Knowing sadly that if you are a psychopath you are unaware of it, unless your court-mandated counselor told you so as part of your parole.
But what the heck, let me try and ask if we have any honest-to-goodness full blown psychopaths/sociopathic dopers on here?
If so tell us your story.
ps. Narcisissts and other pathological personality disorders may participate
My job involves contact with serial sex offenders, a good proportion of whom are prototypical psychopaths.
There might possibly be ASPD individuals here, full blown psychopaths evaulated as such by a mental health professional, I’m going to say probably not. If nothing else, the “don’t be a jerk” requirement" would get a psychopath banned - playing well with others for extended periods of time is not a strong suit. Most psychopaths are evaluated in a correctional setting, and are largely evaluated as such for purposes of law enforcement and/or the criminal justice system. Accordingly the vast majority of people who get the label are institutionalized offenders who have committed serious crimes, and are the ones who cause the majority of the behavioral problems in the institutions.
Moreover, I’ve never met an actual psychopath was willing to agree that he was one - generally he’ll portray himself as the innocent victim of incompetent and vindictive lawyers, judges, police, doctors, etc. The people I’ve seen claiming to be psychopaths on various message generally do extremely unlikely things like offer helpful advice to posters on “how to date a psychopathic girlfriend,” even ending with “hope this helps!” A psychopath isn’t someone you’d want to willingly engage, as they’re not going to be friendly and helpful, or give you honest insight on what it means to be a psychopath - an honest, insightful psychopath is a contradiction in terms. A psychopath is more likely ingratiate himself to you with superficial charm and make you think they’re a great person, and then blindside you and steal your credit card number or burglarize your home while you’re on vacation. A psychopath is a grandiose, self centered, impulsive, pathologically lying, remorseless predator.
It would be harrowing, but how interesting it would be to experience that mind from the inside!
Definitely, but sort of the way that being held hostage in a bank robbery is interesting. 
Seriously, though, that’s one reason I love my job. Aggravating and draining at times, but never boring.
Well, that’s the point - it wouldn’t be harrowing, because you wouldn’t feel bad.
You say that like it’s a BAD thing!
:dubious:
Well, I meant to view the world with the mind of a psychopath only as a third person–like Being John Malkovich. You know…like being a spectator in their head.
(is anyone taking any of this down?)
I never thought of the US Capitol as a correctional setting for psychopaths, but suddenly it makes complete sense. Though it doesn’t seem to be curing any of them.
Honestly, I’d start looking for people who meet the criteria for schizoid personality disorder on message boards before I’d start looking for sociopaths.
^ I could have sworn we had one of those here. He talked about having a girlfriend or something.
Hi
I was raised by a mother that has a personality disorder. I have no love for her. I sometimes wonder if I may be a psychopath or a sociopath or a narcissist because I seem to lack empathy for other people when I am jealous of their achievements. I particularly feel angered by people who prove me wrong in a argument or debate by providing an relevant link to a reputable website like Web MD or a relevant EDU study. I have no accomplishments or power in real life. I am divorced and hate my low-level job. Because of that I crave power and hate people who are wealthy successful or attractive. To that end I moderate several message boards for free. I use my power as moderator to humiliate and provoke people who trigger my feelings of rage by appearing more intelligent or knowledgeable or attractive than me. I do this behind the scenes and in a sneaky way, a way that makes them appear to be the trouble maker and I am the victim. I also encouraged other members to provoke them so that the person becomes angry and appears to become crazed. This type of manipulation makes me feel powerful and in control. I also admire Sam Vaknin a self proclaimed psychopath and narcissist.
You seem to understand technically the definitions of these disorders.
Then you expect they would give you honest responses.
Why would they do that?
Actually, I suspect it would be surprisingly boring. I recall another discussion of psychopaths on this board that linked to an interesting article on the subject, and one of the facts mentioned there was that brain scans indicate that psychopaths lack most emotions. They often act otherwise, but the brain scans show that it is literally acting; the areas of the brain engaged are those used when someone is acting, not feeling an emotion. I’d expect the view from inside a psychopath’s mind to be narrow and monotone from the viewpoint of a person with a mind of more normal emotional complexity.
You could have just said that you moderate message boards and we would have assumed the rest! 
I think that seems accurate. Some have been reported to speak in a monotone voice. Most doctors are reluctant to label someone a psychopath, if they are functional in society. Not all sociopaths or psychpaths commit crimes. Also, according to Vaknin almost all advanced narcissists are sociopaths/psychopaths. He calls them malignant narcissists. They tend to be very charming and can fool most of the people most of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.
Thanks for injecting some humor. 
I was starting to feel that maybe I gave out too much personal information.
I don’t think a narcissist worries about being a narcissist. And I wouldn’t expect you to want to give this type of information if you wanted to make yourself look good. And you admit you have good emotions.
I think it’s more likely you have “issues” from your childhood and dealing with your mother, and that you are taking it out on other people. Freud may have been wrong about a lot of things, but the idea that childhood experiences affect you as an adult was not one of them.
I’d actually characterize what you’ve said as an anger management problem. I think most people have a hard time having remorse while they are angry. For some people, that lack of remorse lasts a few seconds–others, it lasts longer.
If you are truly concerned about this, I hope you do some research and find out what you can do to deal with your problem. I’m sure there are people who are trained to help and would be glad to do so.
(My sister had depression from dealing with me all her life. And, yes, I mean had. She was the most depressed patient my psychologist had ever seen, and now she’s completely fine–without stupid drugs, either.)
It must truly suck, then, to honestly be “the innocent victim of incompetent and vindictive lawyers, judges, police, doctors,”.
Don’t interact with psychopaths unnecessarily.
I have to treat their medical needs, but make it a point to limit my interactions with them as much as possible.
Better to hang out with sharks, they don’t pretend to be your friend.
Criminal psychopaths also lack self-control, which is not necessarily a symptom of psychopathy, but is often co-morbid with it. Genuine psychopaths are extremely rare – Dick Cheney, for instance. Genuine psychopaths use charm and manipulation to get what they want without resorting to criminal means.
When I was younger, I tried becoming a psychopath – and if it weren’t for empathy, I probably could have become one. But no one with empathy can detach from it. Generally, it’s an advantageous trait; but sometimes (especially recently) having empathy really sucks. 