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I am a narcissist

759 replies

ohyesido · 23/02/2025 16:04

I am. But I'm not a horrible person.

I lack empathy but I've learned that it isn't nice to manipulate people.

Yet I still do, only in such a way that no one can ever really accuse me of it. Because I twist my words to indicate that I have everyone's best interests at heart.

Everything I do is calculated to ensure I get my own way while maintaining a facade of good intentions

Can anyone relate?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
username299 · 24/02/2025 13:45

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 13:39

While a Counsellor made the intial suggestion a GP and Psychiatrist confirmed it.
I don't really care about the label and maybe they are wrong. Doesn't matter

A counsellor or GP can't make a PD diagnosis. It's a complex diagnosis and quite lengthy and can only be made by a psychiatrist. Even then people make mistakes.

You don't seem to have any criteria that fits a diagnosis of sociopathy. You have managed to make the thread about you though.

Have you been assessed for anything else?

Mirabai · 24/02/2025 13:47

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 13:39

While a Counsellor made the intial suggestion a GP and Psychiatrist confirmed it.
I don't really care about the label and maybe they are wrong. Doesn't matter

Only a psychiatrist can diagnose a personality disorder.

Mirabai · 24/02/2025 13:49

username299 · 24/02/2025 13:45

A counsellor or GP can't make a PD diagnosis. It's a complex diagnosis and quite lengthy and can only be made by a psychiatrist. Even then people make mistakes.

You don't seem to have any criteria that fits a diagnosis of sociopathy. You have managed to make the thread about you though.

Have you been assessed for anything else?

Xpost.

Mirabai · 24/02/2025 13:49

What’s with all the self and internet diagnoses on this thread..

myplace · 24/02/2025 13:52

To be fair, most people don’t seek diagnosis and only get it after they have come into contact with the criminal justice system.

People who have managed to colour within the lines avoid that. Doesn’t mean they don’t fit the criteria, just that they are clever enough to organise themselves appropriately.

For comparison, if it interests you to know what other people think and feel-
I’m hyper vigilant due to my mother, so I am unlikely to be friends with you.
I’m empathetic to the point of problem- I struggle to watch tv, read news etc, because it hurts/sickens me to see cruelty. No matter how humerous the film, I can’t detach from cruelty.

In a survival situation, I’d quietly top myself somewhere to stay out of trouble. If I were responsible for an infant we’d be in big, big trouble. I can’t value me and mine more highly than others.

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 13:53

username299 · 24/02/2025 13:45

A counsellor or GP can't make a PD diagnosis. It's a complex diagnosis and quite lengthy and can only be made by a psychiatrist. Even then people make mistakes.

You don't seem to have any criteria that fits a diagnosis of sociopathy. You have managed to make the thread about you though.

Have you been assessed for anything else?

Yes I have made it about me I suppose, although a lot of that was answering questions and I am quite bored today.
A Psychiatrist was involved in my diagnosis as I have already said, maybe I just got a shit one?
I have never had any other kind of assessment although maybe the Psych was assessing me for other things. He just gave me a report that said I had "strong Sociopathic tendancies" after spending a couple of hours asking me questions.
I was raised by Narcs (one diagnosed) but I don't think I am one of those.

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 13:53

Mirabai · 24/02/2025 13:47

Only a psychiatrist can diagnose a personality disorder.

well one did

Garlicworth · 24/02/2025 13:58

Or at the very least would behave exactly like I would if it came right down to it in a severe eg survival situation.

Yeah, we would - most of us anyway. The difference is that it takes the massive cortisol surge of a survival emergency to break through our social and emotional inhibitions. We are all in constant communication with our amygdala (primal 'lizard' brain) but, in everyday life, that communication goes through loads of overlying processes acquired through experience as we grow up.

Nobody knows why this differs for people with strongly variant behaviour patterns, despite having grown up in broadly similar environments. It seems clear, though, that having a reduced emotional range results in less interference between the amygdala and the pre-frontal cortex.

(I've oversimplified a lot, but it'll do. This is all going to be so interesting as scientific observation of the brain's electrical pathways improves.)

I suspect that, if you and I were in identical emergencies, your response would be marginally faster and more decisive than mine.

If somebody was standing between me and survival, I'd be more likely to try and push him out of the way while you'd just kill him! See, I'd still be weighing up whether he and I could both survive and, if not, the least harm I could do while still getting rid of him. You'd go straight to the most efficient action.

Dontlletmedownbruce · 24/02/2025 13:59

You are also contradictory OP. You said in your first post you are not a horrible person. Every other post suggests you are and proud of it. You sound like a horrible nasty piece of work, but hey you don't care what I think. I'm guessing you don't believe in karma, just as well.

Ladyluckinred · 24/02/2025 14:02

Dontlletmedownbruce · 24/02/2025 13:59

You are also contradictory OP. You said in your first post you are not a horrible person. Every other post suggests you are and proud of it. You sound like a horrible nasty piece of work, but hey you don't care what I think. I'm guessing you don't believe in karma, just as well.

