Hello,

I know the forum is usually reserved for questions associated with anxiety and depression, but I would just like you guys' takes on people labeled "psychopaths." I ask because about a year and a half ago I came across an individual -- via my father's then girlfriend -- that has caused me a severe deal of emotional/psychological trauma and has also separated/divided my family. During that time I had bought a self-help book for anxiety and was making some degree of improvement to my life with regards to my anxiety conditions, but those efforts were completely squashed and sabotaged and I now believe to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, in addition to the other myriad of anxiety/depressive conditions I used to have. Thankfully the psychopathic individual is no longer in my father's life so I'm no longer affected by her influence (the individual was female), but the negative experiences with her were extremely traumatic for me and have also caused me to become cynical and skeptical of just about everyone. At times I've been so paranoid that I've felt like I was losing my mind and developing schizophrenia.

From an outsider's perspective, this individual didn't even seem human -- neither in behavior nor looks; it was as if she was this empty vessel of flesh guided by some evil, indestructible, supernatural force that would wreak havoc and destroy everyone in it's path (especially emotionally). I'm not even religious but if I were ever asked to identify a person most closely resembling a "demon" incarnated, it would be this individual. In my entire life, I have never come across someone like that before. For me it was somewhat of an awakening because I did not even know that people like that existed, I always thought everyone was generally goodhearted and well-intentioned (like me so to speak), and I always gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. This individual was everything but goodhearted and well-intentioned; she was the complete opposite. I do not doubt for a second that she has probably driven some people to commit suicide and/or committed homicide herself. She certainly seemed very capable of it.

The most memorable feature about this individual, besides the fact that she could look at you in the eye and lie without the slightest hint or indication that she was lying, or her near demonic ability to push the right buttons in order to persuade and manipulate you to her favor or interests, was that she had an exceedingly abnormal level of aggression and would explode with rage at the drop of a hat to such an extreme degree that she actually used to lose control of her bladder function and urinate herself. It was so sick. She also loved causing unnecessary fear in people and leaving them in a state of anxiety. There were two times in which I had called the police as I felt my life was in danger during a heated confrontation, and when they arrived she switched into the innocent, humble victim and twisted the story around deliberately so as to make me appear crazy and unstable, which wasn't hard for the officers to believe because I was in the midst of a full-fledged panic attack and was literally shaking. After these incidents had occurred I began to feel I hopeless, and I was in such a severe state of dissociation that I was about to voluntarily admit myself to my local hospital's psychiatric unit.

I researched her name on my county's website clerk of court's record's search and discovered that she had been married five times in her life and that she had restraining orders against four of the five husbands she had married. She seems to go around in life marrying men to be entitled to their possessions or to obtain something from them and then, when they're no longer valuable to her she scrams and goes onto the next one like a parasite. She also had a permanent Injunction (restraining order) placed on her by her own mother, whom I guess she had been living with when the restraining order had been placed. I actually have a copy of the original petition in my hands and in the description section it says that she "expressed her wishes to get her boyfriend's revolver and shoot her mother and nephew in their sleep" and that she had kicked in her mother's bedroom door and gotten her in a choke hold, and that when the police arrived she was "taken to CHI (Community health of South Florida) for psychiatric evaluation." She was also referred to court-ordered therapy sessions which she failed to complete.

I also started researching "personality disorders" (which in retrospect was a bad idea because it just reinforced more anxiety) and realized that her traits most closely resemble an antisocial or borderline personality, but I personally feel that she is a psychopath. The woman is the epitome of evil in my opinion. I feel her behavior is calculated and deliberate. She likes using gaslighting techniques to make people doubt their own intuition and memory. She seems to obtain gratification by causing destruction, disharmony and conflict. With that being said, I guess my question(s) are, what makes these people act the way they do, why do they exist? What do you recommend should I ever encounter this individual or another one like her in the future?

Thank you so much,


creznor