We are back in part two on antisocial personality disorder. Last week we went through the eight criteria (here) and established the main markers for this disorder. Extreme self-centeredness, lack of empathy, highly impulsive, and they are ruled by chronic feelings of boredom and contempt. For whatever reason they cannot feel happiness or fear on a very deep level. But they more than make up for it with anger and frustration – which they do feel on a deep level. So, now we are moving into the comorbid antisocial because the rarest personality disorder is one who only has one disorder. So, hold on to your seats because we have five types.
Too busy to read the rest of the article? Listen to it on my podcast (here) available on all listening platforms. Or my YouTube channel if you want to see the woman behind this site (here) speaking on this topic. This series on the Cluster B disorders are written transcripts from my new podcast and YouTube channel. Having never written articles on these particular topics, it seems appropriate to maximize platforms in my quest to raise real awareness.
The following terms mentioned in this article are in Trauma Glossary 1:
- Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Cluster B Personality Disorders
- Histrionic Personality Disorder
- Love Bombing
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- Sociopath
1) ASPD + SPD + APD = Nomadic Antisocial
Remember how I said it’s funny how each personality disorder in the cluster B continuum has that one that appears to be the nice one? The covert narcissist, the appeasing histrionic, and the quiet borderline all appear to be the “nice” versions until you date or cohabit with them – and then you’ll see it. Well, this is the one that appears to be the “nice” sociopath. So, who is the nomadic antisocial and what is their comorbidity? Well this one can have up to two comorbidities: schizoid personality disorder, which is part of the cluster A group and avoidant personality disorder, which is part of the cluster C group.
At a glance we can already see how the nomadic, due to having schizoid and avoidant or one or the other – it does not have to have both blended with them – how they appear to be the nice antisocial. Because I’ve often referred to both schizoid and avoidant as the innocent ones of the personality disorders.
What is SPD? (Schizoid Personality Disorder)
Schizoids are part of the cluster A group that’s known as odd and eccentric. Not bad, not sad, not fear based, just odd and eccentric. What is their eccentricity? Well, schizoid is not interested in forming any close relationships with anyone. In fact they have an excessive need for – if you could call it that – to be left alone. That’s their excessive need from others. They can be cold, detached, and unemotional. When we think of “cold” we think of a cold-blooded person but that isn’t it. The schizoid doesn’t have any deep emotional range at all, except they are vulnerable to depression, a little known fact there.
They’re very solitary creatures and the best way to describe schizoid is it’s all thinking, no feeling. It also isn’t uncommon for them to be part of the autism spectrum and conversely they can also be confused with being in the autism spectrum. Also while schizoid is often a precursor to schizophrenia, that is not always the case.
What is APD? (Avoidant Personality Disorder)
Avoidant personality disorder is part of the cluster C group, which is known as the sad ones because they are fear based disorders. and where avoidants are concerned, they avoid being around people. But it comes from an extreme fear of being mocked, ridiculed, criticized, or people thinking they’re stupid. They have no self-esteem or confidence whatsoever. This is the very disorder – avoidant personality disorder – that happens to be the most common self-diagnosis in my complex-PTSD community. And I do stress self-diagnosis. It’s very easy for those with complex-PTSD to identify with the criteria for avoidant personality disorder just because we have the vicious inner critic, the low self-esteem, low confidence, and just being hyper-vigilant of embarrassing ourselves. But of course, once we learn what it means to have complex-PTSD, it becomes a game changer.
Put it all together for the Nomadic Antisocial
When the nomadic antisocial is comorbid with one or both of the personality disorders who are intentionally avoiding society, you’re going to see the nomadic antisocial as existing on the fringes or the margins of society. Because this type of antisocial feels like they don’t belong in society and that society doesn’t want them either. So, you’re going to find them most commonly in the homeless population, the gypsy community, the wonderers, the drifters, the scavengers for whatever resources they come across – as opposed to participating in society. They have this sense of being from nowhere and belonging nowhere. So, there’s going to be the sense of alienation from themselves and others with no real sense of identity.
If they’re comorbid with schizoid for example, you might detect the vacancy in them. If they’re comorbid with avoidant you might detect the fearfulness in them, where they are able to feel fear more than the other antisocials. But they can also turn on you, especially if there’s substance abuse involved. Then it becomes even more likely that they will act out impulsively and commit brutal acts on anyone that they feel is weaker. So yes, they can appear to be the most harmless but don’t ever forget the antisocial is still in there.
