Functioning Sociopaths

[gobbledonk]

We've had a few discussions about this before, and clearly a lack of empathy would seem to be an asset to anyone looking to climb the corporate ladder. I'm convinced that I have worked with at least two functioning sociopaths.

 

Whether this blog is genuine or not, this is from someone who claims to be a functioning sociopath and sees the lack of empathy as a 'good' thing. We often criticize the Thais for their apparent lack of empathy for their fellow men, but I wonder to what extent that could be said of New Yorkers or anyone who had to endure life in a warzone ? Closer to home, what prompts people to login to Facebook and goad someone else to commit suicide because they are 'ugly' or whatever ? Poor impulse control, I guess.

 

I also find the reference to 'blunted emotional response' interesting, along with the notion that sociopaths are very, very good at faking social niceties when it is in their interest to do so - I wonder if bars in Thailand have more than their fair share of sociopaths - 'intelligent' and otherwise - amongst their staff and customers.

 

http://www.sociopathworld.com/2008/11/do-sociopaths-know-they-are-sociopaths.html

 

Have to say I find the 'dont have relationship problems' claim a little hard to swallow - if there is one thing that women (at least those I've encountered) crave, it is empathy. I guess the brighter sociopath is tuned into that, but it would the equivalent of faking every orgasm.

 

I don't fit the textbook description of "antisocial personality disorder". That's because there appear to be two types of sociopaths... intelligent ones and stupid ones. The stupid ones break the law (and get caught), lie (and get caught), hurt people (and get caught), and therefore have relationship problems, etc - and get the psychiatric label. Intelligent ones, on the other hand, become politicians, businessmen, etc. At least I assume they do, because not being stupid, they don't get labeled with a psychiatric disorder.

 

So with my definitions, I'm an "intelligent" sociopath. I don't have problems with drugs, I don't commit crimes, I don't take pleasure in hurting people, and I don't typically have relationship problems. I do have a complete lack of empathy. But I consider that an advantage, most of the time.

 

Do I know the difference between right and wrong, and do I want to be good? Sure. One catches more flies with honey than with vinegar. A peaceful and orderly world is a more comfortable world for me to live in. So do I avoid breaking the law because it's "right"? No, I avoid breaking the law because it makes sense. I suppose if I weren't gifted with the ability to make a lot of money in a profession doing what I like, I might try and profit by crime. But with my profession, I'd have to really hit the criminal jackpot to make it worth a life of crime.

 

When you're bad to people, they're bad back to you. I'm no Christian, but "do unto others as you would want them to do unto you" works.

 

So to any other sociopaths out there reading this... don't be an idiot.

[Dexi]

Do unto others....before they do it unto you

[gobbledonk]

Do unto others....before they do it unto you

 

No - that's Christianity. Sociopathy is a same-same but different.

[Steve]

I used to have a fascination with serial killers and other sociopaths. It started from a class in college. The professor said that there are many people that are actually sociopaths by the definition psychologist and psychiatrists understand the term to be who are functioning members of society.

 

A few jobs where they are found:

 

* Generals: Generals know the predicted survival rate these days before a battle. Psychologists say that the average person wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing this and that although due to know other recourse most of us could order men into war if the danger was grave enough that the average person would have sleeping disorders and other disorders because of the 'guilt' of sending men to die. Generals have no such qualms and sleep well.

 

* CEOs, especially corporate raiders and such. Again, even if you know that if your company with 100,000 employees is to survive, 20,000 have to be fired, most people would agonize over this. Knowing that you are removing the income from families and single parents in some cases is too much for the average person and they would be wrought with guilt. Not so for most CEOs

 

* Surgeons, butchers, vets. Psychologist say a scarily high number in these professions have found a socially acceptable profession for their need to cut into flesh and see blood. Basically, people similar in mental make up to the main character in the tv series 'Dexter'.

 

* Pimps. This should be easy to understand and not require too much explanation.

 

These jobs have a certain amount of need for a lack of empathy. That lacking is what makes a sociopath. At a very early age they realize that they don't empathize like the people around them. They also recognize its not something that society thinks is good. So, they mask it. They hide it. They have wives and children often enough. They love them but not quite in the same way that you and I do. They also often see empathy and sympathy as a weakness and see others as weaker than them.

[Specialist]

In college, I had an English TA that required us to read a particular short story, that involved a very graphic description of the body of a man killed by a land mine. In the classroom discussion, he mentioned that every student he'd ever had who read that story was horrified, disgusted, profoundly affected, at least for a short time, except for one.

 

That one was an EMT. He could not understand why the EMT was not affected by it.

