Sociopathy, which is also referred to as Antisocial Personality Disorder is a condition where a person never tells right from wrong and they tend to ignore people's feelings with indifference. People with antisocial personality disorder (sociopaths) tend to purposely make others angry or upset and manipulate or treat others harshly or with cruel indifference. They lack remorse or do not regret their behavior.
Are sociopaths always criminals?
Sociopathy is a mental Health disorder therefore according to research, it is an illness that needs immediate attention and treatment. Movies always depict the criminals, gruesome murderers as sociopaths but this is not always true. There are sociopaths that turn out to be criminals but there are also some that do not turn out to be criminals(they have the potential to however).
How is sociopathy different from psychopathy?
Sociopaths have a conscious only that it is weak and you will therefore find them justifying their actions with their own reasons(no matter how weak the reasons are ) whereas psychopaths will never justify their actions simply because they have no conscious at all. In other words, Sociopaths are made (by different factors) but psychopaths are born.
Types of sociopathy.
Entitled Sociopath.
This involves the state of entitlement where a person who is suffering from this personality disorder does not feel shame in their actions. They also feel very satisfied in what they do – whether good or bad. Entitled sociopaths always feel like they should get whatever they want at whatever cost it involves.
Amoral Sociopath.
An amoral sociopath commits bad deeds without any sense of remorse, guilt or awareness of moral restrictions. They also have weak perception to pain thus these kinds of sociopaths tend to enjoy torturing animals or watch animals kill each other.
Common Sociopath.
Also termed as sub-cultural delinquents, common sociopaths have weak conscience as well as future perspective. However, they are still able to have relationships with other people but these relationships tend to be difficult to maintain. Most children who have one parent who is a common sociopath also grow up as one because either one of the parents or both provide a strong example to their kids
Alienated Sociopath.
Alienated sociopaths are individuals who haven’t developed the ability to associate with other people.
Hostile types.
Sociopaths react differently to external stimuli and hostile sociopaths are people who have aggressive and destructive attitude towards the members of the community.
Cheated types.
There are individuals who feel disadvantages by their physical disabilities, class origin, minority status or situation and they happen to think that they are always being cheated on because of their incapacities. Most sociopaths who are this type often feel that the World is not on their side and is out to get them and they tend to justify their reactions based on this assumption.
Signs of sociopathy.
Causes of sociopathy.
Experiences.
Experiences play a very important role to the development of antisocial personality disorder. The environmental causes of this personality disorder include any forms of deprivation, abandonment, sexual abuse and emotional abuse. With a bad experience in the past, it grows into trauma hence creating a sociopath.
Examples.
Children who grew up with parents who also display antisocial behavior are also more likely to develop this personality disorder because they are learning by example.
Head injuries.
Many researches have linked head injuries to antisocial behavior. Scientists have associated traumatic brain injury that leads to damage of the prefrontal cortex to also cause antisocial personality disorder. A damaged prefrontal cortex leads to the inability to make socially and morally acceptable decisions and also leads to aggression. On the other hand, damage to the amygdale can also lead to aggressive behavior and loss of empathy.
Societal pressure.
Sometimes, society is cruel to people and in most cases, they are treated harshly, often marginalized and misjudged unfairly. The more this goes on, it creates a certain trauma in the mind of the victim of this kind of treatment. As I said earlier, sociopaths are made so with the accumulated trauma, it is easy for one to turn into a sociopath (have you heard of the saying ‘The monsters you created'?)
Biological factors.
According to research, this has something to do with the limbic system. This is a set of brain structures located on the sides of the thalamus. It supports a wide array of function such as the emotion, motivation, behavior, long-term memory and adrenaline flow. This means that the emotional aspect of the brain is housed in this system. However, scientists have found out that people who suffer from maldevelopment of the limbic system are unable to process their emotions correctly which can lead to personality disorders.
