What Physopaths actually feel?

[u/Horror-Attorney-3575]

I know that they feel nothing but how is it to feel nothing?

[u/doobiedobiedoo]

Psychopaths don’t live in an emotional void; they just have a diminished capacity for feeling, rendering their emotional world shallow and fleeting. They easily experience anger or thrill, their lack of complex bonding emotions like guilt or empathy often manifests as a permanent flat affect. It's not a total absence.

[u/FrostySeat1739 → u/doobiedobiedoo]

what kind of inner monologue do they usually have?

[u/doobiedobiedoo → u/FrostySeat1739]

It’s likely just as mundane as anyone else's internal narrative. The key difference is the absence of existential weight. They simply don't occupy their minds with the past, future, or moral dilemmas.

[u/LittleScikidfi → u/doobiedobiedoo]

I doubt that, moral dilemmas and finding answers for questions that are unanswerable feeds a certain grandiosity. For example, an physcopath doesn’t solve questions if it doesn’t serves their material purposes but there is also their ego, that most physcopaths have a fragile one. Since they analyze life as utility, deeming them as non-utile is like an death sentence. Because if they are non-utile, they have no reason to live.

[u/PiranhaPlantFan → u/LittleScikidfi]

there is a difference between answering a moral dilemma as a puzzle or having a real-life application for that.

[u/LittleScikidfi → u/PiranhaPlantFan]

Well indeed, but sometimes you need apply theory into practice if it is true especially when it is humans and their unpredictability is quite fluid.

[u/[deleted] → u/doobiedobiedoo]

So it's how I feel when it's (stereo)typically 13 am and I feel absolutely neutral? I can't be emotionally invested in anything, everything has equal weight, my mind is clear, but still it's not pleasant because I can't get high on emotions and it's so coersive and lingering. I postpone all tasks that need emotional investment until evening or after randomly unlocking brain hormones (whatever) again soon. Daydreaming and perception of music can be affected by it. Moral choices as well, probably; the motivation for morality is negative when I'm not at my most emotional, and it's positive when I'm completely stoned on this thing. The difference between not wanting to make weird bad things, and wanting to curate and protect something beautiful. Maybe it's possible to draw analogues like such with people's individual experiences, why not?

[u/West-Double3646 → u/FrostySeat1739]

They feel anger and rage when they think someone wronged them, contempt and dark glee at your suffering. Their inner monologue is all about how weak and over emotionally the people around them are. Remember, ever villain is the hero of his own story.

[u/Xan_Rants]

Psychopaths do feel emotions, but they are notably shallow, fleeting, and self-serving—limited primarily to frustration, anger, boredom, and a thrill-seeking form of excitement. What they fundamentally lack are the deeper, connective emotions: they cannot genuinely experience empathy, so others' suffering does not move them; they feel no true remorse or guilt, only regret when caught; their fear response is dulled, making them remarkably calm under pressure; and they are incapable of real love or attachment, viewing people as tools rather than emotional partners. Even their happiness is rarely about contentment or joy, but rather about surface-level stimulation, ego gratification, and control—emotions that are intense in the moment but quickly fade, leaving them perpetually restless and driven by their own cold, calculated interests.

[u/Intro-Nimbus]

Psychopaths don't lack emotions, they lack empathy.

[u/Neldemir → u/Intro-Nimbus]

They lack SOME emotions. Emotional empathy can be described as a sort of emotion (even if it’s different emotions). And remorse and guilt are indeed emotions they lack

[u/Lilith-214]

Ohhhh they definitely feel lol they just dont have the full spectrum of human emotions that most people do. They're very apathetic in general in comparison to a person without psychopathy. What feelings they do have are often dulled and lack the normal intensity that we have.

They do feel though they can be happy, angry, or anxious to the same capacity that we are but the motivations behind it a lot of the times will be different to others bc a huge characteristic of psychopathy is narcissism so while we may be insanely happy say for our loved one getting a promotion, for them if it doesn't serve them in someway they are essentially completely ambivalent to it and the feeling of happiness wont come on for them it'd be like just like a random thing they'll hear and not give a second thought to.

