The term sociopath is not new. It seems quite familiar, but it has been difficult to define the term always. A sociopath is a person who possesses the characteristics that are sociopathic and tremendously anti social.
In simple words, it is a personality disorder. Let us explore the characteristics which can help you to know who is a sociopath are:
#1. They usually have the trait of being deceitful and repeatedly lie in order to have some personal pleasure or profit. They can also con others when needed.
#2. They do not respect social behavioral norms. Their actions indicate lawfully ground for arrest.
#3. They are very indecisive. Their personality is impulsive and they generally fail to plan ahead of time.
#4. They are irresponsible in safety of others as well as of their own self. Their reckless disregard for the security leads to consistent irresponsible social behavior.
#5. They do not possess the rationality of judging whether they are hurt or mistreated. The aggressiveness and irritability usually end up in a fight or physical assault.
Sociopaths are usually the most personable and charming creatures that come off. But once you be with them for a little longer, their real personality is revealed. They are the most remorseless and manipulative people you will see around. There is no use of arguing with a sociopath. In order to deal with a sociopath, you need to have some professional advice. If you do not handle the situation timely and with correct measures, you will end up feeling drained physically and especially emotionally. Moreover, being in a relationship with a sociopath is beyond imagination. Most of the people don’t even realize it before it's too late.
Sociopaths are charming and manipulative. They have the capability to con you and they usually lack empathy. They are not capable of love. Irresponsibility and unfaithfulness are quite common in their traits. They can be extremely dangerous and abusive at times. If you think you can control or change them, you are certainly wrong for most cases. The people who possess these characteristics do not become mentally ill all of a sudden. They generally have this psychological disorder starting their early age. The symptoms are usually seen in the teenaged children( who are probably involved in criminal activity or become a juvenile delinquent.
Relationship With A Sociopath
Initially, life is spectacular with a sociopath. They are charming and work diligently to win over you and your trust. Their dazzling charm is enough to capture you under their spell. However, soon they will victimize you to get what they want. The time you will catch their mistakes, they will make you believe they are genuinely sorry. It will not be hard for you to forgive them for their mistakes because of their sheer demonstration of flattery. They make up with you to turn you the victim again. These tendency does not go away with time. If you think that you may suffer for just some time, you need to remind yourself that your sociopath boyfriend/girlfriend will never loose their game. They might leave you at a position that you have never imagined. If you think your partner will never do that to you, please think again.
Sociopaths generally have no consciousness. They might convince you that they do, but they usually don’t. Many of the sociopaths turn out to be pathological liars. They believe their own story that they created until that story doesn't work for them. They have their conception as very wonderful and powerful in every aspect. You need to be aware of them in order to deal with them. If your girlfriend or boyfriend is showing these traits, follow the below rules to help yourself:
#1. Professional Help
Getting someone’s help which is professional in this field is an incredibly useful idea and is often overlooked. People consider that they can deal with a sociopath on their own. They learn to take professional help but when it’s too late. The process to deal with a sociopath partner becomes easier when you take the help of a therapist. They can enlighten you to how the mind of a sociopath works or what actually motivates them to behave in a certain way. They can help you identify the tactics of a sociopath and how they plan to manipulate and capture you.
Sociopaths usually create totally false emotional traps to capture your attention. When you will be able to see the relationship from their perspective, they will lose their power to you. The impact of their manipulative power becomes minimal. Sociopaths are dominating and controlling. Their efforts will become useless once you know their game. Very soon they will get tired and move away.
#2. No Excessive Information
Once you realize that you are in a relationship with a sociopath, stop giving them more information about you. Any information that you give them can be used against you. This rule is extremely important as you can cause damage to yourself if you are providing the sociopath more information than they deserve. In simple words, you are in the hands of a professional manipulator. They have the ability to extract information from you so that they can use that against you when the right time comes. You could be or rather would be blamed for everything that is happening in your life.
If you need to communicate, just keep it short and don’t give them anything other than fact. Sharing your deepest secrets with them can cost you more than you can ever imagine. Therefore, you should better avoid sharing personal opinion or thoughts with them.
#3. Don’t Give Them More Chance
You need to know the fact that there is no specific treatment for sociopathy or psychopathy till now. The only thing which is given to them is therapy session in order to calm down their nerves. The therapist only diagnoses their behavior and try to give them a little more ammunition for later. Your efforts of reforming them will not help in any way. It often makes it even worse. Someone who does not possess conscience will have no conscience ever. They can not be treated or changed. Their behavior of arrogance, ego and their sense of entitlement won’t allow them to change.
#4. Know Your Instincts
Follow your instincts in the case of a sociopath as everyone has the gut feeling that they are indulging into something wrong. Identify that feeling and re-consider it. Observe what your instincts are telling you. It tends to happen that people usually do not consider their gut feeling because of the manipulation they are going through. The professional manipulator sociopaths are extremely impactful. However, follow what your inner instincts are telling you. For example, how they use to treat you when you first met and what are the differences now. Ask yourself certain questions to know what went wrong from your side. Is there any benefit that you can provide them? Or the behavior change that you may face. You can never afford to take a sociopath lightly as they will take you over as soon as they get the chance.
#5. In Worst Cases, Choose No Contact
If you can not handle your sociopath partner, just avoid contacting him or her. But in order to throw them out of your life, you need to be firm that you do not want to contact him. Avoid phone calls, no messages or no e-mails for that matter. Till the time you will be engaged with a sociopath they will continue to manipulate you and do whatever they like. If you don't finish the communication properly, they can probably dominate you to come back. Show no sign of contact or future contact. There is not even a need of talking or meeting for the last time as they won’t understand your point of view and will try and manipulate you even more in order to make your stay.
If you give them chances, their lack of empathy and guilt will overpower you again. There is no denying the fact that you have feelings involved in a relationship and in your partner. It is not easy but as soon as you realize you are dealing with a sociopath you need to take a back step in order to protect yourself.
#6. Don’t Blame Yourself
You need to realize the fact that you are not at fault. You have been dealing with a person who possesses sociopathic tendencies, so you are the victim. You have been manipulated, deceived and tricked. You do not need to blame yourself for the fact that someone like them came to your life. A sociopath was trying to control your decisions and life, influencing your decisions and deliberately trying to mold the reality. If you were not informed initially, that’s not your mistake. If you need to do something, just forgive yourself. Know the fact that you do not need to apologize to any other person either. Whatever happened was a part of life.
The bad time comes and goes. You can not stop trusting people because of that. Everyone is different. All you need to do is decide what is good for yourself on time. If you are dealing with a sociopath partner, just know how to tackle them. Share your stories or views about being in a relationship with sociopath by commenting down below.
(Featured Image Courtesy: Live Strong)
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