I now consider my experiences with sociopaths to be a blessing. This included a childhood friend. The best way to deal with a sociopath is to ignore them. Not only does it get rid of them, it makes them mad.

It's especially horrifying to see the way sociopathic mothers teach their children it's foolish not to lie to get what they want.

This book was awesome. It started me on the search of many other books. I always came back to the wisdom of this book.

Toxic individuals. Stay Far Away if finding a person of such nature.

Fascinating, frightening, accurate. Lots of victims don't realize they are so, enabling their local sociopaths who cloak themselves in good deeds.

I dated a person just like this, he used every method described in this book. I was confused most of the time and even years later I'm still not sure it's not sure I didn't completely made it up in my head. Either way, before that I didn't believe there were people who are actually evil. Now I know better

I read this book. Unless you are a sociopath, you need this book or one like it though I know of no other. Martha does a great job of writing in simple language so people like me, can understand. Do yourself a favor and read this for your own protection.

If you just met someone and they appear to be charming, care deeply for you and they're feeding you heaps of gossip you're probably dealing with a psychopath. They're setting you up to control and manipulate you. Be alert!

Failure to conform to social norms? Don't think that only applies to sociopaths. It also applies to people that see social norms as stagnation and seriousness for the sake of being serious.

one of the best things I have ever heard on sociopaths, I am going to get this book since this was just the intro. I know a female sociopath, there is simply no way to describe or rationalize the behaviour I have seen from this woman and it took me a couple of years to get this person out of my life and we were not even good friends. Yet still every now and then she pops up to test to see if my boundaries have changed......I simply do not answer or return her calls.

This is one of the most important questions that we must find an answer to. At the moment, I think we need to make more people aware of what has happened. 5 years ago, no-one was really talking about this...now, it is a lot more common. Removal of the psychopaths from power & stopping more coming to power would be the best thing that ever happened to humanity. Please see the work of Thomas Sheridan..and for now..just spread the word. Thanks for commenting.

I love this book along with Type 1 Sociopath and Snakes in Suits. Great information that needs to get out there!

Also, you can only ask a person WITH a conscience if they would choose to have one, were they to have a choice.....asking someone WITHOUT a conscience would be fruitless. They would have no idea what you were on about.

I knew a guy who was smart, charming, incredibly aware of his surrounding, a thief, a really good liar, a really good brown noser, very manipulative, and able to go from perfectly charming to screaming lunatic and back again in perfect control like flipping a switch. I think that he might be dangerous and I would love to see him as the subject of a thorough investigation. But most people think that he is a great guy and it will never happen.

Thank you for taking the time to think about my question and answer it so well. I have healed from that relationship a lot in the past 24 hours. I believe I can finally stop feeling guilty, now that I have a clearer picture. I apologized to him for the effects of my actions on him, but he never did say he was sorry about my hurt feelings, ever. I've been harboring guilt for the loss of the relationship for years and I am now starting to understand, which feels amazing. Thank you, again, Susan

Good video. The beginning is the most accurate description of my mind I have ever heard.

In other words....sociopaths are viruses. All the rest of us are hosts...Great!

Thanks for the upload ~ brilliant. I was very badly hurt by a sociopath 20 yrs ago & have studied this topic almost obsessively since, in order to protect myself. Yes, life would be far easier without a conscience to hamper us but having a conscience, empathy & feeling love is what makes us HUMAN. I choose to be human any day, despite the pain our emotions can cause us. Sociopaths essentially lack a soul & they absolutely scare the shit out of me. The damage they do to society is incalculable.

i know plenty of alcoholics that are riddled with guilt

I knew a Pastor in Philadelphia who fits this description, he has thousands duped!

This is my Mother AND both of children's love interest. 5 years PLUS of identity thief of my precious babies. Considering the depth of Love Deprivation, pain and suffering of ALL involved with my close immediate family members, nothing frightens me MORE than Narcissism.

Give this some thought; You know that co worker, or neighbor, or the person your ex husband is dating you have decided is a sociopath? They are probably reading this book and have decided that you are a sociopath.

