Sociophobia With A Pinch Of Sociopathy

OMG! This is the wildest personality trait one could ever imagine. In simple terms, sociophobia coupled with sociopathy is a condition where social gatherings initially made you nervous and now you aggressively hate them! It is the explosive combination of social anxiety seasoned with anti-socialism.

If you need a formal definition of both, here it is.

Sociophobia-

Also called Social Anxiety Disorder, social phobia is characterized by fear and nervousness in social situations.

Sociopathy-

Also called Antisocial Personality Disorder, sociopathy is characterized by the disregard for and violation of social rights of others, accompanied by impulsive and aggressive behavior. The classic 'I don't care' attitude.

In a country like ours(India), mental health is not given as much importance as it deserves. Where 'depression' can be considered a 'luxury', 'sociophobia' is misinterpreted as 'egocentricity' or excessive 'self-regard'. When a sociophobe is consistently absent for parties or get-togethers, people eventually tag him as self-centered or inconsiderate and quit inviting him at all. But they don't know that this person wanted to be present; the fear of being negatively judged by peers, embarrassing himself in any possible way and attracting any sort of attention stresses him out. A shade of anti-socialism to his character would make him care less about the party, proving those people right.

While sociopaths are known to lie, be manipulative, cold-hearted, and reckless; the sociophobes show escapist behavior, trying to avoid social interactions, staying homebound or isolated, and setting high standards for their performance in any activity. The blend of these two traits is someone who wouldn't receive your phone call for no apparent reason and not feel apologetic about it!!

When a stranger, familiar to my friends simply asked me my name, it stressed me out. I couldn't think of what to say; whether to say anything or not so I impulsively replied, "I don't know you!". Several shocked eyes gazed at my 'rudeness'.

Stammering, rapid heartbeats and inability to make eye contact are common symptoms of sociophobia. A simple scenario where an anxious student asks a doubt in class, which he had rehearsed at least 10 times in his mind; a mere 10% of him is paying attention to the answer while the rest of him is bothered about his racing heart!

When a sociophobe is constantly nagged, asking him 'Are you okay?', 'Why don't you talk?', 'Oh! I thought he is mute!', he begins to refrain and abhor social gatherings. He is just concerned with his ambitions and purposes, thereby disregarding the emotions of others. That is the sociopath in him. The 'he's so shy' changes to 'he's so mean' pretty quickly!

The one who wouldn't socialize, but would make sure his purpose is served; impulsively audacious but wouldn't tell anyone about it; up to aggressively compete but shy to be awarded before thousands of people; that is a hard-hitting 'sociophobe with a pinch of sociopathy'!!

Ever had your innocent friend get manipulated by a sociopath? Read on..

"Innocent or Foolish?" : https://wrytin.com/juhiwani/innocent-or-foolish-jxiqpnvz