A ‘diagnosed psychopath’ has explained exactly how she feels emotions in comparison to other people.
You may think about American Psycho or The Shining when someone says the word ‘psychopath’, but it’s a lot more nuanced than that, and those with the condition blend in a lot more to society than you’d initially think.
Social media influencer Vic Path is one of these people. Known online as @victhepath, she regularly shares her experiences with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) on her TikTok page.
Vic describes herself as a ‘diagnosed psychopath’, having previously shared that she can ‘cry on demand’ and that she doesn’t ‘feel love’.
What is a psychopath?
The NHS states that psychopaths have a severe form of ASPD, and can be manipulative, impulsive, irresponsible and even potentially display criminal behaviour.
Other behaviours can include a lack of concern for other people’s feelings, having difficulty in holding up long-term relationships, lacking guilt, or even blaming others for events in their lives.
While many might think psychopaths are all evil and scheming to commit crimes for their own personal gain, this misconception can be misleading.
Ultimately, those diagnosed with ASPD can improve themselves as people.
How do psychopaths experience emotions differently?
While Vic has previously revealed the main symptoms of a psychopath, also outlining why you should not date one, the content creator has now explained how she knows she feels emotions differently to others.
Speaking to her 284,000 followers, Vic said: “Contrary to popular belief, psychopaths actually do experience emotions.
“We just experience them on a different level, a lower level than an average person would,” she explained, adding that she can feel ‘almost everything’ a normal person can.
She said there was one key thing that made her realise that she felt things at a ‘lower level’.
@victhepath Replying to @luisa_barbosa_31 lots of observation #psychopath #aspd
“The only reason I know is through observation of other people,” the influencer claimed.
Vic went on: “Most people are significantly more reactive than I am to any given situation and when I was growing up, I would observe these reactions in other people and not understand why they were reacting that way.”
She admitted she ‘didn’t understand’ why people would have emotional outbursts or breakdowns, citing her brother as an example.
“My little brother was very emotional as a child, and he would always have tantrums, and I never understood why he would have these reactions to things because I did not feel those same emotions,” she recalled.
Vic said that a ‘lifetime of observing’ instances like this made her realise she might be ‘a little bit different’.
Concluding, she stated: “I don’t really know how the average person experiences emotion, but I just know through observation that I do not share in those same emotions as other people do.”
Vic said she imagines normal people’s emotions to be ‘so, so terrible and overwhelming’, as it would have to be ‘super intense’ for someone to have an emotional outburst, or just less intense that her emotions.