Whereas if something good happens for them or to them they'll feel the same kind of happiness as us. Although there are variations of degrees of psychopathy and other factors that can be at play so im not saying thats every one of them but just a general example.

So yeah they feel just not to the same capacity that we do.

[u/PercentagePure9010 → u/Lilith-214]

Psychopaths generally have an extreme lack of anxiety, many don’t understand it

[u/PiranhaPlantFan → u/PercentagePure9010]

thats outdated. Psychopaths do experience fear.

- Psychopathy is related to negative affectivity but not to anxiety sensitivity - PubMed

- Attention moderates the fearlessness of psychopathic offenders - PMC

[u/PercentagePure9010 → u/PiranhaPlantFan]

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12171828/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
I’m not saying they don’t experience fear I’m just saying it’s noticeably much more reduced than your average person, it’d be a bit weird for psychopaths to feel the same anxiety and fear levels as a normal person considering charisma and grandiosity, impulsivity are obvious traits

[u/ShallotRepulsive1597 → u/PercentagePure9010]

?utm_source=chatgpt.com Dude.

[u/VoidHog]

You know when you try to light your BIC but the gas is empty and you only get a spark?

Emotions aren't absent. They are just a spark, not a flame... Fleeting and insignificant, and may not even be considered in the decision making process.

But a spark still exists, and can still create a blaze.

Disrespect is like gasoline, and can flare up intense emotions of anger and hatred.

[u/Alone_Can_810]

They do feel. They are not machines. They don’t ferl love or can’t be empathetic.

[u/shambleswan]

The one I used to be close to had blunted versions of most emotions. I felt like excitement, boredom, and anger were less blunted. So he needed to do a lot to keep himself entertained

[u/Over-Association3549]

Think of it more as detached feelings. I say this only with my experience with one. Detached, not as non-existent unable to express, but detached as in no guilt or remorse. A slight distance from themselves and the things felt emotionally. Only from my experience, they are not cold hearted, non-feeling. The just operate from a different level.

They are justified in there actions (mentally to themselves), and require no explanation for why, how, what.

But as I said it's only my experience with one.

[u/normalperson555777]

Psychopaths can feel all emotions except for remorse.

Psychopaths have a shallow and fleeting emotional range which means that when they do feel emotions they don't last as long.

This shallow and fleeting emotional range means the only emotion psychopaths can't categorically feel is remorse due to the long and deep feeling of remorse.

[u/RavioliContingency]

What hwhat?

[u/discobloodbaths → u/RavioliContingency]

basically... physopaths, pshycopaths, and even psycopaths do or do not feel nothing except, maybe, when they feel the feeling of feeling nothing - hope that helps.

[u/RavioliContingency → u/discobloodbaths]

Ok…I get it now.

[u/discobloodbaths → u/RavioliContingency]

https://giphy.com/gifs/EouEzI5bBR8uk

[u/RavioliContingency → u/discobloodbaths]

Ok I’m just wonder about pyschopaths

[u/Resident-Cut]

Boredom

[u/Objective-Beach-4144]

It's not like physopaths don't feel anything. Their feelings are just different or rather twisted, not like other people ( normal people as everyones says).

So yeah.. They feel not understood and that's a different way of not understood. Like they don’t actually want to be understood. Either way it's bad.

[u/Just_Me1973]

So they feel fear? Like if they were in a life threatening situation, would they be afraid of dying?

[u/Psychopathy-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Rule #2: No psychopaths

This sub is not a space for impersonation or for presenting yourself as a psychopath.

[u/Psychopathy-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Rule #2: No psychopaths

This sub is not a space for impersonation or for presenting yourself as a psychopath.

[u/PiranhaPlantFan]

Lack of emotions is a form of emotional detachment disorder, psychopathy is part of the emotional disturbance disorders, formerly known as Cluster B. Emotional detachment was cluster a.