10 Typical Personality Traits of Psychopaths That Could Help You Identify Them Immediately

Have you been in a relationship with a psychopath?

You might think that if this is the case you’d understand it immediately by the red glow of hatred in your partner’s eyes. Unfortunately, psychopaths usually mask their real personality. They can be very charming and make you fall for them at first. So unless you know their typical personality traits, you might get involved in a relationship with a psychopath and not be aware of who he or she is until a very late stage of the relationship.

Here are ten traits you should look out for to immediately identify a psychopath.

1. Play the victim.

If someone is playing a victim, it could be a signal that this person is a psychopath. The psychopath can show weakness, and fragility while at the same time they seem to be so helpful and caring. You shouldn’t be misled. The psychopath would probably tell you exactly what you want to hear.

2. They would probably lack empathy.

Such people might display empathetic behavior. But they are most probably only pretending. They lack empathy. For example, if you tell a psychopath a story that upset you or seriously hurt your feelings, the psychopath won’t show emotions or could fake them. They may try to say or do something that sounds empathetic, but it seems shallow and untrue.

3. Might have mood swings.

It may be a sign of a medical condition if someone changes their mood from very happy to very sad on a daily basis. If your friend has terrible and persistent mood swings, it could be a red flag. Psychopaths have mood swings, going from extreme calm to livid. Or going from annoyed to genuinely happy. However, deep inside themselves, they experience little or no emotions.

4. Psychopaths might try to act like someone else.

These people tend to have control problems, doubts, and emotional concerns. They try to handle all these issues by inappropriately imitating someone with a good personality – a family member or an authority figure for example. This way they make others think of them as reasonable people, who are independent and reliable.

5. Seldom admit if they are wrong.

Most of the psychopaths are not mature enough to admit to the fact that they could make mistakes, could be wrong, and are not always right, They want others to see them as perfect human beings. So, many psychopaths might never believe that they are wrong, or accept their mistakes. They think that being honest when they’re wrong undermines the value of their persona in the eyes of others.

6. Psychopaths could project their problems onto others.

That is an unconscious self-defense mechanism. It is characterized by a person who is assigning their problems onto someone or something else. It’s also a way to accuse others of their negative thoughts. When this happens, it is tough for the others to understand the reality of the situation. So, if you have a relationship with a psychopath they might tell you that they are “unworthy of your love.” When in reality they have doubts within themselves whether they are worthy of any love. And due to this could try to destroy all true love that lives within you.

7. A psychopath could try keeping you away from their past.

You might never meet their family or buddies. In fact, you would rarely get to know anyone who’d been in their life before you started seeing each other. The people who have been close to a psychopath cannot give good opinions about them. So, if your partner is a psychopath, they might try to keep you away from their friends from the past.

8. They lie constantly.

Psychopaths lie for everything even when there is no reason to lie at all. On the top of that, they always have a believable story at the ready to justify their lies. So, if you have any doubts that your partner might be a psychopath, you’d better double check the information they give you.

9. A psychopath could leave you if they no longer need you.

If a psychopath decides you are no longer important to them, the relationship could be ended as if nothing between you ever existed. They could try to isolate you, make you feel insecure, stupid, upset and even worthless.

10. Psychopaths try to control others.

Narcissists and psychopaths have a lot in common, especially, when it comes to controlling others. Narcissists try to prove they are always superior to everyone else. And psychopaths are focused on having power over others. They exploit people to achieve their own goals. In general, the psychopath is far more dangerous than the narcissist because the psychopath doesn’t create real relationships. What is more, they lack remorse, even for the cruelest and most abusive actions.

Have you ever been in a relationship with a psychopath?

Please, share your experience in the comments.