Characteristics of the Sociopath [View all]

[littlemissmartypants]

I am starting this thread as a reference.


Beware of These 15 Characteristics of a Sociopath

https://psychologenie.com/sociopath-characteristics

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According to the American Psychiatric Association's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, a sociopath is defined as a person with "a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood."

Sociopathic tendencies include certain key traits like selfishness, superficial charm and a feeling of immense pride in themselves, to name a few. Sociopaths are not born with these tendencies though, they develop these tendencies as a result of several environmental factors that they face in their childhood or early adolescence. Though sociopath characteristics begin at an early age, they go unnoticed for a long time, under the assumption that the child will grow up and learn on his own. Sometimes, sociopaths are referred to as psychopaths because the behavior projected in both cases is more or less the same. But these terms are not synonymous. While sociopathy comes about as a result of environmental factors, psychopathy is an innate phenomenon.

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No guilt or remorse.

Whether it's a murder, robbery, lie, or any other criminal act, sociopaths feel no guilt whatsoever. They live in an amoral world of their own where they can never empathize with others and neither do they feel guilt for blaming others. They are known to be compulsive liars and they lie to an extent where room for guilt gets occupied by self-made reality. They often believe that the pain inflicted on the other person is deserved by them. Many criminal sociopaths are often seen giving such explanations for when their crime is caught.

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Other Common Characteristics

1. Early behavior problems which are referred to as juvenile delinquency.

2. Indulging in crime of slander.

3. Exhibiting promiscuous behavior and infidelity, often tagged as being incapable of love.

4. Having an entrepreneurial criminal mindset.

5. Being authoritarian, dominating and secretive.

6. Showing cheap goal-setting tendencies - like enslavement of victims.


Dealing with a sociopath can be very difficult on several levels. First, it takes a considerable amount of time to recognize sociopathic tendencies in a person, by which time one has already had to go through varied levels of anguish. Second, treatment for this disorder is nearly impossible because a sociopath does not believe that he has a problem. He has no conscience and therefore he does not understand the difference between right and wrong and neither does he care about the consequences of his actions. What further adds to the difficulty in treatment is that he is a compulsive liar and can thus lie during treatment sessions, thus rendering them pointless to a great extent because his improvement can never be calculated accurately. It has therefore been agreed that the most effective way to deal with a sociopath is to keep away from them in whatever way is possible.