Posted by:
lillium
(
)
Date: June 05, 2012 01:01PM
Your first paragraph pretty much sums up some of the things that Keith Ablow, a forensic psychiatrist, says creates the perfect storm for a sociopath to develop.
I just started reading Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson, and tho he doesn't mention religion specifically, the experiences he does spell out seem to correlate pretty much with how I was treated in Mormonism. Forced to conform to beliefs and ideas that I didn't start out believing. Feeling like I had to agree with the party line or else I'm bad. Harshly criticized and corrected if I dared have a thought of my own. Knowing my mother wouldn't hesitate to toss me to the curb if I did, said, or as much as thought anything contrary to her church's position. Knowing that the church would excommunicate or disfellowship me for the same.
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"There are myriad and subtle ways a mother can tell her son that he must cease to exist as a person, that his true self must essentially disapear.
"When she demands that he eat foods he dislikes, he learns that his tastes are beside the point. He will swallow what he is fed, period. He will pretend not to mind. And, once he turns himself completely inside out psychologically, he will actually enjoy it.
"When she forces him to nap when he would prefer to play or read, he learns his internal clock is broken, and that he must look to others to know when he is tired.
"When she lets him cry himself to sleep rather than comforting him, he learns that his loneliness and protests and sadness and tears are to no avail--ignored, useless, as thought not even real. And he will soon stop feeling those feelings ane be silent at bedtime, already an expert at putting his desperation and anger to sleep.
"When she stops talking to him for hours or days when he disappoints her, he cannot miss the terrifying symbol that she has the capacity to cut him out of her life, and to effectively end his. And he will strive--swear a blood oath, if necessary--to never let her down.
"If he ever shows her how angry he is becoming, she might tell him he has no right to feel that way and should "leave her house" if he isn't happy with the way she runs it. And, terrified at being cast out to fend forhimself, he will disguise his curling lip or swallow his harsh words or learn to ignore the clenching of his jaw and bury his rage deep inside him.
"When he laughs at something, she can shake her head quizzically, as though there is nothing funny at all, and he will learn to not trust his sense of humor, to resist smiling or laughing at things that amuse him. He will instead check the faces of others to know precisely when they are beginning to smile, so he can mimic their expressions, and laugh when they laugh.
"When she tells him enough times that he "makes no sense," he will start to believe her and will be loath to express any opinions, instead soliciting the ideas of others, and restating them as his own.
"He will slowly kill himself off, and become a person imitating a person, a hunter-gatherer of ideas that will receive the best reception, that will get him some of what he needs from a world that he has learned is unfeeling and unpredictable and cruel and potentially lethal.
"He will start down the road to sociopathy."
(Skipped a few paragraphs)
"Another way a mother can alter reality and drain the life force from her child is to objectify him. Jackie Peterson called Scott Golden Boy, a clear sign that she expected him to be perfect for her, with no rough edges. Shiny.
"A child's response to parents who respond so negatively to his individuality and humanity will be to withdraw, to playact at being perfect, to hide his own instincts and fears and desires and dreams and likes and dislikes behind fortresslike walls. In order to gain their "love," avoid rejection, and stay safe from their potential rage, he will literally kill himself emotionally."
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