Great Words Starve. And Great Video!!! We do live amongst sociopaths that accept this system as a sane norm. Many are compartmental of their traumas & cannot tap into what their dreams are telling them, as most cant even remember any dreams at all, much less listen to what their intuition is translating to them. Frontal Cognition is an emotional evolution of a 3rd eye sensory psychology. We who live the life outside this Dull Care are truly gifted to persevere thru this madness. Visionaries

A fascinating listen/read for those of us interested in the psychiatric field.

brilliant thoughts on conscience, its given me food for thought

@ 8:34 .......... accurately describes me to the letter !

You know why psychopaths cannot be cured? Because they are incapable of feeling deep emotion. If they cannot feel deeply, they will not be able to make a conscious connection between their emotions and their actions. So, no healing can take place. Emotions are the key to healing...not something to be cast aside. The fact that people do this willingly nowadays is the reason for a lot of the madness we see in the world today. Inner emotional repression makes for chaos on the outside world.

This is so insightful as far ad the true thoughts of a sociopath. Most font even know they are. I recently confronted a sociopath and he accused me of bring "paranoid". Good video.

I have been learning a lot about sociopaths in the last few days and can say genuinely i display numerous signs of them. Intellect, charm, Witt, manipulation, delusions of grandeur to name but a few. I as you can imagine have my own views on this subject and will express it not in a way that is arrogant and self righteous or at least i hope i do not come across that way. First in the video she asked a colleague would you choose to be sociopathic have no conscience and be ABLE TO DO ANYTHING at all. The guy replied NO. That shows that the social stigma around the word sociopath even among psychiatrist is wrong and perpetuates just how society villianizes people for the way their brain works. There has to be something wrong with his head. Take out the word sociopath and ask would you like to be able to do anything you set your mind to? Who would actually say no. I did plan to go on to other topics but do not want to ramble on. Thank you for reading this and it would be great to hear what you have to say on this matter.

A very large number of LAPD cops are severely mentally ill AKA sociopaths. This is why there are so many instances of police brutality in this city. Corruption within the LAPD is also high due to this same problem.

My manager is a sociopath- I have been struggling to find another job for nearly two years now.

thank you for your excellent review of the reviewers

the hypothetical psychopath free from emotion but otherwise cognitively intact to pursue logical outcomes is very rare imo. most sociopaths have co morbid issues, such as a complete lack of impulse control or over reactive rage response. Those two together land many of them in jail or send them spiraling downwards to street life and substance abuse. Also without emotional depth there isn't as much point to life, which explains why many sociopaths are chronically bored and under stimulated.

Thank You So Much!!!

Thanks!!! Will look up Sheridan.

Everything you said is true. Thank you

Just bought the book and cant wait to read it!

The best way to defeat a sociopath is to florish, prospour, succeed and to ignore them - not revenge. What's interesting is that she points out the smaller figures of those that are affected with depression, colon cancer etc and the 4 percent who are sociopaths - I think there is a fine correlation between these figures and that we are oblivious to this (psychosomatic illness, depression etc due to the effects of sociopaths). Now that would be an interesting study!

I too was very badly hurt by a sociopath 20 yrs ago & have studied this until my eyes have bled. "Without Conscience" is my bible & I have made at least 30 people I care about read it. Most people have no idea until they are taken in by one. How sad about your baby son. Your ex doesn't give a shit about him ~ she just had to maintain control & "win". Your precious son is just her "property". I hope you get to be a major influence in his life because your ex WILL damage him. Good luck to you.

Well that was unenlightening.

I love this woman just for quoting Black Sabbath.

That is back to front thinking. What you propose, only makes sense, if you believe that this system is the way it's meant to be. Just because a psychopath can succeed inside a psychopathic hierarchy, doesn't make those of us who feel empathy, the dysfunctional ones. And yes, normal people ARE sick, because that's the effect of living in a toxic system.

The narrator described a few different situations and 7 characteristics, of which there must be three present to be diagnosed with sociopathy. So there is never an implication that all people are the same. Just that sociopaths, by definition, share common traits.

This is the clinical way of saying moderators.

