Wolverines, Sociopaths

by patio34 23 Replies latest social relationships

  • DannyHaszard
    DannyHaszard

    Hard fast rule--You don't negotiate with a rapist,you don't deal with the devil,and you can't negotiate with a psychopath. JC said 'don't cast your pearls before swine' or give what is Holy to wild dogs,lest they turn about and rip you open'. Creep

  • BeelzeDub
    BeelzeDub

    Danny said:

    Hard fast rule--You don't negotiate with a rapist,you don't deal with the devil,and you can't negotiate with a psychopath. JC said 'don't cast your pearls before swine' or give what is Holy to wild dogs,lest they turn about and rip you open'.
    Psychopaths and sociopaths are two different things. One of my greatest fears, my youngest son who is 18 shows signs of sociopathic tendencies. At first I thought he was just being rebelious, but lately I wonder if he is a sociopath. He does not seem to care about anyones feelings, who he puts at risk by what he does. Breaks any rule if it stops him from doing what he wants to do without even caring what the outcome or if he gets it trouble. Can someone like this be helped? Talking to him about cause and effect and his actions seems to go in one ear and out the other. Teen rebelleon or sociopathic tendencies? I hope it the first, but if its the later this is very scary to have in your family.

  • rebel8
    rebel8

    I used to be a psych social worker and had to "treat" sociopaths, which is a total joke because there is no treatment available for them. It's useless. Basically, if a kid doesn' t have a conscience by about age 7, he/she will is very, very unlikely to ever get one. Harming animals for fun and violating social norms/rules/rights of others are indicators of future APD.

    BTW, child molesters and rapists usually have APD. They are GREAT con artists and will give elaborate excuses and histrionics to excuse their behavior. Others manipulate people to feel pity for them (like MJ). Excuses, histrionics, and manipulation are all done with only 2 purposes in mind: 1) avoid consequences 2) make others less suspicious so they can continue their inappropriate/criminal acts. If they express remorse, it is only to gain sympathy and avoid consequences; it is not genuine.

    It seems like it goes a little beyond childish behavior or troublesome adolescence, I think he's a budding narcissist of the first order.

    Narcissism and APD are often confused because they can appear similar on the surface. The difference:

    NPDs do it to service their own ego and don't care if they inadvertently harm others in the process, and they are not usually aggressive

    APDs do it because they have no conscience and like to purposely harm others, and are often aggressive

    Psychopaths and sociopaths are two different things.

    Actually, no, they are the same thing. http://www.answers.com/topic/antisocial-personality-disorder

    Are you thinking of psychosis? That is not the same thing as APD/psychopaths/sociopaths.

    But Beezledub, your son might not have any of the above. Lack of concern for others and for consequences are natural components of being a teenager. If you believe his thoughts and behavior are of concern or are age-inappropriate, you can see a therapist who will help you come up with a plan to increase his empathy for others. Even if he is already sociopathic (which we really don't know at this point), he can be helped at this age to be less aggressive. If he doesn't have any of the disorders we've discussed here, he can be helped by therapy anyway.

    Just for informational purposes, I am posting the following information. It is about Conduct Disorder, which is often a precursor of APD. Please do not transmit this information anywhere else:

    Diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder

    A. A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following criteria in the past 12 months, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months:
    Aggression to people and animals
    (1) often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others
    (2) often initiates physical fights
    (3) has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)
    (4) has been physically cruel to people
    (5) has been physically cruel to animals
    (6) has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)
    (7) has forced someone into sexual activity
    Destruction of property
    (8) has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage
    (9) has deliberately destroyed others' property (other than by fire setting)
    Deceitfulness or theft
    (10) has broken into someone else's house, building, or car
    (11) often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., "cons" others)
    (12) has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)
    Serious violations of rules
    (13) often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years
    (14) has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)
    (15) is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years

    B. The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupanal functiioning. COPYRIGHT AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION

  • ignored_one
    ignored_one

    My neighbour is a sociapath. At least that's the only explanation I can settle on to describe her behaviour.

    Basically she doesn't care about anyone but herself. If she wants to crash and bang about at 4 in the morning she will. If she wants to play loud music all day she will. If you complain about it you get the 'get used to it' treatment. She mainly started playing music loudly after I complained about the stomping about. If you try and get someone from your landlord to sort it out they get the nice and sweet treatment that pops up whenever she wants something. It's hopeless trying to get them to reason with her as they're never dealing with the real her.

    I found the best way to deal with it is basically be noisy right back. So I play my music really loud during the day until she can't take it anymore and leaves. At least I get a few hours of peace while she's out. I wouldn't do that late at night as that would annoy my other nice neighbours.

    Of course she's starting throwing temper tantrums now because of it. The last one was a few weeks ago when at 8pm she decided to slam her front door repeatedly, then bang loudly on my ceiling followed by slamming her window repeatedly. I just laughed. If she tries it again I'll be giving her the same advice she gave me 2 years ago. Get used to it or move out.

    Ignored One.

  • DannyHaszard
    DannyHaszard

    Apple 2 apples (Psychosis) an illness Psychosis is a psychiatric classification for a mental state in which the perception of reality is distorted. Persons experiencing a psychotic episode may experience hallucinations (often auditory or visual hallucinations), hold paranoid or delusional beliefs, experience personality changes and exhibit disorganized thinking Vs. Orange 2 oranges ( psychopath) an adverse moral judgement

  • noun: someone with a sociopathic personality; a person with an antisocial personality disorder (`psychopath' was once widely used but has now been superseded by `sociopath')



  • BeelzeDub
    BeelzeDub

    Rebel8 & Danny, Thank you for the information to correct my understanding. I may have been confusing Pscycosis with Psychopath. What I had read was from some general health reference books that were over 10 years old.

    So for those with experience in this area. Is there *anything* that can help someone like this realize what they are doing? There is no way that my 18 year old son is prepared to face life on his own, yet we can't live with him because of his distructive behavior.

    How can we help him?

  • avengers
    avengers

    I started a thread about this topic. You'll find some good info here.
    And there's more.

    http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/8/72216/1.ashx

    Andy

  • rebel8
    rebel8
    How can we help him?

    Go to a therapist with him. He should have individual sessions but sometimes you should go with him to ensure you put the needed supports in place in his home environment.

  • a friend in need
    a friend in need

    edited by afin

  • BeelzeDub
    BeelzeDub
    Has your 18 year old son been this way since young childhood or got this way since becoming a teen? If it is the latter, I imagine therapy would be helpful.

    He has always been imature for his age. He is 18 and still does not have his drivers license. He shows little motivation or interest in even getting it.

    He breaks school rules that he clearly knows are wrong and will get him in trouble.

    He breaks laws, thinks he is smarter than the law, but when I see some of the things he does he is really quite dumb.

    He has no problem stealing from his own family for money.

    He has issues with drinking and pot.

    He will not apologise to people he hurts, he just wants to forget about it and act like it never happened.

    He manipulates by trying to throw guilt on others for situations that he put himself in.

    He does not think about cause and effect, he just does things on impules because that is what he wants to do without any regard for rules of the house.

    On the good side,

    Other than some school fights, he is not a violent person.

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