2) ASPD + PPD = Malevolent Antisocial
Now we’re moving to the opposite extreme, the most dangerous of all the comorbid antisocials – statistically speaking, of course. You’ve heard of paranoid schizophrenic? Of course you have because it’s practically become a cliche. Well have you ever heard of the paranoid sociopath? That’s what the malevolent antisocial in fact is.
What is PPD? (Paranoid Personality Disorder)
Paranoid personality disorder is another part of that cluster A group, the odd and eccentric. But unlike the schizoid, no one would ever call paranoid an innocent one. Paranoid personality disorder is constantly on guard, suspecting that others are trying to mistreat, deceive, or take advantage of them and everything revolves around this belief. When paranoid personality disorder blends with antisocial, you get one who is constantly anticipating betrayal and punishment.
The Paranoid Sociopath
How dangerous can a paranoid sociopath be? Well let me put it to you this way. If you think the malignant narcissist is a dangerous person, well the malevolent antisocial can make the malignant narcissist look as innocent as a kitten by comparison. It’s also interesting to note that – statistically speaking – the malevolent antisocial is most commonly found in the serial killers. Yes, I am not playing with you when I say this is the most dangerous. They tend to see acts of kindness as either a sign of weakness or a mask of deception. Because like I said, they’ve got the paranoid personality disorder intermingled with them.
So, when they’re always on guard for betrayals and punishments, it makes them extremely ruthless and even more vindictive than the malignant narcissist. Very sadistic and cold-blooded in their behavior, targeting those they perceive weaker than them. And don’t forget what I said about antisocial personality disorder. They are not able to feel happiness or fear on a deep level. And so, they take a sadistic pleasure out of other people’s fear – finding it entertaining even. We’ve heard this from the serial killer research, how they get off on their victims’ pain and fear.
So far we’ve moved from the most seemingly harmless one to the most – statistically speaking – dangerous one. So, what is there in between? Well, wait for it, because we are officially moving into the cluster B plus cluster B territory.
3) ASPD + PAPD = Covetous Antisocial
Next up, the covetous antisocial. What is its comorbidity? Passive-aggressive personality disorder. So, what do you think is going happen when the walking, talking complaint’s department of passive-aggressive blends with the sociopath? You get the kind of sociopath that believes the whole world throws them something. “Oh, life has been so unfair!” to the passive-aggressive sociopath. This is the most jealous of all the antisocials. And of course they’re greedy, otherwise they wouldn’t have the name covetous. They want payback for all the injustices that fate has thrown at them.
The covetous antisocial is highly materialistic. Their area of revenge – if you will – is materials. Taking control of other people’s property. Some will be petty thieves. Others could become the manipulative entrepreneur who is exploiting others. The covetous antisocial also tends to be the least short-sighted. In fact, they are quite calculating. Those who go beyond the intelligence of the petty thief will tend to play a chess game while everyone else is playing checkers. Have you ever heard that analogy of chess versus checkers? Well, this one will tend to think more in chess moves.
“Never Enough” (Materialism) Thinking in the Covetous Antisocial
The covetous antisocial also tends to have showy things. If they’ve become successful, they’re looking to have the most flashy cars or the most flashy jewelry they can afford, and even huge ridiculous homes. It’s more about showing off and the joke is on the covetous antisocial at the end of the day. Because despite the amount of acquisition the covetous antisocial acquires, they never feel full. They’re always going to feel like they don’t have enough. They’re going to constantly have this vague idea of a different life they “should” be having but they’re not having it. So, they’re going to be caught up in lots and lots of greed. And it comes from this sense of “The world owes me something and everyone else has had it better than me.”
Jeffrey Epstein and P. Diddy as examples of the covetous antisocial
Both P. Diddy and Jeffrey Epstein are great examples of the covetous antisocial. Notice both were extremely extravagant with their wealth – all the “flash” that they had. Epstein buying on island for all of his illicit deeds to trap and control his victims and also impress high-ticket visitors to his island. P. Diddy created his own record label and then what did he do? He would use it as a means of controlling others and he got off on his power to make or break careers. He was playing chess. And let’s not forget the sexual exploitation that occurred at his parties and used as blackmail.
