Comments by "Harry Mills" (@harrymills2770) on "7 Signs Someone Is A Sociopath" video.
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As with most human traits, empathy is on a spectrum, and we all fall somewhere on that spectrum. Children are born innocent, but also pretty selfish. It's part of their charm.
I think you can lose empathy, to a degree, through trauma. "If no bones are broken and no blood is spilled, what the hell is he so upset about?" Depending on what you've been through, you can tend to be dismissive of minor hurts. It can seem like lack of empathy, but sometimes it just isn't something that would bother them if the shoe were on the other foot. I've been caught that way, myself. After the things I went through, there are quite a few things that are just piddly-ass to me, compared with something bigger that I'm MORE concerned about, but which cut more sheltered/fortunate people to the bone.
I knew an Army Ranger who was "diagnosed sociopath" (to stick in some tie-straightener's craw). He was a good dude. He was pretty callous, but he didn't wear any masks. He was just elemental. He believed in having a code of honor and that made him a pretty reasonable guy.
The Jesus archetype works for some. I think if you can sell 'em on the salvation deal, they'll do good things for the eternal-life prize at the end. If they believe some spirit is reading their minds and keeping score, they sometimes will control themselves. Of course, if they're really malignant, twisting God's Word is super-easy, barely an inconvenience.
It's hard to imagine a sociopath recognizing they're a sociopath and training themselves out of it, with family support. But if it's learned, which some say is what separates sociopaths from psychopaths, then it can be unlearned, and there's hope for sociopaths.
Going through a lot of abuse does change how your brain forms. I think they say it affects the emotional centers where empathy lives. I think a psychopath is just born with those parts of the brain misfiring, stunted, or absent.
But anyway, I think the way they define things, now, sociopath sort of implies it's learned, and there's nothing organically wrong with the brain. Finding the/a right life partner and working at it with intention, sounds like a pretty cool thing.
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