Feb 9, 2022·edited Feb 10, 2022Liked by Athena Walker
I am not a psychopath, I am officially diagnosed with unspecified dissociative disorder, but my emotional experience seems to be pretty similar to yours. I don’t feel emotional empathy, love, trust, jealousy, my remorse is cognitive only too, I don’t bond. The emotions that I do feel I do not feel deeply, they are over as soon as they are over. My default emotional state is a mix of content and boredom, though not as severe as yours, as well. These are not all similarities that there are, there are more and it is easier to name the differences.
These are that I can experience anxiety and some form of fear, some form of sadness, some form of disgust and get excited.
I don’t have general anxiety and phobias, I only have them in the situations where there is a threat or possibility of a threat, they are more than and are different from fight or flight response, but are less than and different from common anxiety and fear. Fear for me is more of not wanting something to happen. I can get sad, but I don’t remember when I was sad last time and there are times when I forget what sadness even feels like and feeling it in situations I know I have felt it in before seems bizarre. I don’t get disgusted by sights, but do get disgusted by smells and tastes, some if they are intense enough, can make me gag.
Another thing that I can experience is dissociation, or what I call dissociation. Here is where the confusion can arise. There are a lot of dissociative experiences that I have, but there is a major difference between how some of them look like in my case and in conventional cases of dissociative disorders. First is that in my case they are triggered at will, consciously or unconsciously, but not by anxiety or stress. In situations where I can get anxious, even if I was dissociated before, I usually get less dissociated and stress I don’t remember ever experiencing, while some sort of dissociation has been around as long as I remember. I don’t have a standard dissociative response to potentially traumatic events other people with dissociative disorders have, I don’t get traumatized at all or even deeply emotionally affected when such events occur. But I can dissociate when I choose to or rarely for no apparent reason.
Another thing is that while for most people with such disorders their normal state is the one in which they can experience certain emotions and pathological state is the one in which they are dissociated from them, for me it’s the opposite. Some emotions I can only experience when I trigger them at will and some are not quite real, and are a product of dissociation. Sadness, for example, for me is not a product of dissociation, but I only feel it when I trigger it. Attachment on another hand is not, for a long time I didn’t know it could be felt and only after I learnt about it did my mind try to generate its version of it, in my case being perceiving people partly like I perceive my consciousness and desiring to be with them as a way to reconnect with it. Which is, as I learnt, not like other people feel attachment. Manufactured emotions feel similarly to each other, are pretty different to how other people describe how they feel and are usually accompanied by somatic symptoms, like dizziness or problems with hearing. The way I trigger normal emotions, like sadness, is also different from how other people say they trigger emotions. To feel it, for example, I just dissociate with an intension to feel a combination of physical feelings and not by thinking about something sad. It can also be triggered as a response to anything, to something that I like, or something that isn’t supposed to cause any reaction at all, without a reason and be removed the same way. Same goes for other emotions, those that I can feel or my mind’s versions of emotions I cannot feel I know about. It’s a complicated experience and I am not sure I can describe it well lol.
I certainly don’t have psychopathy, I don’t think I am neurotypical either and my diagnosis doesn’t really match my experience as well. I have nearly all traits seen in psychopathy and several significant dissociative traits, both of which in it’s pure form, cannot be present together. Dissociation is not common in people high on psychopathic spectrum, and neither are psychopathic traits in people with severe dissociation. I happen to have both, however. Me and my acquaintances who specialize in neuroscience came up with several theories as for what could explain that, two of which have already proved wrong. One is that it could be that I have a brain type prone to dissociation, and a brain tumor or lesions that cause my emotional experience to be similar to psychopathic one. It could be the opposite, that I have a brain type more similar to a psychopathic one and brain tumor or lesions that cause the dissociative experiences. The least probable theory but the one that makes the most sense to me is that I could have a brain type
independent from both psychopathy and dissociation condition, that makes me have a similar to psychopathic experience, and also be able to control functioning of some of the brain zones to a degree, creating experience similar to dissociation or involving dissociation. I did an mri recently and they didn’t find anything, the later theory is that, very unlikely to prove true. I was planning to get a functional mri to test it, but I am not sure when I will be able to do it considering Covid situation in my country.
