Have you ever met someone who seems like a nice person on the surface, but certain signs lead you to believe that there’s something more sinister under the hood?
They might be a psychopath.
Understanding whether someone is covertly covering up their psychopathic traits can be difficult to unveil, which is why Dr Jaleel Mohammed’s recent video describing five common personality traits of a psychopath has gone viral.
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There's already a riddle which can suggest you're a psychopath if you give the right answer, and one key way you can tell someone might be a psychopath just by looking at them.
Now Dr Mohammed has now revealed five ways to tell if your mate might have psychopathic tendencies.
In the TikTok video, he gave a disclaimer that ‘having just one of these traits does not make someone a psychopath, but it’s the overall picture of someone’s personality based on these (and other) recognised traits of psychopaths that can lead to a classification of psychopathy'.
Mark your friends up against these traits and figure out once and for all if your psychopathy-o-metre was right all along:
1. Superficial charm
Dr Mohammed explained that ‘superficial charm’ is your first clue.
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He said: “You know when you meet someone for the first time, and they blow you away, they are really charming and nice? But as you get to know them more and more that sort of charm withers away and they are not anywhere near as nice as you thought they were.
“Then you might notice that actually, everyone who meets them for the first time thinks, ‘Oh wow they’re so nice’. But you are aware after having known them for a while that this is just a superficial thing.
“Underneath they are nowhere near as charming as they seem.”
2. Inflated sense of self-worth
The UK consultant went on to explain that psychopaths often have a ‘grandiose’ sense of self-worth: “Psychopaths think they are the absolute ‘bees-knees’.
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“They think they are the best at everything. They can never be wrong and there can never be anyone who is better than them.
"In their mind, they are just amazing at everything and nobody can tell them any different.”
3. Putting Pinocchio to shame
According to the expert, psychopaths tend to stack up ‘lies upon lies upon lies’.
He said: “You might not notice this at first but once you start getting to know a psychopath, you will realise that they will lie almost seemingly for the sake of it and the enjoyment of it — even without an actual intent behind it.
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“They would just lie out of the fun of lying.”
4. Manipulative
He went on to explain that ‘a psychopath will know every trick in the book to try to achieve their aims’.
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They might even use things like ‘anger, charm and so many different techniques and tactics to try to get what they want.’
He said: “You may not even realise you are being manipulated until you look back on things.”
5. No remorse
The last way to know whether your bestie is actually a psycho is if they have a ‘lack of remorse and guilt’.
He explained: “Psychopaths don’t feel bad about treading on people, they don’t feel bad about causing harm to anyone, they are only focused on achieving their aims.
“Whoever gets in the way, psychopaths believe it is their fault. If any harm comes to anyone else, it is their fault and not the fault of the psychopath.”
I’m pretty sure I can think of a few people who tick off those boxes…
Topics: TikTok, Social Media, Mental Health
Britt Jones