COTD: sOciopath

clipped from pajamasmedia.com 60. maineman: As a psychologist with almost 30 years of experience in psychodiagnosis, my read of the interview posted by zhombre is that this is the description of a sociopath. I know narcissism is a longstanding assumption, and I don’t disagree with that, the two syndromes being closely linked. The difference seems to me to be susceptibility to stress. The sociopath is narcissistic but is likely to be less vulnerable to destabilization than a pure narcissist when the approval or adulation ceases. Take Marilyn Monroe when she lost her looks as an example of a classic narcissist. Obama seems more arrogant to me than a garden variety political narcissist like Clinton, who was clearly able to regroup and make adjustments to keep the approval coming. There’s a megalomaniacal sense about this guy that makes me think he’s going to keep pushing with the expectation that he’ll prevail — not only has he always done so, but the stimulation derives from him beating the system and prevailing.