Um...accused of being a sociopath?

[lostforgottensoul]

Has anyone close to you accused you of being a sociopath?

Yep, my own family says it all the time. Pretty much all of them. Which f*cks with the mind quite a lot given my history and the fact that I was forced to do what a psychopath would do.

This person said I was a sociopath because I "don't feel empathy" and "dislike animals."

This term is wildly misused just like everyone these days calls someone full of themselves a narcissist. Which is actually a rare (according to the Mayo Clinic) mental health condition as is a psychopath.

There is a HUGE difference between not liking animals and sadistically torturing them and killing them.

Yep, there is. I actually thought I was a psychopath and punished myself accordingly due to this...for about 10 yrs.

Growing up with at least one likely sadistic psychopath (those that cause horrid pain to a living being for sexual pleasure), if not two or more, I can say for 100% certiany that "not liking animals" is not a character of a psychopath. Not even close. A totally different ballpark on the other block.

Psychopaths cannot feel ANY empathy. It is impossible for them to feel bad for anyone or anything. How that plays out in behavior, likes and dislikes go way further then just not liking animals. If not liking animals was a character of a psychopath, man, we'd be in trouble as mass amounts of people dislikes animals but would jump in a burning building to save a person. You would find the psychopath walking by the burning building laughing as they heard the screams of people in said building.

 

[Beemo3780]

People like to throw around the terms sociopath and psychopath a lot, but don't really know anything about them. My ex husband was clinically diagnosed as a sociopath during a mental health evaluation during our divorce. He once killed the cat I had for 5 years while I was at work because the cat hated him and peed on his clothes. He showed no emotion towards people and was always concerned about what people thought of him or what he was going to get out of situations. When you know a real sociopath, they are not pleasant people to be around. And one of the things I've noticed about animals is that they are pretty smart, they know when someone isn't a good person.

 

[Miles2go]

He once killed the cat

Yeah, that's a relationship breaker, if not a sign of a monster. They can escalate into killing bigger and bigger things..

Glad to hear that you broke way.

 

[Sideways]

Not feeling empathy or showing remorse? Sure. If I’m emotionally numb at the time (which is a lot of the time), that’s potentially a good description of me. But that’s my ptsd. It has nothing to do with being sociopathic.

And the reference to animals? Smacks of an armchair expert and too many movies. Because antisocial personality disorder is about your relationship with other people. Not animals.

Until the day that Dislikes Animals Disorder makes it in to the DSM, I think you can safely put this one down to ignorance (of both sociopaths and ptsd) :)

 

[UniqueSunflower]

Because I supposedly "don't show any remorse".

Could you be experiencing the "numbing" aspects of PTSD, especially when you've been triggered or experienced a negative emotional response activated at high levels - doesn't necessarily mean you're a "sociopath".

 

[Deleted member 487]

Unless they are a licensed professional that has the training to diagnose such impairment, their opinion has the same value as a wad of used toilet paper.
Thus, handle it accordingly.

 

[Gamera3000]

People like to throw around the terms sociopath and psychopath a lot, but don't really know anything about them. My ex husband was clinically diagnosed as a sociopath during a mental health evaluation during our divorce. He once killed the cat I had for 5 years while I was at work because the cat hated him and peed on his clothes.

Oh man, absolutely! Here is the simplest comparison between people who don't like (even actively dislike) animals and sociopaths. People who don't like animals but are okay emotionally don't go out of their way to kill animals. I'm not talking about something like hunting or accidentally hitting a squirrel with your car but hurting a pet.

I don't have any proof, but I think my mom might be a sociopath. I started suspecting this when I was a kid and she told me this story of "female empowerment". She was in her early twenties and had some free ranging chickens. Keep that in mind. Free ranging. Her neighbor had a dog. They lived in the country, so people did not keep their dogs in fenced yards. This was the 70s, so no one in their right mind kept chickens or any other barnyard animal not in a pen. The neighbor's dog kept killing her chickens. So one day she walked into her neighbor's yard and shot the dog to death. She was triumphant when she told me this story. So there WAS emotion. But "I won" kind of emotion. I remember feeling cold and afraid of her for days. Thinking that I could not get away from her and I had years before I was even old enough to work. That's how a real person feels when they realize they are around a sociopath, or someone else without human emotions. They aren't butthurt like this person you're talking about who threw this term out at you to hurt your feelings.

 

[Beemo3780]

Thinking that I could not get away from her and I had years before I was even old enough to work. That's how a real person feels when they realize they are around a sociopath, or someone else without human emotions. They aren't butthurt like this person you're talking about who threw this term out at you to hurt your feelings.

Couldn't agree more with that. I had paralyzing fear when it came to my ex-husband. I never knew what would set him off, and he didn't care about how people were feeling, unless it involved people trying to make him look bad. It took a lot for me to get away and get him out of my life, and still 8 years later of court ordered no contact, he still tries crap on a regular basis so I always have to be on guard. Normal people give up after a while.

I don't throw those terms around lightly because I've seen evil people and they are not someone you'd want to be alone in a room with.

 

[littleoc]

I'm late to the party, but there's a thought:

My psychopathic father was also an animal hoarder. He had illegal, endangered, and exotic pets -- though he didn't understand they weren't just collections, he cared for them to keep them alive.

Famously awful people, whether known psychopaths or just really harsh/nasty politicians, are often considered to be animal lovers. Hitler, a Western symbol of genocide (despite the many even more massive genocides that occurred all around the world at the time), was once famously an animal lover.

I promise my Jewish heritage did not give a f*ck about how much Hitler loved puppies, or how many laws he created about animal abuse. Granted, it would be hard to know if Hitler was a psycho, as this was a complex situation, but being an animal lover didn't exempt him from the horrible things he did. (Though, he did kill a dog and have her puppies killed while testing his suicide method...)

There are many examples of this out there. Loving animals is not the same as being not-a-psychopath. As empathetic as I am, I can't imagine people disliking animals, but I understand it just enough. And it's not psychopathy.

Also, if you are lacking empathy, this isn't a qualification on its own. Context is critical -- are you overloaded by your own emotions and unable to connect?

Anyway. I'm late but felt I should add this anyway.

 

[Supervixn]

Interesting facts you provided there... didn't know any of it!

Well I have a non tradition view of death also and am not bothered by it. I get annoyed inside if people get over emotional about death with me just bc I see it as a bit of a blessing to graduate to the next level so to speak. I'm not a fan of dogs or of a lot of animals. I used to really appreciate them but not so much anymore. Its not like I want to skin them alive and dissect them I just see them as a burden more than not. My view of people is pretty cold too but I feel it's PTSD related. I wish harm to no one just prefer not to engage with people bc its a trust issue thing. Not a psycho...

 

[Gs172003]

Interesting facts you provided there... didn't know any of it!

Well I have a non tradition view of d...

Makes sense to me.

I love animals. But they take alot of energy to deal with. When you're having a hard enough time dealing with the rest of your life the last thing you want is something else to handle.

I wouldn't trade my animals for anything but I could see how they could be a problem for somebody else.

 

[Deleted member 541]

Says more about the person saying it, than you!!!!