Hollywood as well as many of the professionals in the mental health field have been giving certain groups of people suffering from mental health issues a bad name for years. They typically are lumping all Narcissists, Sociopaths, and Psychopaths into one group. Yes, all have similar issues and traits, but all are not equal. These groups are often vilified in movies and TV programs as the typical serial killers, and with good reason. Most of these types of crimes are perpetrated by individuals with one of these disorders, but that doesn’t mean that every sociopath is an evil person. Even within Sociopathy there are many levels and traits that are not shared by all. Being a sociopath, I understand that of the estimated 12,000,000 people in the USA (probably closer to 20,000,000) with sociopathy, most are good people trying to live a good life and make the world a better place. I spent most of my adult life running youth programs in order to protect children from the type of childhood that I had. Many sociopaths get into fields where they can help and protect people for the same reasons.
There are 2 things required to make a sociopath. The first is what in laymen’s terms is the “warrior gene” and the second is a traumatic event or events during childhood and/or pre-adulthood. Take for example the fictional character of Batman. As a child, Bruce Wayne, watches as his parents are murdered in front of him in an alley. This event coupled with other events lead to him developing a second persona – Batman. What many don’t realize is that in this story as in real life, Batman becomes the real person and Bruce Wayne disappears as a real person and is nothing more than a character developed by Batman to fool the world and hide his real personality.
This same scenario plays out on a daily basis in our country and across the world. Traumatic events take place involving children. It can be something as seemingly mild as a simple divorce, being picked on or belittled by friends or family members, or dysfunctional relationship to something severe as in physical/sexual abuse or witnessing a crime or murder. If the child has the “Warrior gene” then he/she will most likely develop a new primary persona who is immune to pain, fear, and many emotions and create a new persona to mimic what their original persona looked like. This is what we call a sociopath. Whether this new Batman like persona will be a good person or evil is dependent on factors not yet understood by professionals in this field.
I have met many other sociopaths like me. These are people who have taken their traumatic experience with them into adulthood with a clear purpose – to protect others from having the same childhood they had. They are now teachers, fire fighters, military members, doctors, counselors, electricians, psychologists, etc.… Many of these people become the heroes we need in society. It is true that some who survive these experiences cannot break free from the patterns of evil and in turn become what they hate. As in society, most people are good with a small percentage being bad eggs – the same is true of the sociopaths.
Let’s stop villainizing all sociopaths and properly educate the world on the truth of this mental disorder. http://www.alternaterealitybook.com