BTW, I admire your "but why do you care?" motif. I decided to adopt this--kind of to "channel" your attitude--during a recent "we have to talk" with my SO. As in, I decided not to get upset about whatever reaction he might have to what I wanted to say. So I actually did that. Yes, I felt some tension/anxiety around speaking up, but was able to keep my focus on my end-goal of what I wanted to convey. And was successful in it.
I do admit, my success in "channeling" your attitude was likely also helped by the fact that I've been doing some very significant emotional-healing work recently, so my limbic NO NOT DOING THAT reaction was already not as intense as it has been in the past.
Anyway, point being THANK YOU for sharing your experience and point of view.
This one definitely helped differentiate antisocial PD from psychopathy, we have a lot more negative emotions and maybe it's the oxytocin factor which could explain the potential ADHD-psychopathy link as well. I've always thought this link could be an error of assumption, but children born with psychopathy may be diagnosed with ADHD due to their inattentiveness when it comes to the emotions of others.
Even if antisocials don't experience empathy or remorse, we absolutely experience anger to the point of rage, envy/jealousy, disgust and not to mention we're some of the least trusting of others. The price we pay though is that we don't have that same contentedness or happiness that psychopaths have at all and I've heard some antisocials say they've never felt happiness.
Interesting that you bring up contempt though. I've seen antisocials bring up contempt towards others for a very similar reason you did, the allegory for this would be stealing from a homeless person basically. Even if I don't feel bad for the homeless guy, it's still pathetic.
My question is: with these studies on oxytocin which are newer to me, do you think new pharmaceuticals may soon hit the market or even make a difference regarding the treatment of psychopathy? The differences with autism sound promising given how pervasive ASD is, granted the two disorders are so different.
I'm personally skeptical about medications that affect something like oxytocin especially with schizophrenia/bipolar disorder where other neurotransmitters like dopamine are so sensitive.
Yo, today I came up with an analogy for cognitive empathy vs. emotional empathy that I'd like to put out there: it boils down to the key differences between a RPG and a MMORPG.
- Neurotypicals are all playing a MMORPG and having a predominantly emotional experience; they live through their shared, collective instincts - and their emotions resonate and amplify one another directly, often without being sorted through an internal mental and emotional buffer. The upside of this mode is how it potentiates the base experience. The downside of this mode is being prone to peer pressure and manipulation (both as agent or victim). In extreme cases, this mode degenerates into emotional instability, hysteria and chaos.
- The Neurodiverse are playing a offline RPG and having a predominantly mental experience; they live through their minds as in factor 1 ASPD ( or hearts, as in ASD) and are only attuned to their own feelings (no multiplayer mode). They live IN the buffer, which creates a sort of cognitive insulation that can be protective of external influences - that's the upside. The downside is getting detached from (or at least unencumbered by) the collective instincts. In extreme cases, this mode can degenerate into inhumane callousness and tyranny.
Having only Cognitive empathy means operating from the mental dimensions exclusively. From this perspective, life is akin to a traditional offline RPG in which all people are NPC's, and only those within our inner circle - or those who otherwise significantly help shape up our personal narrative - are eventually fleshed out as full-blown characters.
Despite their importance to the player's narrative, the character cast from a offline RPG is nonetheless comprised of distinctively different entities from the player/protagonist. All you this makes for a more linear, story-drive, stable experience since there is a sort of "circuit breaker" in place keeping all the millions of players from interfacing directly within another in either a constructive or a disruptive way towards the story (within the actual game, that is; they can still very much bond indirectly by relating to how other people also share their love for the game) .
Having Emotional Empathy is more akin to playing a MMORPG. In this mode, the experience hinges around connecting and interacting with other players, which gets prioritized over the narrative (in some cases the later is almost negligible) - and every player's choices clearly and causally affect everyone else. That's what living in the emotional realms feels like. It can be conceptualized as a sort of multiplier that augments or hampers one's individual experience playing the game. In this affective mode, the story takes second stage to the shared emotions aka human bonding.