It’s so funny, it feels like this thread has had multiple, OPs. The original OP left quite a while ago.

Dontlletmedownbruce · 24/02/2025 14:04

@Ladyluckinred because its obviously someone bored just taking the piss!

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 14:04

One thing that really made me realise I might be a bit "different" was on a training course when they did that trolley bus challenge - where you can pull a lever and save x people but kill Y people etc. My answer every time (before I realised it was "wrong" was to do nothing as it was none of my business and I didn't know any of the people concerned so why would I do anything?
That only changed if one of the people were my DC and then there was no hesitation to save them even if it meant thousands died.

Ladyluckinred · 24/02/2025 14:04

@Garlicworth I enjoy your simplification! It makes a lot of sense to me.

BunnyLake · 24/02/2025 14:06

Ladyluckinred · 24/02/2025 14:02

It’s so funny, it feels like this thread has had multiple, OPs. The original OP left quite a while ago.

I suppose there’s an irony in a thread started by a narcissist being taken over by other narcissists. Still, I’m finding it fascinating reading.

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 14:06

Dontlletmedownbruce · 24/02/2025 14:04

@Ladyluckinred because its obviously someone bored just taking the piss!

You see thats the problem, you don't want to believe that people are different but can function perfectly well so you prefer to think its all lies instead.
I have admitted I am bored but I am very easily bored, its not unusual. I am being totally truthful as well though. Believe that or don't
Makes no difference.

username299 · 24/02/2025 14:07

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 14:04

One thing that really made me realise I might be a bit "different" was on a training course when they did that trolley bus challenge - where you can pull a lever and save x people but kill Y people etc. My answer every time (before I realised it was "wrong" was to do nothing as it was none of my business and I didn't know any of the people concerned so why would I do anything?
That only changed if one of the people were my DC and then there was no hesitation to save them even if it meant thousands died.

I think you like being the centre of attention and running around telling people you're a sociopath gives you that.

Enjoy your day.

BunnyLake · 24/02/2025 14:08

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 14:04

One thing that really made me realise I might be a bit "different" was on a training course when they did that trolley bus challenge - where you can pull a lever and save x people but kill Y people etc. My answer every time (before I realised it was "wrong" was to do nothing as it was none of my business and I didn't know any of the people concerned so why would I do anything?
That only changed if one of the people were my DC and then there was no hesitation to save them even if it meant thousands died.

I’m not a narc but I would also save my own child over a bunch of others.

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 14:08

BunnyLake · 24/02/2025 14:06

I suppose there’s an irony in a thread started by a narcissist being taken over by other narcissists. Still, I’m finding it fascinating reading.

I am not a Narc (apparently) but who knows really, its a spectrum that we all inhabit

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 14:09

BunnyLake · 24/02/2025 14:08

I’m not a narc but I would also save my own child over a bunch of others.

But would you pull the lever to save 100 over 10?
I might but only because its expected, my natural inclination would be to have no involvement at all.

BunnyLake · 24/02/2025 14:10

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 14:08

I am not a Narc (apparently) but who knows really, its a spectrum that we all inhabit

I guess I’m using the word generically.

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 14:10

username299 · 24/02/2025 14:07

I think you like being the centre of attention and running around telling people you're a sociopath gives you that.

Enjoy your day.

You may well be right, doesn't mean its not true.
Not sure where the running around comes in though

BunnyLake · 24/02/2025 14:11

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 14:09

But would you pull the lever to save 100 over 10?
I might but only because its expected, my natural inclination would be to have no involvement at all.

I honestly don’t know.

Ladyluckinred · 24/02/2025 14:16

I guess there’s a difference right there, I don’t know how I’d react but you do. I guess my brain would quickly assess the situation and make a decision without me even having time to consciously register. I know there’s certain situations I get into action straight away (kid flying down a slope of their bike), so my fight response is activated in low level danger scenarios.

What is this exercise you did @Hoppinggreen. Was it to do with morality/ethics?

Mirabai · 24/02/2025 14:17

Hoppinggreen · 24/02/2025 13:53

Yes I have made it about me I suppose, although a lot of that was answering questions and I am quite bored today.
A Psychiatrist was involved in my diagnosis as I have already said, maybe I just got a shit one?
I have never had any other kind of assessment although maybe the Psych was assessing me for other things. He just gave me a report that said I had "strong Sociopathic tendancies" after spending a couple of hours asking me questions.
I was raised by Narcs (one diagnosed) but I don't think I am one of those.

Really? Using outdated language. (Sociopathy is the old name for ASPD no longer used in clinical practice). Not sure how you got a 2 hour appointment either.

Also - a GP who suspects ASPD would refer to an NHS psychiatrist. You could request a private one if you had health insurance or wanted to self pay, but that’s not where they would start.

Mirabai · 24/02/2025 14:17

username299 · 24/02/2025 14:07

I think you like being the centre of attention and running around telling people you're a sociopath gives you that.

Enjoy your day.

Yup.