Victims of Psychopaths Community Group

Is he or she a sociopath or psychopath? Think we're only talking about serial killers here? Psychopaths, sociopaths and even narcissists come in every walk of life, every career level, and every socio-economic category.

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Sociopath or Psychopath?

sparkstrong
sparkstrong
I'm getting mixed messages at to whether the "monster" who was in my life was a sociopath or psychopath. I read articles that say S's and P's have no empathy or circle of close friends, yet he appears to. Articles about these types confuse me, as they seem to use the words interchangeably, but differentiating article of S and P continue to confuse. His characteristics are: charismatic, fun loving, profuse embellisher, liar, sexually promiscuous, watches porn (even in the workplace bathroom stalls), makes lists and plans, doesn't worry about consequences as he doesn't think anything he does is illegal, doesn't care about the agony of others when he loses their money in deals, feels entitled. empathy bombs (for himself), always the victim. always gets in situations others have to get him out of, manipulative of me and his flying monkeys, makes contact with others simply to keep them in his "contacts" in case he needs them later. On and on, but not sure which he is. The following definitely is him


http://silvahayes.hubpages.com/hub/Sociopath
waitingwife
waitingwife
The way I understand it is that their personality traits are not so different. A psychopath is born a psychopath and can not be cured, but a sociopath is one due to experiences or brain trauma and has more hope of being cured. They're just as dangerous as each other however.
johnnycake
johnnycake
Personally, I draw the line at the type of crime. Psychopaths are brutal and sadistic (a serial killer), while sociopaths are subtle and narcissistic (a social climber). I haven't found a lot of consensus in the psychological literature for this distinction, and the dissertations are all over the place. Some say the conditions are indistinguishable, some say there is no difference, some say the terms are undefinable and therefore useless. Some say one's genetic, the other's environmental. Some say one thing, others say something completely different. Can one be subtle and sadistic (a backstabber), or brutal and narcissistic (a dictator), or all 4 things at once? Sure, why not? The common theme is lack of empathy, and your monster seems to have that. It might be more helpful to think about anti-social personality like a poker hand, where the suits are sadism, narcissism, intelligence and libido (drive).
sparkstrong
sparkstrong
I was told that legally, we can't put a label on anything we say about the person. We can only prove lies or truth. Problem is, when someone gets on the stand and lies profusely, you may not have a knowledge of the personality disorder at the moment. You are totally disarmed, and unbelieving of the fact that you ever knew this person. That's when the judge should call a halt and ask for exploration. This whole thing should be treated as fraud. This person went into the relationship knowing what he was going to do. Most only treat it as "creative conning." Actually, I thought saying sociopath was a milder term. According to the readings I've done, the calculated, organized, can keep a job disorder is the psychopath. Doesn't have to be the killing type. On the other hand, the sociopath is one who is described at totally impulsive, can't hold a job or have a circle of friends. Maybe I'm not the only one that thought sociopaths were less dangerous.
onthemend101
onthemend101
Re the 'circle of friends"...my xN/S has a ton of "friends", but most of them don't actually "know" the real him, and the ones who do are his fellow N/S/Ps.

From what I have read and studied the difference between a Sociopath and a Psychopath is that a sociopath impulsively harms others, whereas a psychopath plans it.
onthemend101
onthemend101
http://www.medicaldaily.com/whats-difference-between-sociopath-and-psychopath-not-much-one-might-kill-you-270694
onthemend101
onthemend101
Excellent quote from the comments to the above references article: "Psychopaths literally get high on the surge of power they feel when torturing, terrorizing and humiliating their victims. Sociopaths are motivated by their narcissism and a desire for status. Sociopaths have no emotional connection to their victims. These are the people who will murder their own family members (sometimes even their own children) for insurance money. Its nothing personal, they just need that money, or that promotion, or that brand new Italian sports car, or whatever it is that will bump up their status, and thereby feed their narcissism. The reason sociopaths and psychopaths are often confused is because there is a lot of overlap, but again, the real difference is motivation. With sociopaths it's nothing personal. With psychopaths it is very personal, even if the victim is a stranger and just represents a certain type of person."
sparkstrong
sparkstrong
I found a clear article on what happens in the presence of a psychopath. I'm not sure anyone's seen it. It can be found by Googling: Psychopaths and love blog. The title is "Red Flags of a Psychopath: Psychopaths and Love Pretty much sums it up. You have to Google it, but it can be posted anywhere one of their buttons allows. Can't just copy it. It has a copyright.
bluebird4
bluebird4
From what I've studied and experienced, psychopaths can create long-term plans and schemes, which makes sense given they are often linked with more "successful" careers and criminal offences. A sociopath is less adept in the ability to plot and scheme and tend to be more spontaneous in their manipulative behaviour.

There's also debate as to whether the P is brought on by nature and if the SP is nurture.
dixiebelle1958
dixiebelle1958
I honestly thought they were the very same thing from what I have read.There is no difference.It has more names as well.Antisocial disorder Disocial Disorder .(spelled it wrong) But anyway that is from what I have read online.I have 2 psychopathic siblings.
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