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The only people that should be using the word sociopath to describe the behavior of others are people in the field of mental health care. Why diagnose people? C

The only people that should be using the word sociopath to describe the behavior of others are people in the field of mental health care. Why diagnose people? Call them out on behavior that pisses you off, deal with it in an assertive manner. Calling a sociopath a sociopath in a non clinical context would only give them more power. A real sociopath doesn't care if you call them that. It just give the purported sociopath more information about the social environments expectations of their behavior. If they are in the social group, they are accepted, and if they are labeled a sociopath, as long as they continue to be accepted they will see their behavior as acceptable. If it's not confronted head on, one doesn't give 'the purported sociopath' the opportunity to prove either or.

knuththetruth 8y ago
This is contextually determined. Unfortunately, in the horror of American Capitalism, there are ample settings in which being a sociopath is rewarded, but this is not universally true. Many sociopaths do in fact rely on blending into a benevolent, communally-oriented settings, dressing themselves in these values, in order to succeed at whatever game they’re trying to run, not the very least because many of these kinds of groups are easy to exploit and parasitize. But if the group themselves are firmly enough rooted in these benevolent values, exposing the sociopath can lead to their expulsion. I’ve seen this happen.
- nyolfen 8y ago
  >Unfortunately, in the horror of American Capitalism, there are ample settings in which being a sociopath is rewarded, in another kind of culture these people would be warlords, party operatives or similar
xor1 8y ago
>The only people that should be using the word sociopath to describe the behavior of others are people in the field of mental health care. Why diagnose people? Call them out on behavior that pisses you off, deal with it in an assertive manner. Calling a sociopath a sociopath in a non clinical context would only give them more power. This is a good rule of thumb, calling out a high-functioning Cluster B will almost always just make you look crazy unless you have completely damning evidence. Even then you're probably running afoul of laws or policies, coupled with the general stigma of discussing mental health in any way. The real issue is dealing with the barrage of lies and manipulation that they'll use to defend themselves. There's that saying that disproving bullshit requires an order of magnitude more effort than the bullshit itself. You will never win against one of them unless you go down to their level, and most people aren't capable of doing that. It takes a wolf to catch a wolf. I think that more and more people are becoming aware of Cluster B personality disorders, and how high-functioning narcissists, sociopaths, and borderlines act in a professional setting. In many cases, this involves the realization that one's self and/or one's loved ones display significant traits, perhaps even enough for a diagnosis. If you recognize it in others and you don't have the power or means to stop them, the best thing to do is to just leave if you think they're going to ruin things or individually place you at risk.
- mjfl 8y ago
  replace "narcissists, sociopaths, and borderlines" with "Leos, Tauruses, and Pisces" and you'll realize you're assigning arbitrary labels to people you don't like without actually knowing anything about them.
  - dreamcompiler 8y ago
    No. These people exploit loopholes in social trust contracts to gain personal power. It's not about liking them or disliking them. Recognizing their techniques is a learnable skill. Such people really are quite different from the norm, but without training you won't spot them because they're very good at blending in. Sociopaths, narcissists, and borderlines are real, they are of a particular kind, and their differentness is not bullshit like astrological star signs.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - s-shellfish 8y ago
      How can you know what a sociopath is without being one?
      - dreamcompiler 8y ago
        How can you know what an alcoholic is without being one?
        s-shellfish 8y ago
        Empathy?
      - xor1 8y ago
        How can you recognize evil if you are not evil?
        8y ago

knuththetruth 8y ago

This is contextually determined. Unfortunately, in the horror of American Capitalism, there are ample settings in which being a sociopath is rewarded, but this is not universally true. Many sociopaths do in fact rely on blending into a benevolent, communally-oriented settings, dressing themselves in these values, in order to succeed at whatever game they’re trying to run, not the very least because many of these kinds of groups are easy to exploit and parasitize. But if the group themselves are firmly enough rooted in these benevolent values, exposing the sociopath can lead to their expulsion. I’ve seen this happen.

nyolfen 8y ago
>Unfortunately, in the horror of American Capitalism, there are ample settings in which being a sociopath is rewarded, in another kind of culture these people would be warlords, party operatives or similar

xor1 8y ago

>The only people that should be using the word sociopath to describe the behavior of others are people in the field of mental health care. Why diagnose people? Call them out on behavior that pisses you off, deal with it in an assertive manner. Calling a sociopath a sociopath in a non clinical context would only give them more power. This is a good rule of thumb, calling out a high-functioning Cluster B will almost always just make you look crazy unless you have completely damning evidence. Even then you're probably running afoul of laws or policies, coupled with the general stigma of discussing mental health in any way. The real issue is dealing with the barrage of lies and manipulation that they'll use to defend themselves. There's that saying that disproving bullshit requires an order of magnitude more effort than the bullshit itself. You will never win against one of them unless you go down to their level, and most people aren't capable of doing that. It takes a wolf to catch a wolf. I think that more and more people are becoming aware of Cluster B personality disorders, and how high-functioning narcissists, sociopaths, and borderlines act in a professional setting. In many cases, this involves the realization that one's self and/or one's loved ones display significant traits, perhaps even enough for a diagnosis. If you recognize it in others and you don't have the power or means to stop them, the best thing to do is to just leave if you think they're going to ruin things or individually place you at risk.

mjfl 8y ago
replace "narcissists, sociopaths, and borderlines" with "Leos, Tauruses, and Pisces" and you'll realize you're assigning arbitrary labels to people you don't like without actually knowing anything about them.
- dreamcompiler 8y ago
  No. These people exploit loopholes in social trust contracts to gain personal power. It's not about liking them or disliking them. Recognizing their techniques is a learnable skill. Such people really are quite different from the norm, but without training you won't spot them because they're very good at blending in. Sociopaths, narcissists, and borderlines are real, they are of a particular kind, and their differentness is not bullshit like astrological star signs.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - s-shellfish 8y ago
    How can you know what a sociopath is without being one?
    - dreamcompiler 8y ago
      How can you know what an alcoholic is without being one?
      - s-shellfish 8y ago
        Empathy?
    - xor1 8y ago
      How can you recognize evil if you are not evil?
      - 8y ago