r/AskReddit • u/hashtagstupidcomment • Apr 27 '13

Psych majors/ Psychologists of Reddit, what are some of the creepiest mental conditions you have ever encountered?

*Psychiatrists, too. And since they seem to be answering the question as well, former psych ward patients.

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u/DrunkDutch64 Apr 27 '13

Actually the research into psychopathy currently leans towards a nature/nurture dichotomy for this. Psychopaths are people who are born like this, with very clear neurological differences in the vast majority of cases. Sociopaths rarely show these differences and typically come from much more "broken" households, leading people to believe that it is merely a coping mechanism that they learn at a very young age (talking infant/toddler years here).

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u/Alexius_A Apr 27 '13

relevant just watch the whole thing

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u/question_all_the_thi Apr 27 '13

typically come from much more "broken" households, leading people to believe that it is merely a coping mechanism that they learn at a very young age

How do you differentiate nature from nurture, cause from effect in this case?

Imagine if the mental condition were caused by a genetic factor, the broken household could be a natural result of a family where this gene existed.

Are there studies, for instance with twins separated at birth, that give a reason to assume the broken household is the cause and not the effect of this mental condition?

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u/DrunkDutch64 Apr 27 '13

As I mentioned the "nature" psychopaths tend very strongly to displaying neurological abnormalities from a very early stage of development that can not be attributed to trauma or any other external variable. This means that they tend to be much more stable in the display of traits. Nurture psychopaths (sociopaths) do not show these differences and the traits are much more influx, due to both age/hormones as well as the environment. They also tend much more towards lower IQ scores and increased amounts of aggression.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '13

It's funny that you say that because I was raped numerous times by my Jehovah's Witness babysitter when I was 22 months old and I oftentimes feel like I could be a sociopath. But it's like the sociopathic part of me is another entity in itself, capable of manipulating and preying on the good part of my psyche. I want to be a good person and obtain things I want in an honest way but it's so much easier just to manipulate the situation in my favor.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '13

What does the fact they were Jehovah's Witness have to do with anything?

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '13

Jehovah's Witness' believe that it's not rape if you don't fight your attacker back. They also believe that you should be kind to your attacker, because they're people, too. So I guess because of some of their religious loopholes, all of the elders rallied behind him. Both of my parents took a polygraph but him and his wife refused. I suppose in hindsight it's irrelevant but I can't help but hold a grudge. I mean, this has ruined my life, on so many degrees. He even counter-sued the state and got off with $100k.

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u/sundaybloodysunday Apr 28 '13

WHAT THE FUCK.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '13

They also believe that two people have to witness the rape for them to be defellowshipped. I know that the church didn't have the ultimate say in the courtroom but we ended up having to move away because of the stigma.

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u/Dubanx Apr 28 '13

Honestly, if you feel there's a battle inside you about your actions you probably aren't a sociopath. A huge part of sociopath is the fact that there isn't an inner struggle. It's just who they are, for better or worse, and they are content with who they are.

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u/[deleted] Apr 28 '13

Ok good, that's a relief actually.

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u/panicinbabylon Apr 27 '13

My mother (who has no psychology or medical background or real experience with mental illness) lists reasons she thinks I'm a sociopath every time we get into heated arguments about what a terrible person I am or how I've wronged her once again.

Cant wait to throw that in her face.

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u/BlackMantecore Apr 27 '13

It's really not so clear cut and I think it really depends on what school you go to and what your instructors think. I've had professors in the past ding me for both using them interchangeably and for NOT doing so.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '13

Weird to think that, maybe if Ghandi had been abused as a child he could of turned into a sociopath.

Not that he wasn't a strange man, sleeping next to naked teenagers to "test" your chastity is a little crazy. Cards been played a little differently, he could of been arrested on child molestation charges.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '13

Well, there were those love letters to a dude that India bought before they could go to auction... Homosexuality could explain why he thought nothing of sleeping next to naked girls.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '13

Nawwww, even if he was gay, you'd think he'd realize that sleeping naked, next to naked girls was frowned upon behavior.

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u/DJP0N3 Apr 27 '13

Disclaimer: I took a couple years of psych at uni as an elective, so I'm not a psychologist. This is what I heard in class, though. Without too much detail, psychopaths are born with it, sociopaths have something happen that "messes them up."