Now I know what you might be thinking. “Why did you say the malevolent is the most dangerous and then use Epstein and Diddy as examples of the covetous? They were clearly dangerous people.” Well, bear in mind that statistically speaking, not all covetous antisocials will achieve the level of wealth and power that Epstein and Diddy acquired. And while not all covetous antisocials are going to be sexually exploitive, give a covetous antisocial enough power like Epstein and Diddy had, and they absolutely will.
4) ASPD + HPD = Risk-Taking Antisocial
What is the risk-taking antisocial’s comorbidity? Well first, I have to give you a little headache warning, especially if you have been following this whole series exploring the cluster B continuum. The risk-taking antisocial’s comorbidity is histrionic personality disorder. I know what you’re thinking. “Now we covered this weeks back on the comorbid histrionic. It’s the disingenuous histrionic (here) who is comorbid with antisocial. Why are we now hearing about this risk-taking antisocial? Well wait for it. First let’s examine the research that has thus far been made. The risk-taking antisocial does have traits in common with the disingenuous histrionic.
The Crowd Pleasing Dare Devil
The risk-taking antisocial is taking the need to be the center of attention – because that’s what histrionics want – and performing these death defying acts. Most of us, when we want stimulation or excitement, we might go ride a roller coaster because it’s – for the most part – a controlled setting of death defying drops, turns, and loop-de-loops. But with the risk-taking antisocial, it’s death defying. They are looking for attention. They want people to be amazed and applaud them and think that they’re so brave. And honestly, because antisocial can’t feel happiness or fear on a deep level, they are sincerely out there taking these risks without fear and also feeding off the crowd’s attention. They’re not thinking about consequences or losing their life. Sometimes they will also take others with them in these death defying acts, which is definitely morally wrong.
Arguing the case for HPD + ASPD as one in the same with Disingenuous
When we compare the risk-taking antisocial to the disingenuous histrionic, both have histrionic and both have antisocial. But the disingenuous histrionic looks more antisocial than the risk-taking antisocial. The disingenuous is an excitement and stimulation junkie, also has reckless behaviors and is highly impulsive. The superficiality is enhanced in the disingenuous histrionic. They are more irresponsible with regards to work and family and they are not above lying and deceit. But if you ask me, I think that we can take the risk-taking antisocial and the disingenuous histrionic and simply combine what we know about both types into a more well-rounded understanding of what’s going on when histrionic and antisocial blend. Tell me what you think.
5) ASPD + NPD = Reputation Defending Antisocial
Last one, the reputation defending antisocial. And just like the risk-taking antisocial, this one also comes with a headache warning. Because what is its comorbidity? It is narcissistic personality disorder. And I know, weeks back (here) we covered the comorbid narcissist and when antisocial blends with narcissistic personality disorder, we tend to know it as the unprincipled or malignant narcissist. Antisocial enhances the entitlement of narcissistic personality disorder and the narcissist becomes vindictive, domineering, and controlling. So now, what is it we know about the reputation defending antisocial? Well, what lies in their core is an excessive need for respect.
How dangerous is the reputation defending antisocial?
What is it that’s common in the cluster Bs? It’s the excessive need that’s never going to be filled because it’s like filling a cup that has a hole in the bottom. So, the reputation defending one is constantly on guard. They tend to exude extreme toughness and are always on guard against anyone that might possibly belittle them – real or imagined. Now remember cluster Bs have an overreaction to conflict. So with that said, it’s all in their perception. Understand this because I don’t believe in victim blaming. It’s helping you make sense out of people who really don’t make any sense. They’re going to be easily triggered by anyone who makes them feel insignificant or being dismissive of them, or if they feel like someone is taking them lightly. Any of those things, you’re going to see the reputation defending antisocial just roar.
They are highly impulsive and aggressive and they tend to be very violent in their aggression. They have this need to prove their dominance and alpha status as well. Many of them are involved in gangs , mob or the mafia. Good Lord, if we started exploring the mafia, that’s like a cesspit of antisocial personality disorder.
Tommy DeVito from Goodfellas as the reputation defending antisocial
I’m going to point something out to you. A great example of the reputation defending antisocial is the 1991 movie classic, Goodfellas. It was Tommy DeVito, played by Joe Pesci – excellent textbook example of the reputation defending antisocial. When we meet him for the first time, they’re all at a club and Henry Hill, played by Ray Liota tells Tommy “You’re a funny guy”. Tommy goes, “What’s so funny about me? I’m a clown? I’m here to amuse you? What the f— is so funny about me?” Everyone is on guard, everyone is on pins and needles – and that’s really saying something, considering this is a full table of mobster guys.
