Diagnosed psychopath reveals what he feels when someone tells him 'I love you'
Can psychopaths feel love? A man diagnosed with the condition has revealed exactly what really goes on inside his mind when he’s in a relationship.
Lewis Raymond Taylor has been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, emotionally unstable personality disorder, and bipolar type 2, conditions which ‘officially make him a psychopath’.
According to Healthline, psychopathy is not a formal clinical diagnosis in the US; however, the term can ‘refer to symptoms of antisocial personality disorder’, including lack of empathy.
Lewis - who is now a CEO and life coach, and was the star of 2023 Netflix documentary The Psychopath Life Coach - sat down with Lisa Bilyeu on her Women of Impact podcast to discuss how relationships work for him.
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Asking what every woman wants to know but is ‘too afraid to ask’, Lisa questioned Lewis what ‘I love you’ really means to him.
“So, I’ve never experienced, as far as I can remember, any warm, fuzzy, sensation of connection,” he told the host.
“I can get infatuated with somebody, and there’s that early kind of excitement almost. But for me, I have to know that they love me, and they have to show me that.”
Lewis has actually been married, and although his partner was very supportive and ‘understood him very well’, he said on the podcast ‘they didn’t quite match’.
The life coach also expressed that his love language was acts of service, because unless he can see someone loves him, he won’t believe it.
“I can see it. I can visually understand it and say, ‘OK, that person really loves me,’” he said.
Unless someone shows Lewis they love him, he says he won’t feel it ‘at all’ unless it’s shown to him.
Four months after having their son Ocean, Lewis said his son, of course, took priority, leaving him feeling unloved.
Lewis then explained that if he doesn’t feel loved, he will withdraw, and doesn’t want to give the love back.
He then admitted to ‘love bombing’ - although he makes people he’s dating aware that he’s doing so.
However, it’s not like he wants to do it, in fact Lewis said he feels like it’s something he’s ‘compelled’ to do.
“I just have this desire to be admired, and be loved and I want to give my all to it, so I get extreme,” he said.
As per WebMD, love bombing is ‘an emotional manipulation technique that involves giving someone excessive compliments, attention, or affection to eventually control them,’ and starts at the beginning of a ‘toxic or unhealthy relationship’.
With a lot of people who love bomb, Lewis said he would ‘switch off’ shortly after. Before he was ‘consciously aware’, Lewis said when he would get the love he desired, to make himself feeling better he would see it as ‘mission complete’.
Opening up about his childhood later on in the interview, Lewis said he grew up feeling ‘unlovable’, saying his father ‘put him down a lot’.
Topics: Psychology, Mental Health
Kiesha Dosanjh