[NF] ever suspected a child of being a sociopath?

[Thalassa]

Yeah I agree, I didn't know if you were being facetious. I've been in arguments with my friend (the one who dated my sociopath example above) and she would like nothing more than to see him locked away forever while I would prefer to see him get help.

As an adult there's very little you can do to "help" a sociopath. I think prison exists for a reason - and surely shouldn't be as overused as it is right now, I think that most mentally ill people can and should be helped by psychiatry instead. But prison pretty much exists as a place to protect the rest of society from sociopaths. I think that's it's main function, and I believe that they more than anyone belong there, because their behavior can't be fully corrected.

 

[Pixelholic]

As an adult there's very little you can do to "help" a sociopath. I think prison exists for a reason - and surely shouldn't be as overused as it is right now, I think that most mentally ill people can and should be helped by psychiatry instead. But prison pretty much exists as a place to protect the rest of society from sociopaths. I think that's it's main function, and I believe that they more than anyone belong there, because their behavior can't be fully corrected.

I would agree if American prisons weren't proven to harden people and make them worse. If a sociopath rapes and murders someone, sure, lock them up forever. If they're on that road but not there, force them to get help somehow.

I dunno, I guess I just always think it's worth trying to help someone before giving up on them, and we as a society (the US anyway) are just too happy to simply give up on someone.

 

[Vasilisa]

I had a gig once at one of those standardized test scoring centers. We had to flag some of the children's tests for content because they signaled that a problem might exist. What I remember coming across were children who sounded so desperately sad. I still remember what they wrote.

yakimadude, I have a friend who is a Medical Doctor of psychiatry who specializes in children with psychiatric disorders. If you want me to ask him some general question for you, I will. I do not think he is NF, though.

 

[Thalassa]

I would agree if American prisons weren't proven to harden people and make them worse. If a sociopath rapes and murders someone, sure, lock them up forever. If they're on that road but not there, force them to get help somehow.

I dunno, I guess I just always think it's worth trying to help someone before giving up on them, and we as a society (the US anyway) are just too happy to simply give up on someone.

Some people need to be given up on because their danger to society far outweighs any compassion they should be shown. These are rare, extreme cases, of course. I believe that most people with problems can be helped. However, it's overly idealistic to believe you can help someone who has no more compunction about killing you or anyone else than a normal perosn would about stepping on a cockroach.

I also believe in mercy killing. I believe that there are situations where it's better to die. I believe in situations where a person is so far gone that they will do nothing but destroy. It's like putting down a sick animal. It is the right thing to do, IMO.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but to me it seems like common sense.

 

[Pixelholic]

Some people need to be given up on because their danger to society far outweighs any compassion they should be shown. These are rare, extreme cases, of course. I believe that most people with problems can be helped. However, it's overly idealistic to believe you can help someone who has no more compunction about killing you or anyone else than a normal perosn would about stepping on a cockroach.

I also believe in mercy killing. I believe that there are situations where it's better to die. I believe in situations where a person is so far gone that they will do nothing but destroy. It's like putting down a sick animal. It is the right thing to do, IMO.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but to me it seems like common sense.

No, it makes sense on a pragmatic approach and I do tend to be overly idealistic.

 

[jcloudz]

I had a gig once at one of those standardized test scoring centers. We had to flag some of the children's tests for content because they signaled that a problem might exist. What I remember coming across were children who sounded so desperately sad. I still remember what they wrote.

yakimadude, I have a friend who is a Medical Doctor of psychiatry who specializes in children with psychiatric disorders. If you want me to ask him some general question for you, I will. I do not think he is NF, though.

thank you for the offer. The movie "joshua" reminded me of my exes nephew, long ago. I remember hearing he slapped his grandfather on the face, because the grandfather decided to cut plans short due to the child being unruly. the little guy comrpomised the lock on our room and watched me and my ex sleeping, caught that. he is a long ways from hurting animals and people. there does need to be more active approach to parenting in the house in stead of being wishy washy. I started placing boundries and limits and while everyone was still giving him his way, he sought me out frequently and we began to have an understanding. crappy thing about breaking up is sometimes you end up leaving more then one person.


Btw I hate Hugging

 

[skylights]

Some people need to be given up on because their danger to society far outweighs any compassion they should be shown. These are rare, extreme cases, of course. I believe that most people with problems can be helped. However, it's overly idealistic to believe you can help someone who has no more compunction about killing you or anyone else than a normal perosn would about stepping on a cockroach.

I also believe in mercy killing. I believe that there are situations where it's better to die. I believe in situations where a person is so far gone that they will do nothing but destroy. It's like putting down a sick animal. It is the right thing to do, IMO.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but to me it seems like common sense.

i kind of agree. in my rosy idealistic hopes, there's so much to learn and study that an imprisoned sociopath given a library (and possibly low-grade tranquilizer or other drug) might be able to have a satisfactory life that doesn't include injuring others. i don't really know much about sociopaths, but i imagine they have particular interests just like the rest of us... so i don't really see any reason a sociopath can't become a forerunning expert in stochastic calculus, or quantum physics, or other areas of study that don't have to involve human interaction.

at the same time... i really hate death row, but for a sociopath who's murdered someone, i'm not sure i'd be totally opposed to them being killed. it's like what you said about mercy killing. it pains me a lot but for the good of society, someone who has no hesitation when it comes to killing would be my one exception.

my hope is that at some point in the future research will allow brain chemistry to be altered enough that they can take drugs to kick-start their limbic systems and induce a little emotion. i read an interesting article about oxytocin being a possibility.