3 ms·
I’ve come to believe, despite the vast majority of rhetoric exhorting otherwise, that the psychopathy traits in alcoholics are simply enabled by the alcoholism,
by jl2718 6y ago
I’ve come to believe, despite the vast majority of rhetoric exhorting otherwise, that the psychopathy traits in alcoholics are simply enabled by the alcoholism, even to the extent of developing alcoholism as an excuse. Spend enough time in AlAnon and you will see it too, but of course, the people that realize that their situation is not really about alcohol, generally stop going.
- arexxbifs 6y agoNot quite sure if I follow you here. The lying, deceit and manipulation I refer to as performed by otherwise psychologically stable alcoholics is different because it's usually employed to cover for the lack of control over their drinking - things like taking sick days when hungover, lying about drinking, coming up with plausible reasons for "needing a drink", and so on. Thus, unlike in ASPD alcoholics, the behavior originates from feelings of guilt, shame and remorse - which, inevitably, is "handled" with more drinking. The key difference is that in empathic alcoholics, this behavior will cease if/when they give up drinking. I used alcoholism as an example because I couldn't really think of anything apart from addiction that would make an empathic person engage in a somewhat comparable behavior for prolonged periods of time, despite feeling remorse. It's normal for all people to lie from time to time, but that's not "consciously doing sociopathic things". ASPD/NPD manifests as such a massive, sprawling, unpredictable and destructive web of manipulation, lying, gaslighting and callousness that I'd personally say it'd be impossible for an empathic, healthy person to even come up with something that mimics it.