Have you met or know a psychopath/sociopath?

[dixie]

I actually thought the same considering HIPAA, but apparently since the place is gone all the files are now just sitting in a storage office with a little secretary who apparently isn't very up to date on things. All that was asked was for an employment record.

[scootebaby]

speaking of HIPAA..im not sure how serious it is taken here...i work for a pizza company...in less that a yr i received COMPLETE records on 2 different people from a mental health place in the town over from me,by fax...when i called to ask/inform them they were nonchalant,apologized and asked me to just shred them..didnt matter that i didnt have a shreddder


sorry for derail!

[Martina]

Originally Posted by scootebaby

speaking of HIPAA..im not sure how serious it is taken here...i work for a pizza company...in less that a yr i received COMPLETE records on 2 different people from a mental health place in the town over from me,by fax...when i called to ask/inform them they were nonchalant,apologized and asked me to just shred them..didnt matter that i didnt have a shreddder


sorry for derail!

i found a bunch of medical paperwork including people's diagnosis codes and their social security numbers blowing along S. University in Ann Arbor some years ago. i picked it all up and took it to my office. i called the most likely source, and they had put a box of the stuff out on the street on a windy day. They seemed unconcerned, said the papers were duplicates that had been used for research.

re sociopaths, only one person, a relative though not a close one. He lived off women and was an alcoholic. He had no feelings of remorse about the people he hurt, including his sons.

It's scary the amount of narcissism that is out there. They aren't sociopaths, but they do a lot of harm. These people look and sound normal, but other people aren't that real to them. They are just tools to get the narcissist's needs met. If others aren't useful for that, then they can be treated in any way and it doesn't matter. i find these people pretty damned scary too. And their emotions, while intense, have a limited range. Anger and self-pity mixed with entitlement and scorn for others. i have so so learned to look for this profile. Oh yeah, and these folks, imo, have a distorted self-image. Their view of themselves is way different from how others see them.

On a more positive note, i teach in a high school, and my students seem to be very empathetic. They live hard lives, but they aren't hardened. It's good to see.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by scootebaby

speaking of HIPAA..im not sure how serious it is taken here...i work for a pizza company...in less that a yr i received COMPLETE records on 2 different people from a mental health place in the town over from me,by fax...when i called to ask/inform them they were nonchalant,apologized and asked me to just shred them..didnt matter that i didnt have a shreddder


sorry for derail!

This is very disturbing to hear about. Confidentiality of mental health records is very serious- and ought to be. Actually, any and all medical records. The person that faxed this really should have been prosecuted- and if a licensed clinician- had their license yanked.

What is so amazing is that those that "ought" to know better do this kind of stuff all the time! Someone with a valid clinical license can get into just about everything. And with the internet and hospital records, etc. being digitalized, it has become very easy to get medical, including mental health information about people.

[Oiler41]

I've encountered these type of folks a few times in my life; I've also seen close friends who have been subjected to these types of folks. I've been fleeced a few times because of this type of person, and seen friends fleeced. Fleeced, meaning emotionally or financially or mentally or any number of ways possible, although thankfully, I've not personally known anyone who lost their life to someone like this.

I've always struggled with the concept of how people like this sleep at night, and then I read the description of this type of person, like that posted by Nat, and it makes me realize all over again that they sleep just fine as they truly have no conscience and therefore are undeterred by working people over in whatever fashion it is that seems to trip their trigger at the time. They have no remorse because they have no understanding or reference point as to what is right and what is wrong.

It is one of those head tilt things for me. The whole notion of "no conscience" is just so far out of my realm of understanding that it is hard for me to get my brain around it. This is an interesting topic just by virtue of the whole head tilt thing. It is good to read these descriptions to help with understanding that some people aren't just doing things to others intentionally; sometimes, they truly are sociopaths and they truly just aren't like the vast majority of folks in the world. Interesting topic. Thanks for starting the thread and creating thinking points.

Glynn

[undone]

M is the sociopath
C was my wife


Unfortunately I have.
M was a friend of my new girlfriend C at the time M would call all hours of the night and I let it go of course trying to be a respectful guest in C's house.
But over many years in the relationship the things I saw M do things to significant others, family members, and friends were horrific to me, from faking leukemia and tearing her(M's) clothes she was wearing while slamming herself against counters and doors so she(M) could accuse her partner of abuse, to regularly taking pictures of knives bullets or guns in her possession and sending them along with suicide messages or other pictures of her scratched wrists and sending them to my love (at the time we were living in Illinois and the (M) was in Colorado) so all C could do was worry, stress, and shut out every one else around her because she could not help her friend, could not save the M from herself.
The thing about these folks is that they really do narrow in on the weakness and vulnerability of the ones they are working over. C had a very close family member take his life when C was thirteen and had been there when he was found. C always felt like she was responsible because she was so close to him that she should have know. It haunted C through her entire, to such a degree that the only reason she stopped trying to take her own life was when she had her son. So of course the messages and pictures haunted and tormented C to no end, so much so she would tear herself, her life, and her own loving family, apart to try to save the friend.
It got to the point that M had caused so much rift between her father and his wife of over fifteen years because he of course wanted to save his little girl every time something came up, that they were nearly divorced last time I heard anything about it.
M"s partner moved several states away to get distance after being accused of awful things. However M had friends in the same town and the girlfriend was threatened and tormented by several in the community. I reached the end of my patience between C's persistence in placing M as the most important thing in her life, far above myself and the son we were raising, to the payday loans C took behind my back to take care of this or that for M while C and I never knew how or if we were going to make rent that month.
I finally had it after she started lying about me to my partner and the blame and doubt C had of course was on me, and when C asked me to move across the country to live closer to M who caused destruction to any part of my life she could reach and torment to my family C and our son what could I do?
Her disease is like acid to anything she touches, but has everyone convinced she is the Midas touch instead.
I do consider myself lucky that I never felt like I could trust her, never felt like she was sincere or actually cared for my step son or C. That I could never believe a word she said.
I did feel like a monster when my gut and every bone in my body screamed at me that M was lying about having leukemia, I saw the last shreds of my faith and trust in C slip away while watching C go back and forth between us and her friend. M finally came up with some story about how it was not leukemia after nearly a year. No one was ever allowed to go with her, till her father took her to a cancer treatment center and paid for the treatment out of his pocket. She never had side effects from treatments, she would tell different friends different stories and different times or days for Dr. appointments and get medical facts very wrong when talking about it.

C and I let our selves lose so much over the way things worked out,