Damm her arrogance Many ppl are trash undeserving of emotional response, to select whom the emotions are done for does not make you a Sociopath

I understand completely.

here is my personal example: one day I found a kitten who was very weak and dying. what I can help easily but that will make lots of problems for me, if I leave it die my conciseness will make me suffer. either way it ends badly for me. If such situation repeats more often some psychological defense is required or else it is easy to fall into depression. that is how you become psychopath, or hypocrite who lies to himself.

Because conscience makes you doubt your decisions and if you doubt, you seek and if you seek you evolve

True. By the standard of altruism (self-sacrifice), the only difference between the sociopath and the altruist is the altruist is the one deliberately losing and the sociopath is the one provoking & enjoying the loss. I'm not a sociopath and I sure as hell am not an Altruist. Altruism pertains to sacrifice which, in the dictionary, is defined as loss and I can't fathom whats so noble about being a loser for the sake of losing. The sadists preach altruism and the masochists take the whip.

+Lydia g I feel you. I know what you're going through.

Your father & friend sound to me like they have Narcissistic Personality Disorder. My mother had NPD & she was the nastiest, most manipulative, enraged, jealous person I have ever known. She especially hated me as the only girl ~ I have 7 brothers she adored. NPD is rooted in a deep loathing of oneself ~ sociopathy is not. Sociopaths feel no self hatred. My mum was miserable.Sociopaths believe they are just fabulous & superior to others. There is a fine but clear line between the two conditions.

Every 'path needs an army of sycophants to do their dirty work. Jane and Tim McGregor deal with it in their book The Empathy trap. They mention percentages of sociopaths 4%, empaths 36% (holders of the moral compass) and 60% Apaths: Yes 60% are bystanders with a diminished conscience.The most common techniques they use are 1. Drama Triangle. If you find yourself in this jam you need to get the third person changed to someone on your side not the sociopath's apathic sidekick.2. Gaslighting is where they will try and grind you down. They will need compliant sycophants to do this for them. Many will cooperate out of fear. Most people are not that strong. You have to be stronger than them all.Documentation is important here as independent third parties fall into the trap of trusting a person who plays the authority role. Sociopaths are good superficial charmers and most fall for it.If you beat them the best you will get is they look like they have had a toy taken off them. They don't do the "smirk" At you either.

My mother. A complete, manipulative sicko!

In a short period, especially threatening situation like a test, I doubt sociopaths would let themselves get caught.

It may be a painful process, but, you have to give yourself time to heal. Your daughter will need you at this difficult time. It sounds as if you are perfectly aware of the situation that you unwittingly got into...don't sweep the details under the rug, for the sake of "moving on". What you have learned will stop you getting into similar relationships in the future, and this is the most important thing for both of your sakes. " he is targeting people now" is not good...keep well clear if you can

I'm coping this book

sounds nice

At 12:15 "It's 3 o'clock" gets said out of nowhere. Scared the shit out of me.

I'll tell you about how recognizing them, because the details of my story are personal. After reading about psychopathy, I fully understood the psychology behind the mask. First, they're very charming, and SO that you doubt between two options: this person is really a good soul, or perhaps he's trying to cheat to take advantage of me. The later option will always protect you. I didn't know the concept of psychopath when I was 19, so I thought nobody has inside a TRULY evil soul. But they exist.

Wow! It sounds pretty sad not to have a conscious or feelings. Much like a serial killer. Seems to me that the world is run by people that fit this description, dead on. Great upload and thanks for the links! :)

whatever she has, it's not normal. her thinking is only of herself, she once told me after I caught her cheating that she wasn't thinking of me, our house or even HER 2 kids and that nothing mattered to her only what she wanted to do