All of a sudden, it was just one big joke. Tommy says, “Hey I almost had him. Ha ha ha ha!” Most of us wouldn’t take an aggressive joke so far as he did in that scene. Sure everybody laughed it off “ha ha ha” and Henry laughed the hardest about it. But what was Tommy really doing? Tommy was establishing dominance.
You see it play out over and over again in the movie, how trigger-happy he was, how he really did have something to prove all the time. How prone to violence he was, and even compared to all the other mob guys combined, he seemed to be the most unhinged and the most unstable of all of them.
Tommy DeVito’s Demise
Another example is what led to his undoing. A guy walks into Henry’s restaurant right before it closes and Tommy and Jimmy (Jimmy played by Robert DeNiro) are there and unbeknownst to them at the time is that this man had just been made by the mafia. Being made is mafia slang for “He’s untouchable. You touch him and things aren’t going to end well for you.” Well, this guy walks in and he makes a comment to Tommy and goes “Hey I remember you back in the day when you used to shine shoes.” You could tell Tommy got extremely triggered.
Tommy replies, “I don’t do that anymore OK? We don’t bring it up.” Well the guy brings it up again because Tommy’s attitude is so belligerent and aggressive. So finally, the guy’s fed up with Tommy and goes, “Go shine some shoes!” Well, Tommy decides to beat the guy into a bloody pulp and get his friends, Henry and Jimmy, to help him load the guy into his trunk. That of course is what leads to his demise at the end. Because you just don’t touch made man in the mafia and live to tell.
Tommy DeVito as the Malignant Narcissist
Those are just the highlights of Tommy DeVito as the reputation defender. You also see his malignant narcissist side come out with his girlfriends. Early on, the racist comment he made to one girlfriend just because she spoke highly of Nat King Cole. Then towards the end when he ordered another girlfriend to not look at or speak to any man at the gathering. And then of course, there was his mother – the only person he seemed to have genuine love for. And yet, there was a scene in that movie where he showed a very callous attitude towards his mother’s latest painting when she was trying to show what she had created. You could see her pride just dwindle away because of Tommy’s attitude.
Addressing the Patterns & Missing Information
So, do I believe the reputation defending and malignant are one and the same? They most certainly can be. I don’t believe that all malignant narcissists are going to show themselves outwardly in the way that Joe Pesci’s character, Tommy did in the movie Goodfellas. By the way, Goodfellas was based on the book written by Henry Hill [see retraction at the end]. It was called Wise Guy, and that was a true story. So yes, Tommy DeVito actually did exist. He’s a real life case study of the reputation defending antisocial and the malignant narcissist.
There’s a couple of things I’d like to point out to you that as we have been exploring the different types of antisocial, the pattern that has consistently existed with each one – as far as the research is concerned. What we have gotten from each one is a tiny little nugget of what lies in the core of each type of antisocial that is driving all of this outer behavior that we see. In other words, what they look like to the outside world.
We see this from the nomadic to the malevolent, covetous, risk-taking, and now reputation defending. This is where they say, “Hold my beer, here’s my antisocial” because it’s how the outer world is going to see the sociopathic traits. What is the missing information in each known type? There is no information on who they are in interpersonal relationships, and that’s key. So now with that said, do these types show themselves so obviously as what has been covered today? No, because antisocial is also fully capable of hiding in plain sight.
Exploring the Reputation Defending Antisocial’s Other Motive for Murder
There’s a reason I saved the reputation defending antisocial and malignant narcissist for last. True crime buffs, I am calling on you to help me out. Last week when I introduced the criteria for antisocial, I talked about life insurance being a big motive for, shall we say headline newsmakers who murder their spouses. Now let’s consider another motive that is also common. Adultery!
First, I want to establish this. Am I saying that only the cluster Bs will cheat? No. What I am saying is not all cheaters are going to resort to also committing murder on the very spouse they’re cheating on – all because why? Well, they don’t want to face the stigma of having that scarlet letter A on their chest. Isn’t that another form of reputation defending? I mean, let’s break it down now. Not only did they cheat on their spouse, but now their reputation is more important than the human life that they have cheated on. That, my friends is going extreme.
