Old 01-22-2009, 05:40 AM
  # 6 (permalink)  
winnie12
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Marietta, GA
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This is a topic i've been so interested in. My 16 yo AS has portrayed these descriptions - on the flip side so do a lot of teenagers so i know that docs are very hesitant to ever diagnose a kid with these kinds of labels. You cant really diagnose something like this until someone gets into their 20s. The brain doesnt fully develop until 25 and someone under that age really doesnt have the capability to use all of their brain. There are actually less true sociopaths then we think. I saw a documentary on them once and their brain actually works very differently than a healthy brain works. So if you are dealing with someone under 25 its pretty difficult to actually know if they are a true sociopath or just dont have full access to their brain.

A year ago in his heaviest use - I could have gone through that list and checked off every one - I thought my son was capable of anything - honestly he just seemed evil to me - not my son at all and at one point i was actually scared that he was going to just kill me. I've since found out that it was before he started getting in trouble and that he was using extremely heavily. I still dont know the extent of what he was using and honestly dont want to know. He's tried to tell me a few times wanting to explain that time period but i just have too much to worry about with him already and dont need the gory details - I'd rather just focus on what we are dealing with today.

I researched a lot because i was scared that i was living with someone who could just flip at some point and cause real harm to us - it seemed more like a mental illness before i knew that it was drugs. What i have found in my research is that everyone is prone to some mental illness so when you add drugs to the mix they can trigger the mental illness - very dangerous with kids because their brains arent fully developed and they dont always revert back even if they stop the drugs. The affects of addiction can also mimic many of the traits of a sociopath, borderline, anti-social. Now that he is clean there are many descriptions on the list that he no longer portrays. he is still very selfish and grandiose and I dont think he even knows the meaning of emphathy at all but i have to chalk that up somewhat to immaturity.

I've seen his AD who also at times has portrayed all of those qualities above. But I dont think he is a real sociopath because he does show regret and pain at times - he just cant control himself and make rational decent decsions because he is under the influence so much. I see his dad more of an anti-social behavior - just a complete rejection of society's rules and responsibility to others. A true sociapath doesnt think that they have done anything wrong whereas someone mimicing those behaviors usually knows deep down inside that they are wrong - even if they wont admit it.
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