Aspie or Sociopath?

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Most sociopaths aren't killers, there may be a higher percentage of violent sociopaths than there is of non-sociopaths, but being a sociopath doesn't mean a person will go around killing people just for kicks. In fact a lot of the more successful ones work in the corporate or financial sector where their ruthlessness, disregard for others, lack of loyalty and willingness to bend rules for personal gains are often seen as very positive and desirable traits. The University near me did a study of it a couple of years ago and they found in those two sectors the percentage of people scoring either as sociopaths or borderline sociopathic was significantly higher than in the other professions they looked at.

Shes very hot.

They are bad and thats why we call them sociopaths. If they never did anything wrong why bother with the label? You can be wired like a sociopath but unless you're a selfcentered prick who does amoral stuff for your own gain or amusement the label does not fit you. The words harmless and sociopath does not go well together.

Agreed.

I'm still not sure if I'm a sociopath, or just have several anti-social behaviors. Or maybe it's just manic episodes. But her behavior has nothing to do with autism, I am sure of that; many Aspies are great parents.

I always hate it when people think I'm a violent sociopath. There's a huge difference between sociopaths and aspies. And the whole aspies lacking empathy is total BS too. Just because I don't know how I'm expected to show empathy doesn't mean I don't have any. Sociopaths are the complete opposite.

Autism and sociopathy can look alike from the outside, but are pretty much polar opposites in truth. The short version is this: sociopaths understand emotions but do not feel them, aspies feel them but don't understand them. It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it.

However, I can see how misdiagnosis could occur. For example, the character of Sherlock from Sherlock BBC (a contempory retelling of Sherlock Holmes) calls himself a sociopath, but he strikes me as being an aspie with a dramatic streak, who would prefer being called a psycho to being called a ret*d, and who pretends he doesn't feel because he doesn't want to get hurt and because he has to some extent internalised others' assumptions about him.

I worked with a girl who was diagnosised as a sociopath. Her explanation of it to me...

Imagine someone needs to get into a closet behind a door. They close the door and do their thing. If you opened that door and knocked the person on the other side down what would your reaction be?

the 'normal' response - apologize, possibly help them up, a touch of guilt for hurting them

the sociopaths response - what the hell were you doing back there? It's your own damn fault for being behind the door - how was I supposed to know you were there?

Sociopaths tend to assign blame for most things to others no matter how responsible they may or may not be. They do not empathize with others. They are concerned mainly their own interests even when in relationships. People tend to be other objects to be utilized to meet their own ends.

She was a very blunt, in your face kind of person. I wouldn't say she was 'bad' but before her diagnosis the term 'selfish' circulated freely. And she did admit she agreed with it and could have cared less about other people's opinions. Interestingly enough, I helped her through a panic attack once. She'd never had one before. It did buy me some respect and some slack.

Violence can exist in either sociopathy or autism but the sociopath is more likely to act out on aggression and anger without regard for others.

I think the page on Aspergers on TV Tropes makes an adequate distinction between Aspergers and sociopathy.

I find it very unnerving that the ignorati in the media can be quick to label a psychopath as being autistic yet the more enlightened bunch are unwilling to label those with real aspie traits (Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, ME Max Bergman on Hawaii Five-O) as being autistic because of political correctness.

I also noted before that they have a tendency to confuse psychopaths (nature) with sociopaths (nurture).

So Wall Street is run by sociopaths. Makes sense.

Who is unwilling to label Sheldon on Big Bang Theory as an Asperger's person? I kinda think the people who created the character(or the actor himself) kinda did some research.

I think they label them antisocial/dissocial PD now instead of psychopathy/sociopathy officialy. Maybe because of that confusion and the disagreement on the subject.

I'm betting most people around us arent as moral as they pretend to be. Don't you agree?

Where do you get that idea?

Is it so hard to believe?

It's true that some traits can seem similar on the surface. However, there's a big difference between UNDERSTANDING how one's behavior affects other people but having no EMOTIONAL involvement- that's a sociopath.

Obviously with Autism the lack of "empathy" is anything but- it's lack of awareness due to neurological processing deficits, not a lack of caring.

I enjoyed TheSnarkKnight's word "ignorati".
I imagine this word means the opposite of "illuminati".
Nice... I am repeating it over and over in my mind, as is my weird way.

sounds like my pdd-nos child. does that mean he's a sociopath? i have met alot of people who are AS who tend to enjoy playing the victim rather than admitting they didn't understand something or caused something themselves. it's easier for them to put the blame on someone else because that way it doesn't upset the way they understand things.