Scott Peterson as a Case Study
I want to offer a case study for you guys. There’s a new Netflix documentary I had the pleasure of watching a couple weeks ago. Look for Laci Peterson. Look that up on Netflix and it breaks down what Scott Peterson did. Twenty years ago, Laci Peterson made headline news. She was eight months pregnant and she went missing over the holidays. Scott Peterson – her cheating husband – is now in prison for the double murder of her and the unborn baby. Scott Peterson was living a double life and no one saw the red flags, including his victim Laci, or did they? Look for certain identifiers because you wouldn’t have thought Scott Peterson would be a narcissist or antisocial. But check this out, because I’ve got a list for you.
The Subtle Warning Signs in the Beginning
One of Laci’s friends described the courtship between Scott and Laci. He was very extravagant, over the top showering her with gifts, and even took her on this exotic trip. And then the friend says, “Well now we know that it’s called love bombing, but we didn’t have a word for it then.” Other red flags were very subtle because even Laci’s mother said that Scott was good to her until he wasn’t. There was something a little suspicious to Laci’s mom in the beginning. She said that when Laci was dating him, she remembered having doubts in her head. She wondered if Scott was “full of it because he’s so young. How could he have accomplished as much as he claimed he did?” But the mother let it go because she saw how happy her daughter was with him.
He starts living a double life and his ASPD starts to show
Months before Laci comes up missing, Scott starts having an affair with a woman miles from home. This woman had no idea Scott was married. He was feeding her lies like 1) he couldn’t see her all the time because he “travels a lot” and then 2) he told her he was married but he “lost his wife last year”. That last lie he told was mere weeks before Laci’s disappearance. This is the short sightedness clue number one that we see in antisocial. Clearly he was not thinking of how suspicious it would look if he’s talking about a dead wife mere weeks before it becomes true.
Antisocial personality disorders -with the exception of the covetous – simply don’t think things all the way through. They actually believe things are going to blow over and nobody is going to really care about the victim. And so, you see all these constant red flags going on with Scott Peterson from the moment he starts cheating on Laci.
Then the moment he’s making headline news, his girlfriend sees it and she’s like, “Wow OK, so he was married the whole time. Oh my God!” So, she calls the police and tells them she had been seeing Scott for a few months and then willingly allows the police to put a tap on her phone. Scott actually thinks his girlfriend is going to live under a rock the whole time both he and his wife are on the news. So, he starts calling his girlfriend who has now turned into a mole for the police and saying, “Oh, I got this huge trip I have to go on and I can’t see you until after New Year’s.”
They Can Hide in Plain Sight
I will leave the other identifiers for you to discover. Watch it and tell me what you noticed. I only wanted to bring up the Scott Peterson case because it’s an example of red flag people who can hide in plain sight. Even his wife Laci didn’t see it coming and that’s scary. It’s another form of the reputation defending element combined with ASPD’s extreme short-sightedness. Because there are those out there who live these double lives like Scott was and we would have never known they were hiding in plain sight the whole time.
It’s just a little food for thought when we’re thinking of antisocial on a scale. Not all of them are going to show extreme outer behaviors as we’ve seen in Jeffrey Epstein, P. Diddy, serial killers, or the late Tommy DeVito. Stay vigilant without being hyper-vigilant because while there are dangerous people out there, there are also good and safe people as well. Educate yourself on the cluster B continuum and trust your intuition.
(Retraction) This is Jaena Speaking to My Readers
When I used Tommy Devito as an example of the reputation defending antisocial, I made a few minor errors as per the true story behind the film. First, if you listen to my podcast or YouTube, I said that Goodfellas was a 1991 movie. It actually came out in 1990. Second, I said that the book Wise Guy was the published true story that inspired the movie. That was correct. However, I was wrong about who wrote it. Wise Guy was written by Nicholas Pileggi, who interviewed Henry Hill, and that was how we got his perspective as the main character of the book and movie. Also, while “Tommy Devito” did exist, Hollywood decided to change his real name for the film. Tommy DeVito’s real name was Thomas DeSimone.
My apologies for not checking these facts prior to recording my podcast and filming for YouTube. However, I would like to offer you a little treat. Go check out the information on Thomas DeSimone on Wikipedia. (Here) Not only did the real person do everything we saw in the film, but he was even more dangerous than what we saw in the movie Goodfellas!