1982: Some do understand it, some don't. Like any other problem, it seems to wrest on a spectrum. ASPD, sociopathy, & psychopathy.
I'm not looking to attack you. I really DON'T find it in my best interests to start **** with people because I have had enough conflict in my existence to choke myself with it. So this isn't really a personal attack, though I'm sure your perceptions might differ. I know as well as anyone else that there are some vile ****ing assholes out there. And you know what? I'm not seeking to deprive them of their own responsibility. The **** they start & their eventual consequence has no bearing on my life...
But it's just really agitating to have a label placed on you & you are viewed as one in the same, regardless which area of the spectrum one is on. If I happened to commit a crime? I would get a LOT more years than a neurotypical person would for the same exact crime. I would be "more" guilty of a crime just because I have a diagnostic label stuck on me. Whether the crime was victimless, I would get more years/months. Whether I wasn't even guilty, no one would bother collecting more evidence because society would love to keep more of us behind bars.
Well, I also have symptoms of bipolar disorder & the majority of both sides of my family are bipolar, so I'm somewhat speaking from experience on that note. Not everyone's experience, but from my own personal database of knowledge. And a mixed episode/full-blown manic episode is much more uncontrollable than any normal day.
We all know what legal people have to say about psychopaths/sociopaths/antisocials. Just google search & you'll find a plethora of what has been observed. Most, if not all of the research, takes place in prisons. So there is already a bias towards the convicted felons that also so happen to be afflicted. This doesn't take into mind those of us that have managed to scrape by reluctantly & avoid either criminal behaviour OR avoid getting caught for it... So how many people, how many individual personalities are we not taking into account? Speaking for myself, I know of two others who are very much like me & leading fruitful lives. One of them works for the government.
And yes, awareness is a very big part of keeping oneself in line. That's why there is a forum here... There are some times where we need help with an issue. There are some times where we need to just talk to someone about the **** on our minds that isn't going to immediately cringe & judge how we live our lives. Just because we were born or bred in some fashion, we aren't allowed the decency of our own perspective because everyone else has a problem with it.
I'm not fighting the textbook or what has been researched. I recognise that it applies to most; but if we all lived by a textbook, we'd be overlooking a great deal of information. & Someone has to be my own advocate... Psychiatrists & psychologists dump us aside, whether we need/want help with the personal problems it causes or not. I can't even get proper care for my other MH issues because they thought I was making it all up to get drugs! Hahahah it's nearly hilarious.
Agree to disagree is good enough for me. I like intellectual debate. And hopefully you came out of this with some new information? Everything you said TRULY isn't news to me. I did all my research. I'm tired of reading the same exact thing over & over again, it's enough to make me nauseas. So it's not that I'm fighting the facts -- I'm fighting the concreteness of said facts & the reality that not everyone is form-fit into the same construct.