(December 29, 2016 at 10:08 am)Alex K Wrote: Found on Marty Rathbun's blog,
https://markrathbun.wordpress.com/2016/1...pity-play/
an excerpt from Martha Stout's book "The sociopath next door"
From chapter 6 – how to recognize the remorseless
Quote:After listening for almost twenty-five years to the stories my patients tell me about sociopaths who have invaded and injured their lives, when I am asked, “How can I tell whom not to trust?” the answer I give usually surprises people. The natural expectation is that I will describe some sinister-sounding detail of behavior or snippet of body language or threatening use of language that is the subtle give-away. Instead, I take people aback by assuring them that the tip-off is none of these things, for none of these things are reliably present. Rather, the best clue is, of all things, the pity play. The most reliable sign, the most universal behavior of unscrupulous people is not directed, as one might imagine, at our fearfulness. It is, perversely, an appeal to our sympathy.
The description goes on. Does that remind you of anyone? A pretty common scheme among the most insidious and hard to grasp forum troublemakers of you ask me.
Yes this. A fucking thousand times this. Given my up close and personal experience with this type of person will go out of their way to find an empathetic person. They will latch on to them and literally feed off of their emotions by playing the victim card. Once they have the empathy sucked in, the sociopath then begins their cruel victimization on their newly acquired target.
Throw narcissism in the mix and you have the cruelest form of a person known.
Disclaimer: I am only responsible for what I say, not what you choose to understand.