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Sunday, March 1, 2009

Self-diagnosed sociopath

I wonder whether there's any benefit to being professionally diagnosed a sociopath. In the age of Google, I'm sure there has been an upswing in hypochrondia, and you always hear doctors warn us not to self-diagnose. But what if you are concerned that you have a disease that will result in discrimination? Leprosy, tuberculosis, avian flu, and AIDS are all examples. Particularly for a disorder that is apparently untreatable, like sociopathy, is there any benefit in being professionally diagnosed?

I myself am self-diagnosed. I have seen a professional before and expressed concern about my tendencies, but it was laughed off and I didn't pursue it further because the person seemed inadequate for my needs. I pursued it a little further, trying to research and contact experts in my area, but people seemed wary of treating a sociopath and I started getting concerned about the paper trail I might have been leaving. So I've never been officially diagnosed, but I still wonder whether there's any value in it. Maybe legitimacy? For all I know, I am not really a sociopath. I know the word is just a label and won't actually change who I am, but I wonder if I would be happy or sad to get a negative diagnosis for sociopathy.

33 comments:

  1. As you have diagnosed yourself as such I am not too worried however much your attempts at diagnoses you should have already figured out diagnoses are there for the pathetic people who cant understand what these things are. So they make up these diagnoses and things that should be corrected but if you think about it there is a DSM but no manual for whats normal no manual to counter it. Normalcy is what is socially acceptable and what is "Right" to these people. However there is no real right and no real wrong the only right there is is what us as an individual decide is best for ourselves. There maybe sociopaths in psychology but in reality its just another type of person their is no real disorder its a way of being. I myself have created myself to be partly sociopathic borderline narcissistic all the worst parts of the psychological evils and have created within myself my own monster something that's extraordinarily violent psychologically and very subtle and quiet about it Even if someone wanted to figure me out they couldn't it's like I have facets different faces I change off and on like a light switch and even I don't totally understand it but I know that even thus far NOONE has ever been able to outwit me and the power is unimaginable. Where you say its a game for most sociopaths its purposeful for me for my own gains and proving grounds for whats weak and whats not in my eyes. I can also love more than you would say a sociopath could I care very deeply for people but if any of them so much as crosses one of the many lines I have I become their friends and once I have enough information on them everything that makes them tick I turn it all into a weapon and psychologically rip them apart and usually they never want to come out of their shells again or their lost in some contorted form of paranoia or fear. My closest resemblance is probably Hitler but I don't think even he could stop me!! I would like to hear your opinion on what this maybe but even this short paragraph doesn't skim the surface tootles :)

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    1. You're a faggot, bro.

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    2. Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

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    3. Frankly, sounds more like megalomania to me. Are you sure your name isn't really "Napoleon Bonaparte"? England is probably not watching the English Channel that closely at the moment; now's your chance to cross and conquer.

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    4. Learn how to fucking write correctly - syntax structure, punctuality, etc. Also, how typical of you to respond in that way. You're probably as facile as Omar Mateen. Keep looking for that blog where you fit in you fag.

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  3. I do research in psychology and psychophisiology. If your blog is credible it supports you being a sociopath. I could be incorrect but I am thinking you probably didn't notice why your blog is in black. Black gives the impression on minds as authoritive and being your blog I think this is why it felt proper to actualize this way. This would be cohesive with sociopaths being controlling and feeling largely self important. Black also gives the feeling of sophistication and mystery, which I believe are your dominant goals. To avoid conjecture you'd have to have an MRI on your prefrontal cortex to rule out how much "white matter" you have. Emperical evidence points out that pathological liars and sociopaths have more of the white stuff. It's the stuff that seperates us from the apes so if anything be proud of the fact. If you are over the age of 18 and have a criminal past around the age of fifteen then most psychologist will diagnose you as a sociopath. Criminal history currently substantiates the diagnosis. With that being said, I think you have yourself figured out. Secondly, in your best interest you should never get this diagnosed as long as you are a functional member of society. Or with any potential "mental disorder." Especially if you want to land a job in anything top secret, government affiliated, or the like.

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    1. Speaking as a self-diagnosed "tripath" (part sociopath part psychopath part empath) I will remind you of Freud's famous (though probably apocryphal words, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.") To be fair, much of what you say seems consistent with what little I know about current brain science on paths.

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  4. sociapathic behaviour has nothing to do with selection of what background colour is used in a blog. It's opinion so base that makes me wonder the extent of sociapathic behaviour I exhibit myself.

    I'm trying to deal with complex human emotion and understand how I interact with people and you determine that this state as being determined by a choice of colour. You my friend, are not part of the solution.

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  5. @Anon--who I assume is the blog creator.

    I believe this was simply one of his examples. He did not determine that simply on the color of the blog.

    "If your blog is credible it supports you being a sociopath."

