FAKE

Somebody asked on Quora, “Why are there so many fake psychopaths on Quora?”

Anyone who publicly declares hirself a psychopath or even a sociopath can practically be guaranteed that s/he will be called a fake at some point along the line. It’s funny. I’ve never heard of anyone being called a fake borderline or a fake histrionic. As for narcissists, people are more likely to be called a narcissist or a narc especially if they identity as a path.

It’s as if calling oneself a path is a form of bragging. We have always occupied a dual role of monster and glamorous celebrity. It’s really about the confusion between loving and hating the forbidden. Sin, forbidden fruit, breaking society’s rules has always had an allure for people. As I said in my first post, “People with Cluster B ‘personality disorders’ are often considered evil, incurable and generally bad news. But some of the most interesting people in the world are in that Cluster. You shun the Psychopath and yet are so fascinated, you keep flocking to movies about us. Face it. We lift you up from your mundane lives and provide some excitement.”

Because of the glamor associated with psychopathy, people like to challenge any claim to the condition. It is our grandiosity that is really being challenged.

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Dan Baxter, answering the above question on Quora, made an interesting comment on the subject:

There are no fake psychopaths, anyone faking being a psychopath is actually a real psychopath but the individual probably doesn’t know that he or she is actually a psychopath but wants to be a psychopath so they pretend to be a psychopath going by whatever traits people say are psychopathic.

The only way you could “fake” being a psychopath is if your actually one but don’t realise it and you try to copy whatever behaviour or style that psychopaths are doing. Basically psychopaths can act and believe what ever they want to. This is why it is very important for psychopaths to gain self awareness emotionally so they don’t have to “fake it”.

If anyone here who wants to be a psychopath or thinks they are one you probably already are, just keep reading all the psychopath users on quora and eventually it will sink in emotionally. I recommend reading these users who are psychopaths themselves if you want to know more about psychopathy.

I would disagree with the absolute nature of that statement. There can be fake psychopaths. There can be fake anything. I usually take peoples’ word for it unless there is clear reason to doubt it. The funny thing is that despite the voluminous discussions on whether a self-proclaimed psychopath or sociopath is “fake” or not, none of us is really qualified to express an expert opinion. Only professionals have the “right” to give a diagnosis. And those professionals can only legitimately make a diagnosis after studying the individual in person. That hasn’t stopped masses of professionals from declaring Trump to be either a psychopath or a narcissist. Much as I don’t like Trump, I object to this misuse of psychology. (Or, perhaps, I just don’t like being part of a group to which he belongs.) Thanks to the American Psychiatric Association and the DSM, psychopathy has been partially relegated to the realm of mythology. I couldn’t even get any professional to measure me on the PCL-R. Instead, I got a dx of ASPD, like many other have received as well. Whether that’s “really” psychopathy or not is left in the air. Then there’s the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath. The former is born that way and has a differently wired brain. To know whether I’m really a psychopath or a sociopath, I would have to get a brain scan. Nobody seems interested enough in the answer to subject me to such a test. I certainly can’t afford one. I dare say, many of us are in the same boat.

So maybe we’re all “full of shit,” starting with those who point a finger and yell “fake.” Anyone can become an authority on Quora. It’s up to the questioner to decide whether that person knows what s/he’s talking about. There are some really credible people giving answers about psychopathy on Quora. Each and every one of those people has been called a “fake” at one time or another. Who gives a shit?