the clarification;-P

[Mesonfielde]

I've heard these before but I tried finding scholarly articles and found nothing worthwhile.

So, "psychopaths" being psychopaths is just something people tend to mention, but isn't really a scientific term at all.

[Klara-Hitler]

"being psychopaths is just something people tend to mention, but isn't really a scientific term at all."
https://www.hare.org/scales/pclr.html

Where did you get your PhD in psychology booboo?

[Mesonfielde]

@Klara-Hitler Hmm, maybe it was sociopathy that wasn't actually a scientific term then.

I knew it was one or the other, but I was lazy to check.

[Klara-Hitler]

Even sociopathy is scientific, it is just not as rich as psychopathy when it comes to researches, and the symptoms are very confusing. Like ASDs for example that if you are in the higher parts of the spectrum it is harder to detect, but still has an impact. Sociopathy exists and is a serious problem especially nowadays.

The Muslims or religious fanatics or socialist fanatics you see that are unable to empathize with certain groups they define in their ideologies as their enemies which is mostly anyone that doesn't confirm to what they believe are simply mostly sociopaths. These fanatical collectivist ideologies are also a very good haven for psychopaths. Sociopaths usually idealize psychopaths under these ideologies.

Stalin was a psychopath, nearly no doubt. This child psychologist Alice Miller has a chapter of her book about Stalin.
www.amazon.com/.../0385267649
An abused child, an entitled bank robber in his youth and murderer of millions later with an average

[Klara-Hitler]

... cognitive power. His mentally broken illiterate and indoctrinated communist disciples were mostly hungry sociopaths. and communism is an ideology of killing family, abusing children, with it empathy in the society, abusing orphans and a mentally broken breed of people in a murderous abusive ideology.

[Becky01]

I can't decide between the two they both sound like fun

[cutiepie4real]

It would be fun until it turns wrong. I was married to one (I'm not sure if he's socio or psyco) but anyway, he charmed himself into my life and turned it upside down like a tornado's destruction, and walked out. It's so much to be said about a person like that. It's really unbelievable the things they do, leaving you asking "Why, how could they do this to me?"

[Becky01]

@cutiepie4real
sorry that happened to you.

[cutiepie4real]

Thank you. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It's just hard to explain because they come off as a very nice, "charming" person. The lesson I'll take away from what I've read on GAG about these people is to watch how they treat other people and/or people they feel are "below" them. My ex was like that--really nasty to people. But he wasn't to me--UNTIL MARRIAGE. I wish the best for you in the future.

[Becky01]

@cutiepie4real
I wish you nothing but the best for your future

[GreatnessRevamped]

Um, you got your stuff backwards. Physcho have emotional control issues.
Socios are amoral, but they can be raised to be decent individuals.
I know some socios, and they love their parents as much as they can, so they aren't that bad.

[CHARismatic110]

www.psychologytoday.com/.../how-tell-sociopath-psychopath

[GreatnessRevamped]

This site says otherwise
www.webmd.com/.../sociopath-psychopath-difference
and so does this one
psychcentral.com/.../

Thanks, though. I'll make sure not to go to psycholoy today anymore

[GreatnessRevamped]

No, you are right.

[GreatnessRevamped]

My question is are they necessarily bad? In all the site, they say that both are not inherently violent. Yes, they might be manipulative, but I've dealt with that shit first hand, it's not so bad.

Personally, I believe not everything requires empathy. Some situations don't need empathy, they need resolving, i. e a crazy motherfucker trying to kill you doesn't need a listening ear, but a bashing so you can live.

[CHARismatic110]

They aren't all bad but it's like they have the potential to be

[GreatnessRevamped]

I understand, but that can be said about ANY person.

[CHARismatic110]

True...

[RedRobin]

I like this take, it's interesting

[CHARismatic110]

Thank you.

[Decentguy]

looks like someone called you a psychopath once and you took it way to seriously

[CHARismatic110]

Looks like you're wrong.

[TheOldMan59]

I've never read such nonsense in my entire life. I don't really know where to start. This Take should come with a health warning.

[CHARismatic110]

Thanks.

[Phoenix98]

Neither I'm just insane.

[Tdieseler]

seriously... is this from our conversation?

[CHARismatic110]

Of all the Takes that I've written lately that actually have something to do with you, this is the one that you think does? While you are in fact a psychopath, this isn't based off a conversation that we had months ago.

[Tdieseler]

i was just checking and Yes, i have seen the Takes about me... i just find em cute.
takes a lotta ballz to put your feelings out there...

[Tdieseler]

you will be alright... will talk to you later?

[babu_001]

Then by definition I am a Psychopath.

[coolscenebro]

so this is something you're bragging about?

[CHARismatic110]

No... tf?