Do you ever feel like a sociopath?

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Sometimes I feel like one. It seems like my empathy or emotions do not work well. I don't feel lot of the times what other people are feeling and I am just standing there and I feel nothing. When my husband is in pain due to his feet, I sometimes laugh and I feel no concern inside me. It feels like I don't care if he is in pain because I don't feel anything.

But only time I do feel something is if it's going to effect me. Like if my husband lost his job, then I might feel stressed and stuff. Because then that means we have less money and it's tight. If his feet do get fixed, then I might feel something because he might not be able to walk on them and it will effect me. He won't be able to work or move around so I decided I would just give him a bucket to pee in and poop. Only time I feel bad for someone is if I caused it. But if something happened to someone and I can't imagine that happening to me, then I feel sorry for them because I am glad that wasn't me and hope it never will be.

well if you take delight in his pain, then ya you must be a socialpath, especially if your worried that he's not bringing in the money to support you if he has to get them fixed

Yet you express concern about such things! Besides, isn't a sociopath not somebody who just does not care but someone who actively hates people? There is a big difference! Hope that helps?

Sociopaths have no empathy and don't feel anything. At least I don't go out hurting people and killing them, same as animals.

I don't know if I am getting delight in my husband's pain, I guess this is an example of AS for innaproppiate laughter. But hey doesn't anyone laugh at the wrong times? Look at the American's Funniest Home Videos, you see videos of people falling and stuff and they find it funny. To this day I still laugh about my husband falling in the shower and out of the tub when I think about it and this was two years ago. He dented my waste basket so I moved it and he thought I moved it for him but no I moved it so he wouldn't dent it again in case he falls. He was alright, he wasn't hurt so why would I be upset or concerned?

I'm not sure that this behaviour counts as sociopathic. It's rather selfish and egocentric; the amusement you feel at your husband's suffering is a tad perverse (but, hey, that's marriage!).

Unless you deliberately stamp on your husband's feet or spike his coffee with laxatives, I wouldn't regard your behaviour as particularly anti-social.

If you wish, you can use that as a reason to go on ahead and do some of the things other people might do when they *do* feel someone else's feelings. For example, and while your husband is recuperating from foot surgery, you could try to help him be just as comfortable as possible so he can be back up and working as soon as possible so you do not end up worrying about finances. Some folks might question your motives, but who cares? You would be doing helpful things just by being yourself!

Last edited by leejosepho on 10 Nov 2009, 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

OK, I thought sociopath would be somebody who hates people! Sounds like that, at least. Everybody can, as you say, sometimes laugh at the wrong time. If he wasn't hurt by a slip, it could be funny! That's within normal experiences, as far as I know about them. It may be, dare I suggest, that you over-analyze your feelings? I hope you won't be offended by that, it's just an idea. Generally, if you try to catch a feeling with introspection, it disappears & can change, depending how you do it; very complicated area! So, you probably do care about your husband & when you catch yourself doing something you think isn't caring, you try to check what & how you're feeling & don't feel like you care. That anywhere near?

What you're experiencing is a lack of empathy of AS, and possibly the sadistic qualities that are common in people with such if you find it enjoyable that someone is in pain (read Hans' paper).

Sociopathy has more things involved, like superficial social ability, a parasitic lifestyle, a lack of all emotions other than fear (though extreme acts can make them feel something), and usually, the violation of the rights of others (see: doing criminal things).

Tell me about your sadistic qualities.

Do you mean me?

I don't have any. I don't like seeing animals in pain. And when it's humans I care for, the same. Humans I don't know, I feel nothing.

Pretty much where I'm at, too. I have trouble with being empathetic to problems that I've never had, especially if it is likely that the person with the problem may be to blame for it.

Doing bad things to people on purpose and then laughing about it would make you a sociopath. Sociopaths can have empathy, but either ignore it or enjoy the bad signals it must be giving them when they hurt people.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzuOBPMlRp4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Blxsxb_Yc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]


I don't think you're a sociopath.

Last edited by sgrannel on 12 Nov 2009, 11:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

That's not quite what she said, she said she laughed, even NT sometimes laugh instead of crying or cry out of happiness. Too much empathy can be paralyzing, too little can make you wreckless. My wife used to accuse me of being cold and uncaring because I didn't react strongly enough for her in traumatic situations, I finally hit upon the solution of telling her "If we both freak-out will that help anything; I'll freak-out later when I can't make anything worse" which she seemed to understand.

EWW, HELL NO!! !

I hate sociopaths. Sick, evil people with no conscience or morality. They are the exact flip side of autistics, they can read other people very well, they just don't care about other people. *SHUDDER*

Not specifically.

I wondered if anybody would say they had them. I hadn't heard that, about them being common in people with ASD.

I think wounds and diseases are sometimes very interesting, and care more about the fact that they're interesting than the fact that whoever has them feels pain, but that's not taking pleasure in their pain.

Hans describes at least one of his original patients as having a sadistic streak (I think that's one in six or so), taking pleasure in bullying and tormenting others.

I haven't seen it, but that's just my anecdote.

O, and to someone else, a sociopath needn't be sadistic, it's just that many are (as they find pleasure in hurting/harming others, but not all have this).

I wonder if the subject in question was really taking pleasure in the tormented/bullied person's pain, or if it was more the fun of 'pushing buttons.' I've occasionally been a little fascinated with doing things that get a consistent, predictable reaction from others. Not necessarily because the reaction itself is all that desirable, but because having a measure of control over one's environment is.