What It Means To Be A Sociopath or Psychopath

I have been writing articles about murder mysteries before on this platform and the majority of the subject I have encountered and studied are a result of Psychopathy.

However, we usually hear the word psychopath or sociopath when we describe someone as crazy. Technically, they both have similarities in some ways but there are factors that they differ. There is a difference between the two but that doesn't define it entirely wrong.

Psychologists say that sociopaths and psychopaths share the same umbrella in the category of Antisocial Personality Disorder or APD. It is a severe mental condition that revolves around one's personality.

Basic social etiquette is learned as we grow up over time. You learn to respect other people's boundaries. You know and understand when to push harder or when to back off. You know the consequences you will face when you commit a mistake. However, with someone who has an antisocial personality disorder, it is not so easy.

You have Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) if:

You are aggressive

You are manipulative

You are invasive

You are uncomfortable to be around

Now let's be more specific:

To be diagnosed as Sociopath, someone has to manifest difficulty in emotional stability, socialization, and show unexpected behavioral patterns.

Personalities of a Sociopath includes:

Distorted sense of Self (Identity)

As stated, they manifest difficulty in their emotional stability. Their emotion is sporadic. One day he can be the kindest person you'll ever know, the next day he can be your worst enemy of all time. Things like that that you don't usually encounter to a person who has a sense of emotional stability.

To redeem self-esteem, they work hard to achieve something in wealth or power. Some even may break the law because it's their way of redeeming themselves, to be known and recognized by society.

Lack of empathy

This personality of a sociopath follows through the distorted sense of identity as it explains how would a person feel empathy to other people if they can't recognize their identity.

They usually have an explosive temper and so they usually can't ease themselves when their emotions are at their peak. They also love to talk about themselves about how good they are, how talented they are on a certain thing which results to be an insensitive manner to other people but their true intention is to catch your attention.

Overly manipulative and reckless

If a sociopath constantly checks up on your emotions, that could be a dangerous one. They like to play with your emotions as how they react and reverse your reactions too. They usually overthrow you with situations and you'll find yourself get stuck while they seek attention to other people manipulate them.

Strange behavior according to their age

No one is born matured (mentally and emotionally) on the first day you are born. Handling stress and going through difficult situations makes a person mature as they learn something from it.

This is why it is hard to diagnose a person with an antisocial personality disorder at a young age. Immaturity is given, it's part of our growth and character development. As research, a person should be at least 18 to undergo a test of APD.

But if a person does not behave according to their age, then there must be an underlying issue behind it.

On the other hand, Psychopaths have some similarities with Sociopaths. However, there are certain characteristics of Psychopaths that make them stand out from Sociopaths.

Someone can be born being a Psychopath.

Sociopaths became as to what they have become because of their environment. That means to say that sociopaths have developed such characteristics they have learned growing up. Meanwhile, someone may inherit Psychopathy. It can be passed from generation to generation.

They are careful and calculated

As a result, psychopaths live like a normal life like society. Because of that, they can easily blend into the society. They know how to shadow their emotions and hide their true intentions so people would not expect them to be different.

They still exhibit strange behaviors if you look into them deeply but they are still good at hiding their motives.

One good example of this would be serial killers.

They appear to be so friendly with other people and blend with them to gain their trust. They learn how to hide their intense desires without taking too much attention.

Once they know a certain character of you that they like or they consider as a trigger to their motives, then you're dying.

Good at faking relationships

If sociopaths have this intense emotional attachment to their partners, psychopaths are good at fabricating their true emotions in relationships. They are so good at displaying affection to their partners once they see to it that the person may be useful for them.

They don't care about the other person's emotions. For as long as they find that person to be beneficial for them in many ways, they'll take it. They are only worried about helping themselves.

So to wrap up this article, the comparison between sociopaths and psychopaths has displayed enlightenment to both of them.

Sociopaths are aggressive, while Psychopaths are reserved and calculated.

Sociopaths are influenced by nurture (environment) while Psychopaths are born as psychopaths (nature).

Sociopaths are transparent with their emotions while Psychopaths know how to fake their emotions.

Main reference

Lead image source

Thanks for reading!

Keep safe everyone. ❤