[cas]

Understanding the profile of a sociopath, what's up with the victim? Why does one allow themselves to become a willing victim??? Many who are destroyed personally and professionally were iniltially seemingly strong, talented, beautiful, well-liked individuals. Please give me some insight! PEACE

[Zenobia]

Could you elaborate on the situation. Sociopaths can been quite disarming and believable so one can miss the cues one would get from other people who are trying to mislead people. I do have trouble with the term "willing victim". Is there really such a thing as a willing victim? Yes people will walk into trouble over and over but I do not believe it is because they want that trouble but rather they are a victim of some internal difficulty that drives them into the situation repeatedly. What are your ideas on this?
Carrie

<font color=green>Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.--Emily Dickenson

[cas]

carrie, thank you for your well thought out response. i am going through some research and feelings of my own to see if i can fugure out more clearly the situation. it is a gravely serious matter. thank you so much.

[Cat100]

I've just been with one for 8 months, I'm strong independent, and very aware
it's the small things they do, slowly, you don't notice at first, you just defend yourself, then they are Mr perfect again..this will happen until one day your in that black hole, they've worn you down, when you love someone it's hard to break the habit, you realise afterwords all the little pieces of insults here, digs there, lies and put downs, suddenly come together, like a jigsaw...you stop, stand back, look at what those pieces have made, and it says SOCIOPATH .!!! In big freekin letters!!!

[starfruit504]

There are no willing victims of sociopaths. No one wants to get taken for a ride. The same goes for domestic violence victims. No one walks into these situations going, "Can't wait to get smacked around in front of my 4-year-old." It's not a person's fault for believing that most people are fundamentally good. That's an optimistic and righteous way to live. Sometimes you just meet the wrong person, you meet a bully or a sociopath.

Sociopaths and other PDs distort reality. Make you doubt yourself, your perception, your memory. It is incrementally crazy-making. It could literally happen to anyone, except maybe another sociopath.

You can be very "strong" and still be abused by a sociopath. I argue that the sociopath is weak, not the victim. Sociopaths need other people, it's crucial to their fulfillment. It is the focus of their lives. They need to exact something out of someone else in order to sleep at night. Strong people don't -- they live and let live.

Honestly, if the human race ended and the only person left on earth was a sociopath, what would they do? How long would they last without someone to suck the soul from, without other people to envy their status, without someone to take advantage of?

[marmaduke]

starfruit504
It's not a person's fault for believing that most people are fundamentally good.

Its a fact that many 'nice' people get dragged into the sociopaths world, and the above statement is one of the reasons why.
A nice person will try to 'help' with empathy, understanding, kindness.
I remember my ex husband coming home from work and raging about some small thing. He punched me, left a big bruise.
I was shaken, hurt.
Later he said sorry, went on about how hard it was at work, he was stressed, tired, poor poor him blah, blah, blah.
So I ended up complete with bleeding fat lip, comforting him! Feeling guilty that I'd made things worse by being so useless.

I didn't see it clearly at all.
Now I make no excuses for bad behavior.

Sociopaths slowly brainwash you, erode confidence, self esteem till you don't know who you are any more.

Then there is Stockholm syndrome, a powerful cycle of abuse and cruelty with 'kindness' thrown in to keep you confused.

ok this is a dead thread but seriously. things like this turn my stomach. people must think i'm as much of an idiot as he made me believe i was. i was a child when he found me. a baby. it was my first relationship and i just wanted to be good and perfect for this person who i thought was just being a little protective of me. but he was special! he was inhumanly powerful and the only person who could protect me! thats what i was fed! every! single! day! a 14 year old child! one with unchecked mental illness and zero self esteem i might add! a perfect target for a demon like him! and people are gonna spout crap like this, that i ALLOWED it to happen? ***** i wasn't even old enough to give proper legal consent! you gonna go up to every other rape victim out there and ask them why they just LET someone overpower them? not if you're a human being with a heart no!!!!!!! i'm 12 years late and you were 4 years early for the slow murder of my soul, but from the deepest reaches of what's left of it, F*kc You OP