3 ms·
I naturally have pretty low empathy, and mild narcissistic, manipulative, and impulsive tendencies. But I recognised in my teens that those traits were going to
by evincarofautumn 9y ago
I naturally have pretty low empathy, and mild narcissistic, manipulative, and impulsive tendencies. But I recognised in my teens that those traits were going to do me more harm than good if I let them get away from me, so I sought to change myself and open up more. Now even though there might be a cold core to my personality, it’s surrounded by a deep layer of warmth that I’ve cultivated over time because I just want to, maybe because I have a loving and supportive family.
Am I a psychopath? Nah, but probably somewhere on the “spectrum” if you like. It could be undiagnosed ASD or adult ADD or any number of other things. But I don’t think that’s even necessarily the right question. All that matters is the reality of living with the mind you’ve got; being labelled with a “condition” just gives you some finer instruments like therapy and medication to help accomplish that.
- billyjobob 9y agoI used to think I had changed in the same way you did. Now I realize that the majority of (male) teenagers are narcissistic, manipulative and impulsive. Fortunately most of them grow out of it sometime in their 20s. See "A Clockwork Orange".
- evincarofautumn 9y agoSure, those are normal teenage things to some extent. Externally, there’s not much difference between actually not caring, and acting like you don’t care or just failing to consider consequences because you’re high on testosterone or whatever.
- wavefunction 9y agoBut when you're 2-3 years of age? That's part of the article's point.
- sudosteph 9y agoPeople with ASD are a lot of different things, but not usually manipulative. We're usually the ones who are being manipulated because we're too oblivious or too trusting for our own good. Regardless, glad you're coping. If it's ADHD though, the meds can really make a huge difference in quality of life. But I understand if you'd rather not seek treatment when the alternative is being diagnosed with a personality disorder.
- evincarofautumn 9y agoSure—I didn’t mean to suggest that those traits are associated with ASD, but rather that I could be misinterpreting my own experiences, which could be caused by something entirely different. Self-diagnosis isn’t very reliable. You’re right that I’m concerned about possible diagnoses. I’d like to know what’s “different” about me, but if it’s “bad” and would be used as justification to treat me with suspicion and remove my agency, then I’d rather nobody else know. :P