Featured Image Credit: YouTube/LADbible stories
Topics: Mental Health, Psychology
Poppy Bilderbeck
A woman who has ASPD has opened up about a tell-tale physical sign which tells her if someone is a 'fellow sociopath'.
Kanika Batra was diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) when she was 21 years old.
Sociopathy is not a medical term, whereas ASPD is. And according to Kanika, it's 'characterized by a lack of empathy, guilt, and remorse' alongside someone with 'specific antisocial behaviors'.
In an interview with LADbible Stories, Kanika shared: "A lot of people claim to be sociopaths, and they think, 'I've done bad things before. Am I a sociopath?'
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"And the answer is no. Most of you still have empathy, guilt, and remorse. And what people like to call conscience. We don't have that."
Kanika revealed there are certain tell-tale signs which give away someone has ASPD, and it's not just to do with lack of empathy, guilt and remorse, but one more subtle physical sign too.
Combatting the belief sociopaths are 'scary in person,' Kanika argued there 'really isn't' much of a 'distinction' between them and 'other people'.
However, what she notices in 'a fellow sociopath is in the eyes'.
"The eyes are pretty soulless," she continued. "If you see me get angry, you'll see my eyes become soulless."
Kanika shared she even had to 'teach' herself to 'blink more' because she found she was 'freaking people out'.
"And so that's something that you will notice, the ability to hold eye contact for as long as possible, usually because we don't have the same stress response as other people," she added.
There's also a behavioural pattern Kanika points out that may signal someone has ASPD.
Kanika reflected sociopaths are typically 'calm in quite tough situations' even a situation as extreme as almost being 'hit by a car' which she claims happened to her the other day and resulted in no elevated heart rate.
She said: "So when you notice someone who is exceptionally calm, exceptionally good in stress, it's highly likely they could be a sociopath."
She also opened up about her friendships, noting that as someone living with ASPD, she can show up inconsistently.
Kanika explained sociopaths also tend to get bored 'real quick' and if they get bored, will 'cut' people out of their life fairly rapidly.
She also revealed the emotions she feels most strongly include rage, disgust and contempt - the latter probably the strongest.
Kanika noted it's also men who are 'far more likely to be sociopathic' as well as 'aggressive, violent' and 'to have the physical size in order to assert that dominance'.
Indeed, studies suggest the ratio of men to women is 3:1.