Posted on 10/20/2008 10:59:20 AM PDT by Red Badger
Casey Anthony has finally been indicted for the first-degree murder of her daughter, Caylee Anthony. Casey is a sociopathic, superficial sensationalist. To a mental health professional, she fits the description of someone with an antisocial personality disorder - just a fancy name for "sociopath."
The disorder is recognizable by a lack of concern for others, as evidenced by her behavior after Caylee disappeared. She did not call 911 to report her daughter missing; that task was left to her mother, weeks after Caylee disappeared. While her daughter was missing, Casey was out ”clubbing”, buying lingerie and other sundry items for herself from Target, and cooking dinner for her boyfriend and his roommates.
Casey has consistently displayed contempt towards authority figures, masked by a thin veneer of civility. Listening to the police tapes, it is easy to see that Casey appears to be quite respectful to the police interviewers. She portrays herself during these interviews as one who has been wronged by a (fictitious) babysitter named Zanny, who, according to her story, kidnapped her beloved Caylee. Casey has been, according to her and to her family, maligned, misunderstood, and martyred.
In reality, Casey believes she is above the law. She presents herself as a mother who is only interested in finding her child. Yet she has done nothing but lie to the police and fabricate stories.
Everything she does is designed to protect herself by outwitting and outsmarting the legal authorities. She continues to display a great disdain for law enforcement, as evidenced by her unwillingness to tell the truth or be in any way helpful in locating her daughter.
Psychopaths are superficially charming in their ongoing attempts to get their own way. Casey has the capacity to read others quickly and recognize their vulnerabilities. Once recognized, she knows how to exploit others' weaknesses. She seems to have no qualms about violating the rights of others. Casey stole her friend's checkbook and wiped out her bank account, and not a cent of the money was spent on Caylee.
It is typical for sociopaths to engage in illegal or deceitful behaviors. Compulsive lying is the norm. Guilt and remorse are not in their vocabulary. All sociopaths are incapable of feeling sorrow or sadness for their wrongdoings and destructive behaviors. Any tears you might see are for themselves. “I am crying because I got caught, not because I am sorry for anything I have said or done.” On some level, a sociopath takes perverse pleasure in getting away with illegal, irresponsible behaviors. Yes, a sociopath takes great joy in taking from others. "Joy" is the correct word.
To a sociopath, others are always expendable: family, friends, acquaintances. Once others have been bled dry, the sociopath moves on. Loyalty is not a part of who they are. They have no desire to change and no insight into their own behaviors and motivations. Caylee is missing, but Mom is partying and lying to both her friends and family about her daughter’s whereabouts.
Sociopaths are narcissistic and exhibitionistic, with no sense of shame. Nothing exists in their world but what they want - the ultimate “Me, Me, Me” syndrome. They are characterized by an excessive superficiality, in both thoughts and behaviors. They are easily bored and made restless by day-to-day responsibilities, an attitude which makes consistent parenting a drag and an impossibility. Sociopaths create their own reality, and in this instance, Casey’s world did not include her daughter.
Casey was a parasite, living off of others. She had no high-school education, no job, no goals, no direction. But, to hear her story, she worked at Universal Studios and was attending college. A sociopath always views his or her problems as stemming from flaws in others, rather than taking responsibility for his or her own issues and the havoc they have created.
As a sociopath, Casey wants to control her own destiny and create her own reality, abhorring any form of criticism or denigration. At some point, she might experience feelings of depression. These feelings would not be because her daughter is missing or dead, but because she lacks the freedom she craves. Having been arrested and accused, she is no longer in charge of her own fate, and for a sociopath, who values freedom more than anything else, that is devastating.
Interestingly, sociopaths like Casey will expect others to attempt to belittle or use them. At times, the sociopath will willingly act in such a manner as to induce others to legitimately respond in a hostile or angry manner. Casey has repeatedly demonstrated this with her continued lying, lack of sadness about her daughter’s disappearance, and few displays of emotions related to the fact that her daughter Caylee is missing or dead. Listening to the taped interviews, one can easily discern that Casey expresses almost no emotion when discussing her daughter’s disappearance.
Sociopaths are incapable of remaining in love, or of even selflessly loving anyone. Their sex lives are most often impersonal and chaotic, and frequently they are bisexual. There is in them an emptiness, a coldness, a disconnection from others and themselves. Casey is incapable of truly understanding how much others can be made to suffer as a result of her behavior. It does not compute.
