Why do psychopaths want to hurt you?

Unlike sadists, psychopaths don't harm the harmless simply because they get pleasure from it (though they may). Psychopaths want things. If harming others helps them get what they want, so be it. They can act this way because they are less likely to feel pity or remorse or fear.
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What do psychopaths want from you?

Pleasure from power

The answer is that psychopaths derive pleasure from having a physical, mental or emotional impact on others. They experience power and control as immensely rewarding. Psychopaths love being the puppet master. They get a thrill out of pulling strings and making people jump.
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Why do psychopaths want control?

Their ability to control themselves enables them to avoid impulsive acts (which are common in other psychopaths) which would give them away, hence allowing them to continue their manipulations with subtle care. 'Success' for psychopaths often means power and control (which means not being caught).
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What do psychopaths do to their victims?

Research shows that psychopaths often use a technique called gas lighting in order to achieve this – gradually eroding a “victim's” confidence and sense of reality by confusing, misdirecting, deceiving and persuading them – leading to extreme self doubt.
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What do psychopaths do in relationships?

Psychopaths are likely to repeatedly attempt to deceive their partners and will lie about anything under any circumstances in order to conceal their behaviour and achieve their goals – whatever they may be.
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The Psychopath and Their Need to Hurt/Harm/Ruin/Destroy Others-Why The Compulsion



What is a psychopaths weakness?

lack of empathy, guilt, conscience, or remorse. shallow experiences of feelings or emotions. impulsivity, and a weak ability to defer gratification and control behavior.
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How do you outsmart a psychopath?

How to Deal With a Psychopath
  1. Keep Your Emotions in Check. No matter how frustrated or upset you feel, keep your emotions in check. ...
  2. Don't Show That You're Intimidated. ...
  3. Don't Buy Into Their Stories. ...
  4. Turn the Conversation Back on Them. ...
  5. Opt for Online Communication Whenever You Can.
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How do you tell if a psychopath is targeting you?

10 Signs A Psychopath Is Targeting You
  1. Grooming. Grooming is when psychopaths target and prepare their victims. ...
  2. Psychopaths Will Watch You Carefully. ...
  3. Psychopaths Appear As A Savior. ...
  4. Psychopaths Will Use An Alias. ...
  5. A Psychopath Will Try To Charm You. ...
  6. 7 Signs of Self-Sabotage. ...
  7. 5 Patterns that Mess Up Your Relationships.
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What do psychopaths fear?

Summary: Researchers have found proof that psychopathic individuals can feel fear, but have trouble in the automatic detection and responsivity to threat.
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What makes a psychopath angry?

Psychopaths do have feelings … well, some feelings.

In other words, they can feel happy and motivated if the rewards are high enough. Of course, they can also get angry, especially in response to provocation, or get frustrated when their goals are thwarted.
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How do psychopaths manipulate you?

Psychopaths are unable (or unwilling) to control their impulses or to delay gratification. They use rage to control and manipulate others into submission. Many of them are sadistic; taking true pleasure in inflicting physical, emotional and financial harm to their victims. Not all psychopaths are law-breakers.
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How do you protect yourself from a psychopath?

If you suspect someone in your life is a psychopath, there are a number of steps you have to take in order to protect yourself.
...
How to deal with the psychopath in your life.
  1. Get some space. ...
  2. Look for win-win agreements. ...
  3. Practice acceptance. ...
  4. Focus on actions, not words. ...
  5. Boost your other relationships.
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What happens when a psychopath loses control?

The psychopath feels rage at being discarded. Losing control or power over a person is not just a narcissistic injury for them; they feel profoundly empty when their partner leaves them even if they had intended to kill their partner. The reason is because they have lost control.
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What do psychopaths think about?

Psychopaths respond to things according to the way they feel. They don't spend time thinking about the potential risks and benefits of their choices. Instead, they want immediate gratification.
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Do psychopaths care what others think of them?

Psychological experiments suggest that pretty much everyone, psychopaths aside, cares about what others think of them. Even people who before the experiment say they don't care about public opinion suffer a knock to their self-esteem if they are snubbed in the name of science.
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What is the psychopath stare?

Maybe you've also heard of the “psychopath stare.” People generally describe this as a prolonged, predatory gaze, or a fixed stare that feels unsettling and uncomfortable. Maybe you feel like someone's watching you and catch their eyes every time you look up.
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Do psychopaths feel threatened?

Last, a meta-analysis was performed which conclusively showed that psychopathic individuals have trouble in the automatic detection and responsivity to threat but may in fact feel fear, providing direct empirical support for the claim that the conscious experience of fear may not be impaired in these individuals.
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Can a psychopath be obsessed with someone?

They're known for being reckless, thrill-seeking, and lacking in empathy. Relationships with psychopaths are never smooth sailing. If they are particularly narcissistic, they're not happy unless they're the center of attention all the time, meaning they can be obsessive and controlling.
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Do psychopaths have high IQ?

Overall, the team found no evidence that psychopaths were more intelligent than people who don't have psychopathic traits. In fact, the relationship went the other way. The psychopaths, on average, scored significantly lower on intelligence tests. “I think the results will surprise a lot of people,” says Boutwell.
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Do psychopaths stalk their victims?

Many psychopaths and stalkers objectify their victims and see them only as a way to fulfill their self-centered needs. No emotional connection: Both psychopaths and stalkers tend to experience a dysfunctional emotional connection with the other person.
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What kind of person attracts sociopaths?

You have a history of emotional or physical abuse in relationships. This may be one of the biggest targets for a sociopath. They will probe you about your past relationships very early in the dating game in order to pick up on this. Have you been the victim of infidelity or lying in other important relationships?
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Do psychopaths miss their victims?

Does my sociopath/psychopath miss me? The short answer is “no.” The qualified answer is “yes, in appearance, but only as long as you can afford him.” Since psychopaths are unable to have true feelings, once you are removed from his picture, you are gone forever.
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What happens to psychopaths as they age?

As psychopaths age, they are not able to continue their energy-consuming lifestyle and become burned-out and depressed while they look back on their restless life full of interpersonal discontentment. Their health deteriorates as the effects of their recklessness accumulate.
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How do you end a relationship with a psychopath?

15 steps for breaking up with a psychopath
  1. Don't blame yourself.
  2. Don't excuse their negative behavior.
  3. Stop believing they will change.
  4. Don't fall victim to suicide threats.
  5. Prepare yourself.
  6. Don't break up in person.
  7. Go entirely no-contact.
  8. Don't try to be friends.
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How do psychopaths treat their family?

Because healthy relationships are built on honesty, trust, and genuinely caring about another person without the notion of self gain or power dynamics, individuals with antisocial personality disorder traits may not be able to fully empathize, understand, and relate to members of their family, which can lead to poor, ...
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