They say that sociopathy is increasing in society. My guess it's a lack of accountability, and responsibility through technology. Cyberbullying gives anonymity. Passive aggressive abuse done through innuendos versus direct and honest communication. I've gone through and am currently going through it. I can't imagine what kind of person would put me through what I've been through these last eight years, with no remorse, no accountability, the indifference has been astounding. The only person that could have dreamed up doing this to someone has to be a sociopath in many respects. Would you inflict harm upon someone, if someone told you it was okay, if someone told you it was about healing someone, that it was a rescue mission of sorts? If someone figured out a way to abuse a person from a distance, through articles, through the media, through songs, or innuendos in conversations, with numbers, and colors, or simple words, so nothing can be traced back to them, they are one of the most dangerous types of people and personalities. What if their victim found no way out? Most abusive relationships, a person can just leave, walk away. What if every person they confront or ask for help, turns them away or denies any wrong doing. While what was done to me these last eight years, isn't a reflection of me, yet a reflection of what people will do when they are told it's okay to do, and what people will do when they know and feel they can get away with it. Conscience? I'm not so sure that exists in people any longer. Not with what I've been through.

When I was 17 y/o I got involved with a 33 year old Military Police officer... and the beatings I got throughout childhood stopped because everyone was scared of this guy! I thought he was my saviour... but he was a psychopath. I married him, had 2 sons to him and the oldest one is a Psychopath as well! I left my Ex nine years ago. I have to protect myself from my ex and my oldest son. But I know, HE is the one who is to blame! My younger son has been in Pysotherapy and is doing well!

When we are using the definition of a human, as someone who has empathy....then psychopaths don't qualify.

I have a feeling there is a high level of sociopaths where I live, it explains a lot

Everything has this duality. Things are not as cut and dry as you make out. How about this...the reason for the psychopaths success is a mirror to humanity, showing the worst aspects of us. This allows us to see it for that...reject it...and evolve past this Debt and Death paradigm. I'm not saying that's true...but, just another way to look at it. Anything can be seen as anything by anyone.

sometimes it gets what it wants and sometimes it gets what it doesnt want

This was fascinating....but I do disagree, somewhat, with the theory that a person with a conscience, could not imagine what it would be to have no conscience. It would be difficult, certainly, and problematic, but I think, the outer edges of that lack of emotion could be realized, if only temporarily. Who would want more time than that?

Psychopaths are no more than 4% of the population. However, the damage and misery they inflict on others is enormous so they can seem to be everywhere. They are not. Most people you will meet will mean you no harm, nor have any desire to exploit, manipulate, hurt, damage or use you. Keep this in mind. _ Thomas Sheridan

Also, could you do a video on possible reasons why certain people are psychopath magnets.

Humanity is no longer served or represented in the corrupt institutions that we have now. Psychopaths live in a self preservation society..thrive on it..so, this is the society that will be created when institutional hierarchies benefit the psychopath and psychopathic behavior. We are technologically evolved, but, not emotionally evolved...and this is ideal if you want to exploit the Earth and its' inhabitants. What is evolved to you?

I'd like to apologize for the sociopaths out there we don't mean harm we are just dancing

Just a thought, but what if Sociopaths are just biological variants of human personality in the human species that allows few people to organize other groups of people and maybe to lead them? I'm def getting this book now.

The trick is not minding that it hurts.

It was not so long ago that a broken leg was the same as a death sentence. Science grows everyday, also in the mental health field. Why not just keep studying them, maybe one day we can find something. And there ARE psychopaths and sociopaths that want to be helped, they are very rare but they ARE there. Why not TRY to help them so we can learn? Instead of calling them evil. They're sick.

There is a big distinction between natural survival mechanisms and willful cruelty.

You get one of two feelings when you meet someone, The light or darkness. With the exception of one. Those who hide in plain sight. Im one of them i can usually fool those who are around me.

I'm not ashamed of what i am. Nor do i feel the need to deny or justify it to anyone. i just wish to educate those who might be biased or hurt by one of us. as is the intention of the author. reading this book made me laugh, only because i felt as if she were writing my biography or perhaps a psychic.

I'm writing a fictional book on this very topic, and wonder if anyone out there knows of a conclusive study that shows the approximate social and financial damage done by sociopaths. Anyone?

It's from a book...and this is the way it is written.

It IS an advantage in a psychopathic system. If your paradigm goal is power and wealth, then yes, psychopaths and sociopaths have an advantage. Doesn't make it right....or natural.

