Do you see yourself as evil?

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LOL What are you, Hanibal Lecter or something? or do your doctors get a comision per diagnosis?

I see myself as evil by the way, but only when it comes to my research...

evil research?

mechanima,

Yes. That's how it goes, though I think there's many professionals who don't like how sociopathy and psychopathy were consolidated under the one label. IIRC, they like to think of the latter as something that includes an external component for why the person is the way that they are, which is neglected under ASPD. I just see ASPD as a catch-all label for people who experience few human emotions (I only have a couple, and fear is the one I constantly feel), and depending on their innate personality, it'll manifest in a variety of ways. My father has it, along with AS; he gave it to me, along with AD. He's a total jerk, and me..., I don't what I am, really.

fernando,

OCD and Panic Disorder, both of which affected my functioning far more than ASPD (both of the former were caused by the ASD, just FYI and all), which is only a "personality disorder" rather than a more severe anxiety disorder.

People shouldn't put psychopaths right in with those with APD. That would be like putting in AS with LFA just because they can resemble each other.

If someone has APD as characterised by the DSM-IV-TR, there's no satisfying indication that they're also a psychopath just because of their label.

A person with psychopathy doesn't necessarily meet criteria for APD (seeing how these put emphasis on observable behaviour) so using any of these interchangeably is just really weird.

To step back into my youth... I would say that I'd end up being classified as Chaotic Good - my purposes are beneficial, but there are times when whether the means are considered proper, legal or socially acceptable are rather less than important in my mind.


M.

Actually "sociopathy" was created as a new term for "psychopathy", to avoid confusion, simply because "psychopathy" also meant "sickness of the psych" and (even to this day), is used in a lot of legislation and medical texts to denote just that rather than psychopathy as we intend it here.

As a result, there was nothing to consolidate.

The creation of the category "anti social personality disorder" was a largely political move to "cover" the removal of the term "psychopathy" from DSMIV.



It is a bit of a "catch all" with the following criteria:
(1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
(2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
(3) impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
(4) irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
(5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others
(6) consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
(7) lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another

NB it is diagnosed by behavioural manifestations, not cause. On one hand it is a bit of "non-diagnosis" that has been claimed to give indiscriminate, blanket, cover to all forms of human "bad news", on the other it is a far less overtly prejudicial diagnosis than psychopathy, and thus, easier for the diagnostician to actually commit to.

ASPD does not really relate to a lack of emotion, per se, at all. Lack of emotion, or "reduced affect" can be attributed to a number of conditions, for instance, any combination of anhedonia, dysthymia, and alexithymia, reactive attachment disorder or even post traumatic stress disorder.



"Total jerk" is not even a diagnosis Daniel, let alone hereditary. You can be whoever you choose to be in that respect.

M.

Actually, I would be inclined to go with you on that, to an extent, but at present, psychopathy is only clinically identified and studied in the presence of anti social behaviours. Common sense really, because any shrink would be laying his head on the line along with his medical insurers by diagnosing anyone as psychopathic unless he could SHOW that they had either committed a crime or shown some consistently destructive behaviours.

A psychopath certainly CAN choose how they behave, but the inherent lack of remorse or an effective sense of consequence mean that, they will always, reflexively, default to some degree of predation under stress.

You can get into some really complex moral arguments here, as it is absolute fact that it is just as likely for a psychopath to do less harm by being totally self centered than someone else can do by having the best of intentions (Hitler, very probably, had "the best of intentions", as he perceived them to be - I am sure the world would have been a better place if he had "selfishly" stayed home, rescued animals and painted!).

At the end of the day, morality and medicine are totally seperate, unrelated concepts that should not mix, and psychopathy is the only point where they still converge. One day that will change...

But, until then...don't date the psychopaths...it never ends well.

That just sounds like "neat" to me.

