According to statistics, there are about 50 million sociopaths in the world today. In America, it is estimated that about 12 million is most likely to show sociopathic behavior. The numbers are quite staggering and it’s quite hard to know who is who because these people blend pretty well in society.

Sociopathy means behaving in a manner without conscience. A sociopath does not feel any guilt when they do something socially and morally unacceptable. The French psychiatrist Philippe Pinel called sociopathy as madness without confusion of mind. This is because these people are hard to diagnose as mentally ill despite their crazy actions. Most experts agree that the cause for this behavior happens when the person is still young. A child who was abysed in any way, neglected, deprived and wasn't given the chance to socialize with other children are likely to become sociopaths in the future. It becomes even more apparent when it is coupled with bad parenting and increased divorce rates.

These people are very hard to spot among us because how of well they can blend in even for the keen observant would have a hard time. They are like great actors; they can play with any emotion and draw anyone in with their charms. These people use deceitful ways to gain favor and will do anything regardless of the consequences as long as they can achieve what they wanted. They are also poor empathizers and would resort to physical force when they don’t get what they wanted. They are all about the control.

There is a societal stigma about sociopaths. When someone here this word what comes to mind are criminals although most can be considered as such, these people are very good in disguising themselves and pretend to be someone else. What makes the stigma worse is that people are unaware that sociopaths can be anyone in the street and this can make people rather paranoid about meeting new people. However, sociopaths are capable of having a relationship. The only problem is that they want to be in control of the other person making the relationship hard to continue for most people.

The internet has plenty of information about sociopathy and how it affects society. Some sites offer questionnaires that would assess if you are at risk in developing such a behavior. Assessment can also be done with a professional psychiatrist and once diagnosed, the main treatment is usually behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy entails changing certain unacceptable behaviors and not repeating them. But sociopaths are not receptive to change so proper care must be taken. Some doctors would also prescribe medications to control their negative emotions.

Sociopaths are everywhere. We live with them every day and we don’t even know that they are there. But this phenomenon is can be easily prevented by instilling to children proper discipline and nurturing them to be good citizens. It’s all about nurturing the present for a favorable future.