I'm a Sociopath. Ask Me Anything.

foreigner, how do I know you are being honest with me? Did you lie to any of us? I don't think he lied to anyone. I guess he could be lying to you if you were alone in a room with a diagnosis. Sociopath, what would you ask? Have you ever been in love? What is empathy like for you? Have you ever felt guilty? It's like a complicated question. How are you doing pretty well? Okay, that's good, what's your name? Greg. Okay, nice to meet you. Pleased to meet you. At what age were you diagnosed? I think I was around 21 22.

How old are you? I'm 33. What is your definition of a

sociopath

? To me, a

sociopath

is someone who doesn't care about themselves or others. You are very impulsive. very irresponsible Reckless basically like a child Were you surprised when you were diagnosed? I don't think surprise is the right word. I think relieved as if I had been feeling out of control and didn't understand why I was doing what I was doing for a while. A long time, so knowing that there was a real reason behind why he was doing these things was really kind of a release in a way, which made you think he was a sociopath, waking up in prison was probably my first clue.

Do you mind if I ask you what? led you to go to prison. I have committed several crimes. I used drugs and sold to support my habit. I also have a lot of retail shoplifting. How long ago did you commit those crimes? The last time I committed any crime was in 2011 and then you did it. I haven't committed any crime since then. I wouldn't say I haven't committed any crime. I haven't committed any serious crimes since then. In fact, I don't even drive as recklessly as I used to. I stopped stealing. I know what I'm saying.

I don't know if I have been committing crimes I think I changed my habits which made you make the decision to change your life not wanting to go back to prison it was one of the worst experiences of my life what do you think People often misunderstand what it is like to be a sociopath personally. I think the stereotype is that they are incredibly violent and just malicious just to be bad and like them for their own sake, at least for me, that's not how people with antisocial personality disorder or sociopaths are presented most of the time, They are simply irresponsible and impulsive people who can lead you to be a little aggressive and irritable, but the myth that they are violent, out of control monsters is blown out of proportion.

Have you ever manipulated someone to benefit yourself, yes of course, I feel like everyone manipulates other people to the point that we are all trying to get something out of a certain relationship, ok I haven't really thought of it that way for me, it's more like mutual respect and wanting to do it. others to make people feel better, yes I understand what you mean. I see that all my relationships are very transactional and it is the way I relate to the world. What are some things that piss you off when people can do it? Not admitting that they're wrong or that they made a mistake, that drives me absolutely crazy and I think it's just because I used to do the same thing.

I used to never admit I was wrong. What does empathy look like to you if you have empathy at all, so I call it cognitive empathy, it's just me making sure I put myself in someone else's shoes, intentionally my first response in any given situation is never empathy, it's usually a solution logic to the problem when many times That's not what people need, they need you to listen to them and just be there for them. Have you ever felt guilt or remorse? It's something that you feel is a complicated question, so at the time I didn't feel bad about

anything

I did.

I really didn't have a care in the world once I let it go like it was over in my head which isn't great when you cheat on your partner and then they don't forget it yeah but me? Would I regret it now because I don't like having put people through that and I don't like having hurt them but that wasn't then? I wanted to ask you what your childhood was like. Part of the problem is. Like I don't store memories very well, so I don't necessarily remember much of my childhood, is that a condition associated with being a sociopath, from what I have collected, memories tied to emotions quite strongly, the way in which I experience emotions not quite as deeply as other people, so the emotional attachment to memories that you like and that makes them stay in your brain doesn't really happen to me.

Did you often tell your parents about your diagnosis right away? No, actually, I didn't, I just mentioned it. I told my parents once when I told them they didn't believe me, they said that wasn't the Greg I knew and I guess he's just talking about how deluded he had them, they just didn't believe I was capable. Of those things, have you ever been in love and feel loved? I think so. I experience emotions, love, connection and closeness. It just may not be in the depth or breadth of other people he thinks are yours. Favorite person in your life right now, probably my son was followed shortly after by my partner.

He is one of the main reasons I have improved and your diagnosis has not affected your parenting in any way. I want to be the best father I can. For him it's like a big motivating factor for me because I don't want him to live the same life that I've lived. There is a huge genetic component to sociopathy and the other half is your environment, so I have to do everything I can. With this environment to overcome your genetics, how did you feel when you met your wife? It's always been her even though there was a period of time where she really wasn't a good boyfriend.

She was not a good match. Don't know. She deserves to still have it, but she stuck it out and knew there was a person inside that version of Greg who was better. Are you going to therapy? I have gone to therapy in the past when I was in prison. Yes I had um. what is called a Therapeutic Community and they do cognitive-behavioral therapy and when I got out of prison I didn't continue today it's more like self-directed, I do self-exploration and with my partner we explore it, if something happens, she gently let me know it feels feels like an accusation like you're doing something wrong I'll shut down I don't like being told what to do a lot of times I don't know I need gentle guidance is that you I think you think like you've learned to deal with being a sociopath so the way you What I see is that I have learned not to destroy my life by accident.

I can stop those thoughts and impulses before they take me to Actions. How do I know that you are being honest with me? Did you lie to any of us? I don't think he lied to anyone. I guess I could be lying to you but it's no use lying to him. For you or for most people. I'm here to share my real Olympic experience. I'm not going to lie to you about it. Okay, nice to meet you. Pleased to meet you. Likewise, hey, hey, Nathan, nice to meet you. thank you, thank you, that's great, that's a pretty face, those are great questions, thank you