    First he admits he suspects then:

    " I am thinking you probably didn't notice why your blog is in black. Black gives the impression on minds as authoritive and being your blog I think this is why it felt proper to actualize this way. This would be cohesive with sociopaths being controlling and feeling largely self important."

    He goes on to provide an example that supports his hypothesis. There are, of course, other obvious examples within your blog.

    Of course, if I am incorrect and you are not the blog creator, then I do apologize.

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  6. Side-note:

    I love the black, by the way.

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  7. I also self-diagnosed myself...and I was curious as to whether or not I should seek out a professional diagnoses.

    This blog convinced me not to...and so I thank you.

    The color black is somewhat adequate supporting evidence by the way. Black represents mystery within our psyche...and need I mention the very essence of that which we rely on?

    No, I don't think I do.

    Good luck, blog author.

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  8. Hands down the best definition or example of a sociopath to be found today is in the person of Eric Cartman.

    One should particularly look in to the case where Eric Cartman entices and then imprisons Leopold "Butters" Stoch in a fall out shelter, so as to assume Butters place on a field trip to Casa Bonita.

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  9. Recently I've been wondering whether or not to try to be diagnosed.

    For me it was because I would get the legitimacy that so many others don't, thus making me superior.
    As part of the same thought, it also is because I am so sick of people calling themselves a sociopath without them know what it's like to not have their empathy, feelings of love, all that rubbish.
    Most of these mentally weak people would crumble under the strain of this.

    Plus I suppose another main attraction would be if I could get prescribed something to help.
    More help with aggression rather than wanting to feel stronger emotion for other humans, as I have an extremely short fuse, even with small things, so I end up "seeing red" and hurting myself in the process, quite often.

    But after reading online, I have noticed how often sociopaths get persecuted by people that are scared of them.
    So I think, for now at least I should not.

    Suppose at least I know I can be fully honest when I say that I don't feel remorse, guilt, pity.

    Off topic, the funny thing is that I've know I'm different since I was 7/8.
    One of these things in school asking how we feel.
    I was fine with the quesions until it asked what I've felt guilty about.
    It hadn't struck me until then that I had never felt guilt, but at the same moment I almost instantaneously managed to make up something from observing the other children.

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  10. I was labeled sociopath as a child, but when a child you can't diagnose one until they have matured. Now as a 26 year old woman I know I am one. I wasn't diagnosed as an adult, but I know I am. I was in the military, and discharged for a personality disorder that the military finds slightly threatening, and I have almost a zero percent chance of reenlisting (not that I wanted to). What I was diagnosed with was wrongly diagnosed. I was playing a game which in turn only hurt my paperwork. I didn't mind not staying in, I didn't even mind the label I was given, but the fact that a "professional" didn't even see what was right infront of his eyes gave me doubts on ever getting help for this disorder, or any disorder with documentation.

    I knew he could see through most of my sh!t, but it was fun playing that game. He outruled the personality disorders he thought I might have, and ended up with this one due to my lying about seeing and hearing things. I hesitated often to play a game, contort what he may have been thinking so that he'd have to start over. It got me out of the military, which was good enough for me.

    I recently, about a month ago tried to do this whole, getting help, thing. I wanted to hear what the educated folk would have to say(without the biased opinion of the military) and hear from their findings, but why? I just wanted to feed my ego by them proving something to me I knew all along. Once I was able to embrace my personality instead of using it as some kind of game, I was able to be more at peace with it. I too find myself wondering why I pretend so much with my interactions with people. Why am I trying to prove them that I can feel? Why do I go out of my way to pretend emotion when I should just be me? I have come to this realization after I started the same routine of mind games, lies, and manipulation with this new counselor. She was so intrigued by what I was saying, and for once I was being honest, she didn't know how to handle it. After the thrill of getting her where I wanted her was gone, I saw no point in seeing her anymore. She wasn't "good" enough in my opinion to help me.

    That comes to the topic though, why did I want to be properly diagnosed when I am fully aware of what is wrong with me, and see no problem in it. I am not physically harming anyone, and I haven't hurt myself. I genuinely believe I'm a nice person, so why do I want to get a proffessional title just to prove to others. I believe we know ourselves well enough to know what's going on with our personalities, as well as those who have been around PD's long enough. Getting the documentation nowadays for some reason makes everything more official. There is no point in gettin the help if I already know. Why do I or should I have to prove it to anyone?

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    1. Anonymous, August 31, your comments is one of the most intelligent and convincing I have read. In at least the last five minutes. I hope you are OK.

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  11. I think this is the first time I have "met" people who consider this diagnosis a possible asset.

    I agree with those who have advised against seeking a verification of being a Sociopath!

    I myself have been given the psychopath diagnosis. It happened years ago, I was only 18, and I've been fighting to get rid of it for more than thirty years before finally succeeding a few years ago.

