Feel help: Is it possible for someone to have the incapacity to feel guilt? - Help.com

I’ve never heard of anything like that before. It’s possible, I suppose, but why the comment on religion? I know alot about (roughly) 25 religions, not including smaller sects and cults, and none of them support that in any way.

addicts tend to deomonstrate classic sociopathic behaviors as well, as long as they keep using.

You know, I have a friend which I’ve only known for a short time that shows lots of signs associated with psychopathy. I won’t go into the details, but on a random test a friend of mine did on a lot of people, she extraordinarily gave an answer (at such a speed) that you’re not supposed to answer if you don’t look have a purely utilitarian view on people. In addition, the way she plays board games, which she takes seriously and cares deeply about winning, but does a lot subtle stuff to draw away attention from her winning. She’s is also been exceptionally clever at making people feel guilty in rather harmless situations.

The point is, she shows tons of signs of sociopathic tendencies, though nothing that really harms anyone else, and she is such an ANGEL in so many ways. She’s sort of a manipulative angel, unable to give a deeper explaining.

So is this an example of somebody that thinks in some of the same ways as psychopaths, only that she isn’t causing any apparent harm? That she simply is a non-impulsive version of a psychopath?

I’m merely speculating here, and maybe it’s wrong of me to even think this about her. It was just that a lot happened that made me wonder. :-S

Gee, now I just feel all awkward, maybe I’m so totally wrong.

Perhaps my point was, somewhat related to the original post. Are there people who have lot of the same problems as sociopaths, only that they’re able to control their selves? That they’re sort of good people even lacking something as pivotally human as compassion?

People with conduct disorder very often have a hard time feeling guilty. Many people have conduct disorder live seemingly normal lives. There are people who are so self involved and narcassitic or with very low self-esteem they only care about them selves.

There is certainly a valid phenomena of inability to experience guilt due to cerebral defect. I don’t know of any religion that teaches about INABILITY to experience guilt. However, several teach that it is wise to go beyond dualistic distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil.

Question: “How is it possible to leave the three realms?” The master answered: “To be without a view either of good or evil is to leave the three realms.
-Zen Teaching of Huang Po (Buddhism)

“What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man’s job?
If you don’t understand this, you will get lost,
however intelligent you are.
It is the great secret.”

“If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.”

“Stop thinking, and end your problems.
What difference between yes and no?
What difference between success and failure?
Must you value what others value,
avoid what others avoid?
How ridiculous!”

“The Tao doesn’t take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.”

“When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.”
-Tao Te Ching (Taoism)

“Righteousness and unrighteousness, pleasure and pain are purely of the mind and are no concern of yours. You are neither the doer nor the reaper of the consequences, so you are always free.”

“Abandon desire, the enemy, along with gain, itself so full of loss, and the good deeds which are the cause of the other two — practice indifference to everything.”
-Ashtavakra Gita (Hinduism)

First, I’ll say that I started to respond to this post much earlier (i.e. yesterday) but lost all due to a power outage. I’ll have to shorten my reply.

Yes. It is quite possible to for someone to have the incapacity to feel guilt. We’re all wired differently, so many people feel more or less guilt than others. I myself was involved in a car accident in 1972 in which someone in the other car was killed. It went to trial and I was found to be not at fault. I don’t think I was at fault. The police did not think I was at fault. But not a week goes by, even now, w/o me asking myself “wasn’t there some way you could have avoided that oncoming car?” I still answer “I don’t see how I could have.” There is still guilt there and I don’t know why.

The term generally used for someone with no conscience is:

–
Psychopathy (pronounced /ˈsaɪkoʊˌpæθi/ in General American) is a term derived from the Greek psyche (soul) and pathos (suffering), and was once used to denote any form of mental illness. These days, psychopathy is defined in psychiatry as a condition characterised by lack of empathy or conscience,…
–
Source: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary…

I believe that George W. Bush is psychopathic. An extremely dangerous and unstable man. He shows _no_ remorse for the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq, the 10s or 100s of thousands of deaths he has caused and will cause. And he dismisses the will of the American people. BTW, he will not leave office voluntarily in 2009. You heard from me first.

Also, Google on “Serial Killers”. There is one very good web site out there http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_ki…. Maybe the most fascinating character described there is Vlad The Impaler also known as Dracula (son of the Dragon) and who was Bram Stoker’s model for the character Dracula in his novel “Dracula”. Vlad was not really as described in Stoker’s novel…he was probably worse. Very interesting read. But, he was probably not psychopathic.

Consider other serial killers or perpetrators of other serial crimes. The one thing most have in common is that they can kill, apparently without remorse or guilt, and then go back home and live a perfectly normal life. In Buffalo, NY, the “Bike Path Killer” now known to be Altemio Sanchez, killed and/or raped women for several years, then stopped for several years, then resumed until caught. No one suspected him. He was a family man, liked and respected in the community. I know this is pretty ugly stuff so I won’t describe it further. I’ll say that I can’t understand how someone could do what he did, let alone live a “normal” life. You can Google this stuff up if interested.

On a lesser level, people steal or lie w/o feeling any guilt. And some people feel guilt when they should not…they believe they are the cause of something that is simply not their fault.

I haven’t a clue about the religion thing but there are some really cold hearted people in this world that have no remorse/guilt for anything that they have done to any living thing in this world. Perfect example Jeffery Dahmer!