Featured Image Credit: Stock photo - Tim Robberts/Getty Images
Topics: Health, Mental Health, Reddit, Social Media, Psychology
Ellie Kemp
Topics: Health, Mental Health, Reddit, Social Media, Psychology
A person with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) has revealed what led to their diagnosis - and why they wanted one in the first place.
We hear the term 'sociopath' thrown around a lot, but I'll bet not many of us know what it actually means.
The term is an informal word for ASPD, a mental health condition associated with patterns of harmful behavior and lack of remorse.
As the Cleveland Clinic explains: "A person might show disrespect toward others and be manipulative, aggressive or reckless."
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Symptoms might include physical aggression, using wit, flattery and charm to manipulate, lie or deceive, and failing to take responsibility for actions or behaviors.
But as the Clinic highlights, ASPD may look different for each person who experiences it.
Kanika Batra, another person diagnosed with ASPD, says that people with the condition lack conscience and deep empathy.
The individual, who kept their gender and country under wraps, took to Reddit for an Ask Me Anything last year.
One person was curious about what led them to seek a diagnosis.
They gave a candid response: “Nothing, really. Only my mother and a few other people who I chose to openly talk to ever suspected ASPD, and deep down, I always knew it.”
According to the user, they had previously been told they showed ASPD 'tendencies' when they were younger, after their mother insisted they see a psychiatrist.
But it wasn’t until years later that they decided to actively pursue a formal diagnosis.
What changed, they said, was an 'intense discomfort' they experienced after temporarily suppressing their personality for someone else.
“I sort of do things in a flux state, if that makes sense,” they wrote. “I guess what really pushed me towards it was after feeling intense discomfort after temporarily suppressing my character for someone.”
They described themselves as someone who is 'always out for reasons for stuff,' constantly analyzing their own behaviour.
That internal friction made them want answers.
When another user asked why they would want the label of ASPD on record, they explained their motivation.
“Deep down, the challenge, I guess?” the user admitted. They went on to describe the diagnosis as a 'big f**k you' to people who had doubted them or suggested they wouldn’t succeed in life.
“Felt like a big f**k you to all those who told me that I wouldn't be able to make it and be successful,” they added, saying it also felt good knowing that many people 'wouldn’t be able to do the same with this condition.'
This mindset resonated with another social media user, who added: "Neither my mom nor some high school teachers believed I’d be able to make it in life and figured I’d be incarcerated or dead. If they could see what I do now they’d eat their foot."
They noted that their 'mindset and morals (or lack thereof)' hadn't changed, adding: "I just know how to push them down and fake it until I made it."
"There you go. Pretty much that," the original poster responded. "Feels good doesn't it?"
Whether driven by defiance, validation, or simple self-awareness, the user made it clear that for them, the diagnosis didn’t change who they were.
Instead, it simply confirmed what they already believed.