Hm, that turned out longer than I expected. Thankyou for reading through my speculations. I appreciate in advance any thoughts and remarks anyone out here may have, regarding this concept.
Hey Athena, do you enjoy playing MMORPG's ( or other games that hinge around online group mechanics), I wonder?
I a, very different - I would rate on high oxytocin for many of the reasons mentioned in your article, both for good or ill. I love especially your distinction between the brainstem fight/flight and the emotional fight/flight response, which I can feel as distinct. For example, playing airsoft or paintball (which can be enormously fun) is very different from being afraid of a person's emotional or social behavior. As a third scenario: Having a bayonet mounted on a rifle accidentally approach your chest has three responses, first the brainstem one, and then the limbic one, and then the mental processing of the event.
What is crystallizing in my mind is that what matters ultimately is deed (thoughts, words, and actions ) and truth. The rest is subject to interpretation and therefore not to be pinned as reality. Therefore it is so important for me to reassure myself that what you are sharing about yourself is a truthful "testimony" rather than a construction or projection, in other words some sort of lie either by false interpretaton or cut from whole cloth. But that is difficult if not impossible to figure out online, at least I need more skills to be sure of my own assesment.
Feb 12, 2022·edited Feb 12, 2022Liked by Athena Walker
This post makes a lot of sense. There are some aspects of feeling that leave me "empty" (as in not getting it; not good, not bad, just not there as others seem to experience it). Certain things just don't register for me. As a kid in grade school and high school, sometimes I'd notice some people would behave off toward me. I would go up to them and ask point blank if I had done something to offend them. If the answer was no, then I'd just say, "OK" and walk away. I was curious to understand what I was seeing, so I asked. Their behaviors were often based on emotions that had nothing to do with me, so I concluded it was not my problem. Often, NT reactions can be enjoyable. Sometimes, irritating.
So I read through your emotions again, and I'm no professional here. I'm someone who has very deep and sometimes problematic emotions.
I can easily become overwhelmed.
I think that maybe some of the emotions that you're not sure you have, even though they are listed as emotions, are there it seems, however they may be so low on your radar that when you compare them to an NT, they seem to turned down. Like they are just a blip on your radar.
What I'm trying to say is you probably have them, but due the the fact that you are a logical thinker and that they are so turned down, you think they aren't there as an emotion.
The fact that you acknowledge you have discust or whatever was on your list means that you recognize the emotion listed. I'm thinking the ones you doubt are just so low you're not sure you have them, perhaps.
Feb 10, 2022·edited Feb 10, 2022Liked by Athena Walker
If getting something from person A and B needs you to appear shy and anxious for one and bold, confident for other, wouldn't that change in personality be very obvious to people who know you , who might become suspicious? Has that ever happened to you ? And if not, how do you avoid that?
Awesome article. Very THOROUGH. And a fabulous graphic, too.
Thank you for writing explicitly about emotions that you, and psychopaths generally, do and do not feel. I was looking for exactly this information the other day (knowing you'd written about it somewhere), and couldn't find it. (Of course, silly me, I didn't try googling it for Quora stuff.)
This is brilliant. Late here, my mind is shutting down for the night, have favourited, will re read and digest properly tomorrow. So much of what I wanted to ask is answered here. :)
I am an empath, and I had no idea how powerful a role oxytocin can play. Your article has been so illuminating to me about my own condition, which could perhaps be considered an inverse to your own (not a precise inverse, maybe. I don't know). I often wish I could just "turn off" my emotions, and your description of emotional empathy, or "hot empathy," (in your article "Empathy Switch" https://athenawalker.substack.com/p/empathy-switch) is so acutely felt by me- I often feel like I am literally catching other people's emotions. It's exhausting. Imagine expending your energy and time trying to learn how to put your emotions in the back seat and let your brain do all the driving. Reading your descriptions of how you process things is so alien and yet also so calming. It feels amazing to put myself in your shoes (cognitive empathy, all things considered!) and imagine living as you do. What a relief to not be overwhelmed at all times by emotion. Thank you for your willingness to write so exhaustively about your experience as a psychopath. I won't go so far as to wish I were a psychopath myself, as there are definite rewards to being able to experience emotions the way neurotypicals feel them. But what an interesting world it could be if we actually could mute or amplify our emotions at will. Feeling too much? Mute. Feeling too little? Amplify. It seems that you would not want to amplify your emotions if given the chance. Is that true?