A sociopath's motto is: Competition is king, survival the agenda, and no one is ever, ever, ever to be trusted. A sociopath's mantra: “Do unto others before they do unto you.”
“You could take that entire article and replace “Casey” with my brother’s name and it would fit perfectly”
And my ex-wife
My younger sister, too...100%.
Probably her mother. Poor George, two of them in the same house.
My brother was diagnosed as a "sociopath" at a young age. He is just barely a year younger than me. He has always been the way he is even as a preschooler..................
I became educated on the subject by reading two particularly good books widely available in paperback:
Without Conscience by Robert Hare PhD
The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout PhD
In the Stout book, she argues there is a consensus approximately 4% of the American population are sociopaths and most of us will come into direct contact with one.
Most sociopaths are not murderers or habitual felons but they are excellent liars and get off on controlling and dominating others and experience joy in wreaking havoc in the lives of their targets.
Because they cannot get joy or satisfaction in the normal emotions of human beings, their entire lives are reduced to a game of attempting to dominate and control somebody else.
They cannot be cured and cannot be treated because they see nothing wrong with themselves. The sociopath sees the 96% of the population not like them as weak and easy prey because of that emotional weakness.
Hare argues even their physical brain scans look different.
They not only have no conscience, they do not experience emotion as most of us do. They cannot experience love, for example.
In the movie, Terminator II, the cyborg played by Arnold Schwarzenegger asks the crying boy, "Why do you cry?"
Like the cyborg, a sociopath does not understand emotion felt by most of us.
Any display of emotion by a sociopath is an impersonation of emotion they have seen in others.
My brother could "cry" on cue whenever he wanted attention or to shift blame to another. He eventually became a gigolo, preying on old wealthy women who all felt sorry for him and would give him money......
Obama has Narcissistic Personality Disorder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
He likes himself - A LOT!
I dated one for awhile, and you described their worldview accurately. They always see themselves as victims, no matter how badly they mistreat everyone else. And, sadly, they're able to fool mostly everyone... at least for awhile. When I finally broke it off, you wouldn't believe the people, including my own family, who accused me of being "mean".
Casey fits the profile.
Clinically, narcissism is not a ‘Narcissus’ -like love of self. It manifests primarily in a hidden true self (usually out of an inner shame) with a pronounced inability to genuinely empathize, a need to exploit and manipulate and a sense of entitlement.
I know, I was married to one. Casey is one.
I am still married to one and am sticking it out to protect my son until he graduates in four years.
I am not sure if I can make it but I am trying.
Bless you. Rough ride isn’t it?
The thing about them is that they can be very charming. When you try to descibe to others your experience with them, they just can’t see it.
I always describe my ex as being the big farmer in the field and people to him were like cows grazing around him that had no feelings, just grazing for his future benefit.
The ones close to him sure knew. People that got close to him and burned would tell me, You know, he just doesn’t feel. Well ya, he didn’t.
A friend of ours who lived next door and played on my ex husbands soccer team was murdered in the business he owned. My husband was the only guy on the team that didn’t shed a tear at the huge funeral. I know people noticed.
Thank you for describing my mother.
I knew she used shame-based parental methods, but did not realize that it was those shame-based methods used by her own parents that created the narcissism.
I think I avoided becoming a narcissist because of the healthly and insightful relationships I had with my siblings. We puzzled a lot about our mother as we grew up.
Sure sounds like it. Well if casey gets off instead of looking for her daughter on every golf course around, she will be looking in every bar.
It’s not easy to break the cycle, I know. I’m glad you did.
Yes, exactly, they can be very attractive and charming, not to mention respected members of their communities.
I never saw it either until I was in the middle of the situation myself. Years later, I had some conversations with other women who'd been in the same situation. The word "sociopath" was what we used to describe these people. We shared stories, and all of our stories matched. We found these guys even said essentially the same things. Of course, we were talking about sociopathic men, not women, but Casey fits the profile.
I think some terms like "sociopath" are overused, but sometimes the term fits, as in this woman's case.
Still alive. But I figured out that one cannot be “nice” in any form or fashion to people like this.
When you said “stalked” I assumed she was like SADIE HAWKINS.....
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