 

At the time, I'd had some emergency medical training, for Civil Air Patrol ground team work. I tried to explain the critical thing to him. An emergency medic CANNOT be affected by that kind of thing. He has to look at the guy, no matter how grisly it might be, maybe make the triage decision, and then act, EFFECTIVELY. If the guy is dead, or is going to die no matter what, move on to the next one. If the guy is going to make it without help, move on to the next one. If the guy needs help, but can be saved, prioritize what has to be done NOW vs. what can wait, and DO IT.

 

You CAN'T spend valuable seconds and minutes going "Oh my GOD".

 

Even when the victim is a close friend. They sprang a surprise test on us, at a party one night, an apparent accident involving a broken bottle. I was first into the room, saw what was apparently happening, and the training took over IMMEDIATELY. The instructors reported being more than a bit surprised to see how quickly I reacted and did exactly the right thing exactly the way I'd been trained.

[Coss]

A lot of the people who have not been involved in situations that involve blood & gore, have an opinion that being able to handle blood and gore, is a problem.

 

I suggest that not being able to handle it is a problem.

 

You only have to look at people who won't even buy and consume meat of any kind unless it is already cooked and disguised. See Jamie Oliver's TV show on teaching people to cook chicken....

[sayjann]

A lot of the people who have not been involved in situations that involve blood & gore, have an opinion that being able to handle blood and gore, is a problem.

 

I suggest that not being able to handle it is a problem.

while a very young man i was present at the attempt to save a man's life who had been stabbed in the heart.

the wholemedical/nursing team was working hard to save this fella's life and i was suddenly asked to hold and squeeze his heart as the surgeons tried to repair it.....sadly he died.

but over the years i saw most kinds of injuries from the slighest to the most serious.

but the funny thing is is that i got more squeemish over the years and while i could deal with stab/gunshot wounds i found it hard to deal with someone needing 4 stitches(sutures).

i never had a problem with babies dying but a small child with a broken leg would affect me.

 

not blood and gore but the one thing that has remained with me over the years was being present when 3 sisters of various ages died of chronic asthma over a period of around 4 years and all were under 20 years of age.

that really affected me.

[kamui]

A lot of the people who have not been involved in situations that involve blood & gore, have an opinion that being able to handle blood and gore, is a problem.

 

I suggest that not being able to handle it is a problem.

 

You only have to look at people who won't even buy and consume meat of any kind unless it is already cooked and disguised. See Jamie Oliver's TV show on teaching people to cook chicken....

 

I belong to those who can't handle blood & gore. I can't even watch an operation on TV.

 

After high school I did 16 month of civil service (instead of joining the army). I worked as a kind of assistant nurse, taking care of people staying at home who were chronically ill (MS or so) or being terminal ill and who left the hospital for to die at home. Every day at lunch time when I returned to the nurse station first I needed a strong drink.

I never got used to it.

[gobbledonk]

No question that cops/soldiers/doctors etc all have to display professional objectivity and become hardened by what they see - how could anyone work with bodies without that level of detachment ? - but I dont see that as the same thing as feeling zero empathy. A huge difference between the aforementioned detachment and a kid who repeatedly inflicts pain on animals with no concern for their suffering or a corporate climber who presents one face to his superiors while making life a living hell for subordinates. Most of us were horrified the first time we saw a limbless beggar on the street (literally ..), but quickly adapted our own defences and now we almost step over these guys to get where we are going - that doesn't make us sociopaths. A sociopath wouldnt have felt anything beyond mild curiosity - they wouldnt have had the same thought that flashed through most of our minds : 'What if that was me ?'. Its the reason I object to a lot of the torture porn currently dished up to us in TV series like 'Criminal Intent', and whether the psychologists may have a point when they claim that dramatized violence desensitizes the developing brains in kids and adolescents.

 

As for surgeons being attracted to their profession because they feel a need to cut into human flesh, that is laughable given the penalties they face if their actions contribute in any way to the death or further injury of a patient. They may well be a relatively callous lot, capable of complete detachment from the human being laid out before them, but sociopaths ? Given that a textbook sociopath constantly has to struggle with impulse control, the odds of a surgeon being able to keep it together in a 12-hour+ session are tiny. Over the course of a career, you'd have more lawsuits than your legal team could hope to handle. Butchers/abattoir workers - OK - but you dont join the medical profession with zero interest in the welfare of others. Dentistry, OTOH .....

[Specialist]

I can't buy the dentistry claim, not after comparing with the last dentist who worked on me (chronicled elsewhere here), and all the ones previous.