Well medical wise I'm diagnosed shizo affective disorder, yet even I found out a model to lie indiscrimately and without guilt.
Basically the brain is wired to take in stories and accept them as most likely reality. Most people try to tell honest stories most likely for the fact of fearing to be found out.(I can't deduce that yet)
In so far if one person ceases his fear to be found out - that is a self training - and realises that we are all drops in an ocean and that each drop cares most about her/his own stories going on in the mind, then one can deduce that most likely in small things no one is interested in investigating others people stories.
I am not a psychopath, I am officially diagnosed with unspecified dissociative disorder, but my emotional experience seems to be pretty similar to yours. I don’t feel emotional empathy, love, trust, jealousy, my remorse is cognitive only too, I don’t bond. The emotions that I do feel I do not feel deeply, they are over as soon as they are over. My default emotional state is a mix of content and boredom, though not as severe as yours, as well. These are not all similarities that there are, there are more and it is easier to name the differences.
These are that I can experience anxiety and some form of fear, some form of sadness, some form of disgust and get excited.
I don’t have general anxiety and phobias, I only have them in the situations where there is a threat or possibility of a threat, they are more than and are different from fight or flight response, but are less than and different from common anxiety and fear. Fear for me is more of not wanting something to happen. I can get sad, but I don’t remember when I was sad last time and there are times when I forget what sadness even feels like and feeling it in situations I know I have felt it in before seems bizarre. I don’t get disgusted by sights, but do get disgusted by smells and tastes, some if they are intense enough, can make me gag.
Another thing that I can experience is dissociation, or what I call dissociation. Here is where the confusion can arise. There are a lot of dissociative experiences that I have, but there is a major difference between how some of them look like in my case and in conventional cases of dissociative disorders. First is that in my case they are triggered at will, consciously or unconsciously, but not by anxiety or stress. In situations where I can get anxious, even if I was dissociated before, I usually get less dissociated and stress I don’t remember ever experiencing, while some sort of dissociation has been around as long as I remember. I don’t have a standard dissociative response to potentially traumatic events other people with dissociative disorders have, I don’t get traumatized at all or even deeply emotionally affected when such events occur. But I can dissociate when I choose to or rarely for no apparent reason.
Another thing is that while for most people with such disorders their normal state is the one in which they can experience certain emotions and pathological state is the one in which they are dissociated from them, for me it’s the opposite. Some emotions I can only experience when I trigger them at will and some are not quite real, and are a product of dissociation. Sadness, for example, for me is not a product of dissociation, but I only feel it when I trigger it. Attachment on another hand is not, for a long time I didn’t know it could be felt and only after I learnt about it did my mind try to generate its version of it, in my case being perceiving people partly like I perceive my consciousness and desiring to be with them as a way to reconnect with it. Which is, as I learnt, not like other people feel attachment. Manufactured emotions feel similarly to each other, are pretty different to how other people describe how they feel and are usually accompanied by somatic symptoms, like dizziness or problems with hearing. The way I trigger normal emotions, like sadness, is also different from how other people say they trigger emotions. To feel it, for example, I just dissociate with an intension to feel a combination of physical feelings and not by thinking about something sad. It can also be triggered as a response to anything, to something that I like, or something that isn’t supposed to cause any reaction at all, without a reason and be removed the same way. Same goes for other emotions, those that I can feel or my mind’s versions of emotions I cannot feel I know about. It’s a complicated experience and I am not sure I can describe it well lol.