    However, it doesn't matter much that now I am officially not a psychopath, because there always many people who are willing to believe the negative before the positive, and I can easily say that this diagnosis has stigmatized me and made it close to impossible for me to create a decent living for myself in many ways (I do have a decent living now, but that is definitely no thanks to my youth diagnosis). It has quite plainly done me a lot of harm and continues to do so even with it not being official anymore.

    I live with the knowledge that this diagnosis being part of my past (which means it is still there, just not openly so) means it can jump up and bite me - and potentially ruin my life - at any time if circumstances happens to be of a certain kind of construction ... and should I be unlucky.


    Perhaps the good news is that there is happening something in neuropsychological community and - not least - in the media and the fashion industries. In some groups of society sociopathy is trendy and becoming popular, we see it even among the commenting posters on this blog.

    Being a sociopath is associated with being adept at succeeding in social life, with being mentally tough skinned and thus being unlikely to easily be/feel hurt and incapacitated by harmful and/or humiliating experiences i life. Hence the recent taking to sociopathy is understandable.

    But this still reresents small minority, and among (forensic) psychiatrists and criminologists sociopathy is still a tool used mainly to label the persona non grata in society, way more than it is being used as a clear psychiatric diagnosis. It is a sociological description of a person's behavior first and a means to describe a person's personality or mental habitus only secondarily.

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  12. "It has quite plainly done me a lot of harm and continues to do so even with it not being official anymore."

    I meant to say:

    It has quite plainly done me a lot of harm and continues to do so even with it now being officially "not true".


    (I put "not true" in citation because a diagnosis stays with you for life. You can add new ones, but not remove old ones, at least in the part of the world where I live).

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  13. Don't do it.

    Part of being high functioning is knowing yourself without others knowing and hiding the fact.

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  14. I've been wondering this myself. I've been diagnosed with everything from OCD to generalized anxiety (both because I refused to go to school, despite making excellent grades, and acted strangely when I was forced to do so). The psychiatrist who "treated" my "generalized anxiety disorder" with medication that has done absolutely nothing also voiced her opinion that I might have ADD, which is simply untrue. I thought for quite a long time that I might have Asperger's syndrome, because I do display a paucity of empathy, something that might be considered 'special interests', although they shift rapidly as I get bored, and intellectualize my way through social interactions since I don't really understand them. I now think that I might, in fact, be a sociopath, since I have chronic boredom (in spades), can be extremely charming when I so desire, and can read other people fairly easily, if through an intellectual rather than emotional process. I can't tell whether or not my sense of self-worth is grandiose, since I obviously think I'm very clever but then I've also been described as such by most people around me. I can intellectualize myself into and out of emotions rather easily, but when I examine my initial reactions they tend to be something along the lines of:
    My mother: I just got a phone call-- your grandfather...just passed away.
    Me: Oh...wow. Um. Are we still going to the play?
    My mother: Of course not!
    Me: Oh. (thinking: but...we knew he was going to die, and he's dead, so what can we do about it? I mean, he was nice, and I'll miss him, and Dad will be sad because both his parents are dead, but...not going to the play isn't going to change any of that).

    I told this to a friend, without describing my thought process, and she asked whether or not I was close to my grandfather. I asked how she defined close and she said, "Did you see him a lot? Did you like him?" and I said yes, and she gave me this look and said she thought I was a freak.
    I've gotten that quite a bit lately, as I've been distracted and have taken less care in my social interactions, which do require quite a bit of effort.
    Anyway, another friend of mine, who has Asperger's, told me very sincerely that she does not think I am a sociopath since I don't ruin people's lives and she doesn't believe I have a shallow affect. She then suggested I get diagnosed, but since I plan to work for the FBI, my immediate reaction was to deny, deny, deny, and claim that of course I don't really believe I'm a sociopath.
    I will be seeing a psychologist over break in order to secure a letter to get me a single next year based upon my supposed anxiety and inability to adjust (crap-- I am unusually good at adjusting since I do it so very often), so we'll see how that goes.

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  15. The mere fact that you diagnose yourself as sociopath means you can't be one for sociopaths don't tend to look too deeply into things, especially diagnosing themselves as one thing or another unless they felt it could gain them some status.
    For more info, please refer to my article, Sociopaths Around Us, URL been http://healthmad.com/mental-health/sociopaths-around-us/ or look up on healthmad.com

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  16. Trying to wrap my head around this... you think you might be a sociopath and are "concerned" about your potential diagnosis as a sociopath? The fact that you are "concerned" should answer your own stupid question.

    Self-diagnosed? You sound like my ex-wife who "self-diagnosed" herself based on whatever she saw on the news or new drug commercial. Oh, the anthrax she had every other week was amusing, yet became annoying after a while.

