What to do if your friend is dating a sociopath

But sociopaths can be charismatic and some symptoms of their condition, like being impulsive and persuasive and shunning social norms, can be attractive in some situations. A quick primer: A sociopath is someone who has antisocial personality disorder—a condition that causes them to lack empathy, be exploitative in close relationships, indifferent to the needs of others , entitled, and lack remorse for the bad things they do and say—according to clinical psychologist Ramani Durvasula , PhD, author of Should I Stay or Should I Go?

For the record, being a sociopath isn’t something you can fix on your own.

7: They don’t have very many friends. If they have any friends at all. Sociopaths don’t usually want friends unless they want something from that “friend”.

The aftermath of being bamboozled by a sociopathic or narcissistic dating partner can leave even the most self-aware of victims confounded. By the time we have, they leave in their wake a trail of devastation and chaos. Their victims feel traumatized, terrorized, and depleted, and rightfully so. In the most extreme cases, getting involved with a sociopath unknowingly can be deadly.

He even had multiple affairs while she was pregnant and attempted to blame Shannan for the murders of their children before pleading guilty to all the murders. Much like Scott Peterson, who murdered his pregnant wife Laci Peterson and their unborn child, no one suspected him of being dangerous. To outsiders, Chris Watts appeared like a doting dad and husband.