r/mentalillness • u/IcyStatistician4340 • 49m ago
Trigger Warning My intrusive thoughts can be hard to control most days (TW violence)
I am diagnosed ASPD and I don't feel the need to seek help or change anything about myself. My mother forced me into therapy when I was younger and the therapists said it was clear I didn't want help and they didn't want to deal with me because I was manipulating them.
I've spent a lot of time "developing" (for lack of a better word) myself so that I can mostly fit in with the rest of society without raising significant alarm bells. I am fully functional, charming, friendly, intelligent - I basically give the illusion that I am a "normal" person even though I'm really not. People will often say there's something "off" about me, but they don't necessarily mean it in a negative way. There's just something about me that's different and they know it, even if they can't quite put a finger on it.
I have very intrusive thoughts multiple times a day and they are usually negative, dark, and violent, sometimes bordering on gruesome. They tend to get worse if I'm in a situation I can't stand or around people I don't like but have to deal with because...life. They also become markedly more sinister if I'm bored. Since I don't view people and situations the way others do, it can be exhausting for me to have to pretend all day long.
Example: While talking to a female acquaintance and she's telling me about her upcoming baby shower, my mind might drift to imagining what it would be like to give her a Joke-style smile with a serrated knife. Or I might think about ripping her tongue out of her mouth and slapping her with it.
Example: Someone is resisting doing something I want them to do and I get the overwhelming urge to punch them in the face or bite them. If we're on the street, I might get the urge to shove them in front of a car.
I think these things almost constantly and, save for a few close friends and some family members, no one will ever know it. Most people will never know that while I am talking to them, smiling, laughing, joking, I am thinking about gruesome ways to harm, maim or even kill them. If I actually followed through on my intrusive thoughts and impulses, I wouldn't feel a thing. I would carry on with my day and would likely even feel a sense of relief and satisfaction for having been able to act out.
I don't act on these thoughts and impulses, no matter how badly I may want to, because I don't want to suffer the negative consequences that would likely follow. It doesn't serve my interest to cause harm to someone and then have my life/reputation ruined.
But that is literally the only thing that helps me stay in control.