Not every Sociopath is out there murdering people,although the consequences of wasting life in prison prevents alot of it,there is nothing wrong with walking on the weak if it gets you where you want to go,i would say its comparable to Survival of the fittest.

Most people aren't amoral - they are, if anything, TOO trusting. Their 'default' is "This person is probably telling the truth" - because most of the questions they ever ask require VERY 'vanilla' answers (e.g., "where's the post office from here?"). And so they are at a fundamental disadvantage when engaging a sociopath. It mostly doesn't occur to them that their counterparty has no qualms about bullshitting them. Most 'Good Germans' are just doing a defensible benefit/cost analysis. .

Haha. I have always said everything is grey as well. That is so incredible how your words match mine. I wonder if you were diagnosed as well?

The reason he would choose to have a conscience is because he has a conscience.

State schooling was (sort-of) invented by Otto von Bismarck - by which I mean specific State control of curricula and setting to the pedagogic and cultural objectives. Bismarck was not Kaiser (he did become Chancellor of the 1st government of a united Germany, in 1871... the role that Hitler assumed in 1933). Everything he did as Minister President of Prussia (1862-1873) had the imprimatur of the Kaiser (William I). State education is a Prussian (militaristic, anti-liberty) invention.

I did not mean love because of utilitarian reasons. History suggests that psychopaths sometimes love or loved someone at some time, but once that love is lost nothing more exists in the world what could trigger empathy. Imagine if you are white supremacist and suddenly end being alone along with many black people whom you ignore or even hate.

Sociopaths, to the degree they are sociopaths,devote themselves to reducing those they envy to nothing or as close to nothing as they can achieve. Does it not make sense that if you were to devote your life to the achievement of nothing, that you would be miserable and hate yourself for achieving nothing. They're sadistic; what causes sadistic pleasure if not the loss and suffering of others. Their goal is sadistic pleasure. Is it now clear what devoting your life to nothing and loss achieves?

@ConsciousAwakening1 No problem..thankyou :)

I've been looking into sociopathy since yesterday. This is chilling stuff tbh, and this has convinced me to buy the book. I can think of 2 people who've I've known, who I seriously think were sociopaths.

I think it would lead to a very restless life to not feel anything deeply.

Sociopathy only has an evolutionary advantage if you think that the rest of the population does not 'catch on' eventually: put another way, psychopaths and sociopaths adopt interpersonal strategies that only have 'short horizon' payoffs. In order to survive they need INSTITUTIONS that permit them to move from one set of prey to another - institutions that give them a 'social imprimatur'. So if you want to find high-functioning sociopaths, look in the priesthood, politics and the military.

No conscience sounds kind of freeing

It's three o'clock.

dropping good game

Hello, I was the username Sharon Disciscio, but I figured out how to sign in. Thank you for responding. One example is that I left a soccer game because I was freezing and told him if he could not come home with me, he would have to get a ride with someone else. He got home silently furious because I embarrassed him by being cold and leaving. My question is: does the fact that he felt embarrassment mean he was not a sociopath? Thank you for your time, I am trying to learn my vulnerabilities.

Perhaps the true face of nihilism.

You cannot deny that psychopaths exist. 4% of the population lack empathy in their experience of life, and they cause a disproportionate amount of harm to those around them, from close family to the wider society. Corporations are psychopathic by nature and this is part of the reason we have such a messed up world. But, yes, there IS bad psychiatry that labels people as unwell to aid the profits of drug companies,proving my point that psychopathy exists, because THEY ARE the psychopaths.

I don't think it's semantic: saying that a phenomenon that occurs it 'not the natural state' simply because you don't like it, is the same categorical error that people make when they say 'homosexuality isn't natural'. Psychopathy is one extremum on the spectrum of human psychotypes; empathy is the 'modal' (most common) expression of interpersonal emotional bonds, and is the 'optimum' for social bonding. Empathy is viewed by us as 'good' because it reduces exploitation and conflict.

How do we deal with them? I have had to deal with so many! I know that it is best to have as little to do with them as possible, but one of the major problems the world faces is how to deal with the sociopaths amongst us. How do we stop them gaining positions of power, power that they will undoubtedly abuse!