    If you are a true sociopath, you don't give a rat's ass about what society accepts and doesn't. It's as simple as that.

    You wonder if you "would be happy or sad to get a negative diagnosis for sociopathy"? Wow! Words actually escape me. "Jackwagon" comes to mind.

    I'll put it to you this way, if you were a real sociopath and you crossed me or my family the wrong way, "sad" would be the best that you could hope for.

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  17. Alternative diagnoses:

    (1) You believe you are a sociopath, but in fact this is a grandiose delusion. Similar to a belief that one is a messiah, genius or other figure--this "self diagnosis" is really just a manifestation of some other problem. You may benefit from professional psychiatric help. I'd suggest that you aren't qualified to diagnose yourself.

    (2) You know you are probably not a sociopath, but you've created this blog anyway. There are a variety of reasons why this could be the case. It could be simple attention-seeking; or it could simply be a work of fiction, or a form of roleplaying. The latter case might even be helpful (many people would benefit by exploring their "dark side" in a safe manner, such as writing a fictional blog).

    If I had to make a bet on it, I'd guess #2 is closest to the truth.

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  18. im 15 and I have read many of these self diagnosis blogs and websites because I needed to find out why I'm unstable. one day I care and the next I'm ready to throw in the towel. at first I thought I had bipolar or something. I read the profile of a sociopath and Its cohesive to me and how I behave. I want help but I don't want to move a finger. I'm currently in therapy for other issues. I think my therapist knows that I'm a sociopath. hes smart. he's difficult to lie to. kind of challenging. I don't know what to do because it's like im fighting my ego. I know how I should I just have no intrest in being how others tell me to be. I hope that this comment isn't some subconscious trick that I pulled. can anyone give help?

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  19. "I know how I should BE I just have no intrest"

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  20. Regarding the choice of colors, black is not enough evidence to label someone sociopath.

    I'm guessing the author is referring to his or her dark side (of the moon).

    Question for blogger: My "friend" is no doubt a sociopath. We have love / hate relationship. Usually I get upset because he's all about himself 24/7. If its ever about me, its like "here's a corner of my Dorito's chip honey" So, do you think this person gives a shit about me at all. Perhaps a tiny shit?

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  21. ^If you have to ask a total stranger if your "friend" cares about you or not then you probably know the answer already. You just don’t want to admit it.

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  22. ^ This. Fuck, this so much. Why is this concept so difficult for some?

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  23. @caleb
    "im 15 and I have read many of these self diagnosis blogs and websites because I needed to find out why I'm unstable."

    You're unstable because you're 15; in other words, you're not finished maturing yet. I'd ask your therapist to refer you to a psychologist &/or try a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator questionnaire, nor does it have the stigma when you discover your personality type. I think you'll enjoy the insights of the MBTI more than this melodramatic circle-jerk blog.

    Also, spelling & grammar is a dying art... please don't hasten it.

    Best & take care,
    -- Jon "I control my emotions; they don't control me" Smith

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  24. Well, I have self diagnosed pretty confidently, and I'm 16. I found as much out as I can, and I do sincerely think that I am a sociopath. The funny thing was I wanted to be one from the start, I'd always wanted to be superior, different.. Unless there is a mental disorder for wanting a mental disorder..

    And god you don't know how difficult is was to not lie there, If you can take my word for it, that was all truth.

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  25. My grasp of quantum physics was always shaky even before I started falling into dementia, but much of the discussion I have been reading makes me think of old tropes such as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and Schrödinger's Cat. In terms of psychology as we try to examine ourselves through introspection and similar unreliable methods, not only do we not arrive at truth, we change the impossible to comprehend truth. This blog is full of people thinking, "Am I a sociopath?" "Do I want to be a sociopath?" "Am I pretending to be a sociopath?" And so on. I probably was 25% of the way to crazy before I started reading this blog and every book I could find on sociopathology. Now I am pretty sure I am at 125% and gaining speed as I come into "dead man's corner." Perhaps this will be the last comment I ever post. I hope not. I am planning to go see the movie LUCY tomorrow night about a woman who .tricked into being a drug mule turns superhuman. Sounds like complete nonsense, but entertaining nonsense. I am not sure how to evaluate this blog on the scale of entertaining nonsense versus entertaining truth.

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  26. just like you said in ur book these are traits that describe our personality but do not define us

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  27. More people need to be on http://sociopath-community.com/

    !!! it used to be connected to this blog but was disconnected over a year ago. We need fresh blood and lots of interesting things have happened recently (relates to kiwifar.ms drama: https://archive.is/M2tXa) that will go down in the forum's history! Be sure to check out http://www.psychforums.com/antisocial-personality/ too, as some of its regulars are regulars on SC too!

    Fucking ME won't reconnect the forum to this blog so we SC goers will just have to spam the comments section w/ advertisements like this!

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