I have been called evil by my mother. I was always pretty sure I was a good person, I always try to help others. But now I'm not so sure. She was probably right.

mechanima,

I like this:

I was said to have it [at the hospital] for my lack of remorse for the things I've done (killing stuff), and also my explanations for why I did them (to feel, and also to channel my desire to kill certain people); the lack of empathy too, but that can be from the ASD too (they didn't know I had an ASD at that time). I always have this desire to kill stuff, and it's always because of how it makes me feel. I learnt by myself that if I'm to kill something, I must eat it; it's "cured" me. I don't lie. I used to cheat and steal, but that's when I was younger, and they call that a Conduct Disorder.

And a correction to my last post: it's sociopathy that they like to think has an external component for why it is the way they are, i.e., abusive parents, poor living conditions and/or whatever.

It probably wouldn't take me long to intellectualise the term "evil" out of existence, but to do so would be to evade the question.

I do see myself as an evil person.......at least I have a sense of guilt and self-loathing running in the background of my thoughts most of the time. I guess it comes from my upbringing, my mother was always telling me how bad I was, and even Dad (who was normally quite emotionally supportive) would occasionally let me down and tell me I was "rotten to the core." Then there were the teachers with their notion that there were good and bad children. The idea of boosting the self-confidence of kids, rather than undermining it, hadn't really caught on in those days.

What really sucks is that I can't seem to shake it off. Objectively I know it's a bum rap, I know I'm as OK as the next guy, I've barely done any significant harm in my entire life. But that feeling is still there, getting in the way of every interaction I have with anybody. Every time I try to stand up for myself in real life, something inside me tells me I don't have the right, because I'm worthless. I've ignored it and occasionally got somewhere, but it's never yet been enough to kill that eternal conviction that I'm simply bad.

That is actually a quote from a redundant version of the Wikipedia entry on Anti-Social Personality Disorder added as a piece of, uncited, personal opinion in 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... d=22373711). While it is certainly a rational perspective it is by no means definitive.



Of course the quote IS definitive in terms of the degree to which you can relate to it (which, at the end of they day, is, of course, far more realistic than any "label) but it doesn't qualify you for the label.

Lack of emotion, and lack of remorse, are two, distinctly, different things.



I am afraid not, it is just an newer, alternative term for psychopathy, to avoid confusion. ASPD is usually regarded as "having an external component" in the sense you mean.

I actually have an ASD website linked that says the same thing as that Wikipedia quote in regards to comorbid ASPD, i.e., a lack of emotions is the core (remorse is an emotion).

Take away remorse from a person with an ASD, and you have someone who can fit the profile of a psychopath.

E: that is indeed taken from Wikipedia, but however, it still describes reality; a lack of remorse, guilt and empathy are the core aspects of the disorder (all are emotions). The manifestation of this can vary from person to person. My father was of the lie, steal, cheat, drug abuse, and constant physical fights, type, which is quite prototypical. I'm different to that, even though I have the "core" lack of emotions.

This is interesting:

Yeah, I know, it's on a few others too, it's a quote of the Wikipedia article. I have been know to quote Wikipedia articles in websites myself without checking the clinical accuracy. But I am afraid Wikipedia is NOT an effective diagnostic tool.



That is a distinct possibility (and you may not need to take away as much as remorse, but rather just a specific type of empathy), that is the ever present "elephant in the room", politically, in that it is not to our advantage to focus on stressing the thinness of the line betwen AS and psychopathy. In truth, there may be just as thin a line between "neurotypicality" and psychopathy, just in a different way. It is even possible that psychopathy is in between AS and "neurotypicality" on the Autism spectrum, or, vice versa.



Also true, but always remember, Wikipedia is NOT a substitute for good diagnostic tools in the meanwhile!

Not so much evil as distracted. Sometimes I do not think things through as thoroughly as I should. I intend no evil to anyone except my enemies.

I have simple rules:

1. Cherish and protect your friends
2. Be polite to the neutrals.
3. Destroy your enemies or render them harmless to you.
4. Don' t get mad. Get even.

ruveyn

Selfish yes.

Evil..haven't thought about it but everytime someone takes a photo of me, my eyes become red....