The difference between Sociopaths and people with Asperger’s Syndrome
March 29th, 2010Asperger’s Syndrome is on the spectrum of a developmental disorder named Autism. Asperger’s Syndrome is called AS for short. It’s a mild case of autism, perhaps the most mild type of autism. Not like people with PDD-NOS and Williams Syndrome, children born with Asperger’s usually have some natural gifts at the same time, for example, math, music or science. Many celebrities suffered from this disorder in the history, it’s said that the ex-president Bush have it too. The only thing that people with Asperger’s cannot be gifted is social ability. They have difficulty in reading expressions, understanding body languages. In a word, they don’t know how to communicate with others naturally. However, they mean people no harm, that’s the biggest difference between people with Asperger’s Syndrome and Sociopaths.
Sociopaths have the ability to communicate with people normally, and they can sense what society considers right and wrong, however, they have no conscience and cannot feel empathy, guilt and remorse like we often do. Some serial killers are sociopaths, they disrespect the rights of others,but they have nothing to do with Asperger’s.
People with antisocial personality disorder are called sociopaths. In the 1830’s this disorder was called “moral insanity”. The main characteristics of sociopaths are Grandiose Sense of Self, Pathological Lying, Shallow Emotions, Impulsive Nature, Unreliability and Parasitic Lifestyle. If this disorder is not treated in childhood, it can develop into adulthood. Treatment for antisocial personality disorder is usually through group psychotherapy.