The Sociopath: A Social Terrorist (part 6)

“You and your mate seem to share so many common interests. You both enjoy spending time with each other while appreciating the finer things in life. One of those finer things is enjoying the good company of your mutual associates. Your mate says they value personality above all things and are adamant about the importance of maintaining good friendship. You value the same thing as well…

But lately, you have noticed a change in the way you and your mate’s mutual associates interact with you. These associates seem to act in an awkward way whenever you are around, as if they feel uncomfortable saying even the smallest word such as ‘hello’.  You have not done anything derogatory towards them directly, at least nothing that you can recall. Some days they seem moody as if it is painful for them to speak to back to you when spoken to, or, they make strange facial jesters towards you whenever you mention your mate’s name. Consequently, this arouses your suspicions as to why they are acting this way. Your confront your mutual associates about your suspicions to no avail. You then confront your mate about this, who claims they do not have any idea what is going on with your mutual associates. 

You also begin to notice something strange about your mate’s behavior at the same time. They seem to prefer to talk to you over the telephone rather than spend time together physically. They suspiciously ask you questions about your whereabouts more often, are more secretive than before with their cell phone, and seem very concerned about what is being said to you about them by your mutual associates.

They seem to want to pick a fight with you over the slightest things at the oddest of times, such as during a dinner or a movie date, and then refuse to be consoled about the situation in spite of all the facts you tell them that discredits their false accusations that cause them to start the argument in the first place. There are times when they will blurt out false accusations about you in front of certain mutual associates, then afterwards pretend as if nothing they said or did ever happened. Also, you notice your mate seems to change their attitude towards you in a derogatory way depending on which mutual associate is nearby at the time, but then changes back into their loving self with you behind closed doors. Sometimes, it even seems like your mate is mimicking this same mutual associate identically in dialog, body language, and personality…

Oddly enough, you began to question the change in personality with your mate whenever certain mutual associates are present. As usual, your mate becomes highly irritated with the fact that you would dare to question them. You explain to them why you are questioning them, in which they reply with answers that has nothing to do with your original question. Your mate seems to ramble on and on forever about nothing related to their behavior until they manage to change the direction of the discussion off of anything focused on themselves. Whenever you try to intervene in the middle of their ramblings with your original question about their behavior, they switch the focus onto your behavior instead of focusing on their own. Over time, your mate deliberately causes more and more distance between the two of you whenever you question their behavior…

Surprisingly enough, one of your mutual associates says something to you that lets you know that your mate has been trying to seduce them behind your back. Another associate informs you that your mate has been talking to others about things that you confided in your mate about that should have been kept a secret. You immediately confront your mate about this. Your mate denies all accusations to the extreme. They try to make this mutual associates look like a liar. Your mate tells you they have never tried to seduce a particular mutual associate, although you have witnessed first-hand for yourself how your mate seems to be extra charming towards them when they thought you were not looking… 

When you confront your mate about telling your mutual associate what was supposed to be private between the two of you, your mate tries to make it seem like you were the one that told them when you know in fact you did not, and then proceeds to tell you about all the private information these associates shared with your mate. In the midst of your mate trying to defend themselves, they periodically slip and tell on themselves, without being aware that they are, which confirms everything that was said about your mate as being the truth. When you point this out to your mate, they try to retract whatever they have said as if they never said anything at all…”

Sociopaths are notorious for causing division among mutual associates. They love division if there is something to be gained from it. Their motive for gain could be anything from money to sex, and from drugs to someone who could be an accomplice in helping them destroy your sanity, your reputation, and even your life. For example, If you have had a riff with one of your mutual associates whom the sociopath thinks they can gain something from, they try to step in between the two of you and play both of you against one another.

They do this to cause more tension in whatever environment you and your ex-associate may share. They immediately search for your ex-associate and feed the fire by telling them fabricated stories about how badly you have been treating the sociopath when it was really the sociopath who has been treating you badly, how badly you have been talking about them behind their back when it was really the sociopath who has said all those things to you about them, and will even go as far as acting all of this out with you in front of them just to make their lies look legitimate. They will try to show your ex-associate their loyalty to them verses you in order to gain their trust by telling them either some or all of your secrets, then afterwards will go behind their back and tell you some or all of theirs. They offer to be of whatever service they can to your ex-associate in an attempt to seduce them behind your back. This is why the sociopath deliberately creates distance between you two; they need that space in order to be available whenever your ex-associate wants them to be without it seeming obvious to you. 

The sociopath wants the division between the two of you to stay there permanently, especially if there is something to be gained from this for them, and will go out of their way to make sure you both will never reconcile again. They do this by baiting your ex-associate into doing sneaky deceptive things with them behind your back, such as dating, sex, etc. In other words, the sociopath will charm them in the same manner they have charmed you, and this is why the stories you hear about the sociopath seducing another mutual associate seem so familiar. They persuade your mutual associate to engage in acts that would otherwise be unforgivable by you should you ever find out about them. It also guarantees the sociopath will have a “weapon” to use against you whenever they want to emotionally hurt you, get you to bend to their wishes, or when they want that adrenaline rush of power from emotionally blackmailing you.

Beware if you are the one on the other end of this equation: if you are the ex-associate. Do not underestimate the level of deceptiveness the sociopath will stoop to in order to get you to fall for their lies to win you over. The sociopath will play on your anger, hate, jealousy, or whatever emotion you have towards your ex-associate. Do not under any circumstances get too close to the sociopath; they will use any instances of interaction with you as blackmail later on. Just the same as your ex-associate was deceived into believing the sociopath’s lies, so will you be. You are no exception.

Remember: if it seems too good to be true, chances are it probably is…

(to be continued…)

© 2013 Learus Ohnine