I certainly don’t have psychopathy, I don’t think I am neurotypical either and my diagnosis doesn’t really match my experience as well. I have nearly all traits seen in psychopathy and several significant dissociative traits, both of which in it’s pure form, cannot be present together. Dissociation is not common in people high on psychopathic spectrum, and neither are psychopathic traits in people with severe dissociation. I happen to have both, however. Me and my acquaintances who specialize in neuroscience came up with several theories as for what could explain that, two of which have already proved wrong. One is that it could be that I have a brain type prone to dissociation, and a brain tumor or lesions that cause my emotional experience to be similar to psychopathic one. It could be the opposite, that I have a brain type more similar to a psychopathic one and brain tumor or lesions that cause the dissociative experiences. The least probable theory but the one that makes the most sense to me is that I could have a brain type
independent from both psychopathy and dissociation condition, that makes me have a similar to psychopathic experience, and also be able to control functioning of some of the brain zones to a degree, creating experience similar to dissociation or involving dissociation. I did an mri recently and they didn’t find anything, the later theory is that, very unlikely to prove true. I was planning to get a functional mri to test it, but I am not sure when I will be able to do it considering Covid situation in my country.
BTW, I admire your "but why do you care?" motif. I decided to adopt this--kind of to "channel" your attitude--during a recent "we have to talk" with my SO. As in, I decided not to get upset about whatever reaction he might have to what I wanted to say. So I actually did that. Yes, I felt some tension/anxiety around speaking up, but was able to keep my focus on my end-goal of what I wanted to convey. And was successful in it.
I do admit, my success in "channeling" your attitude was likely also helped by the fact that I've been doing some very significant emotional-healing work recently, so my limbic NO NOT DOING THAT reaction was already not as intense as it has been in the past.
Anyway, point being THANK YOU for sharing your experience and point of view.
This one definitely helped differentiate antisocial PD from psychopathy, we have a lot more negative emotions and maybe it's the oxytocin factor which could explain the potential ADHD-psychopathy link as well. I've always thought this link could be an error of assumption, but children born with psychopathy may be diagnosed with ADHD due to their inattentiveness when it comes to the emotions of others.
Even if antisocials don't experience empathy or remorse, we absolutely experience anger to the point of rage, envy/jealousy, disgust and not to mention we're some of the least trusting of others. The price we pay though is that we don't have that same contentedness or happiness that psychopaths have at all and I've heard some antisocials say they've never felt happiness.
Interesting that you bring up contempt though. I've seen antisocials bring up contempt towards others for a very similar reason you did, the allegory for this would be stealing from a homeless person basically. Even if I don't feel bad for the homeless guy, it's still pathetic.
My question is: with these studies on oxytocin which are newer to me, do you think new pharmaceuticals may soon hit the market or even make a difference regarding the treatment of psychopathy? The differences with autism sound promising given how pervasive ASD is, granted the two disorders are so different.
I'm personally skeptical about medications that affect something like oxytocin especially with schizophrenia/bipolar disorder where other neurotransmitters like dopamine are so sensitive.
Yo, today I came up with an analogy for cognitive empathy vs. emotional empathy that I'd like to put out there: it boils down to the key differences between a RPG and a MMORPG.
- Neurotypicals are all playing a MMORPG and having a predominantly emotional experience; they live through their shared, collective instincts - and their emotions resonate and amplify one another directly, often without being sorted through an internal mental and emotional buffer. The upside of this mode is how it potentiates the base experience. The downside of this mode is being prone to peer pressure and manipulation (both as agent or victim). In extreme cases, this mode degenerates into emotional instability, hysteria and chaos.
- The Neurodiverse are playing a offline RPG and having a predominantly mental experience; they live through their minds as in factor 1 ASPD ( or hearts, as in ASD) and are only attuned to their own feelings (no multiplayer mode). They live IN the buffer, which creates a sort of cognitive insulation that can be protective of external influences - that's the upside. The downside is getting detached from (or at least unencumbered by) the collective instincts. In extreme cases, this mode can degenerate into inhumane callousness and tyranny.
Having only Cognitive empathy means operating from the mental dimensions exclusively. From this perspective, life is akin to a traditional offline RPG in which all people are NPC's, and only those within our inner circle - or those who otherwise significantly help shape up our personal narrative - are eventually fleshed out as full-blown characters.
Despite their importance to the player's narrative, the character cast from a offline RPG is nonetheless comprised of distinctively different entities from the player/protagonist. All you this makes for a more linear, story-drive, stable experience since there is a sort of "circuit breaker" in place keeping all the millions of players from interfacing directly within another in either a constructive or a disruptive way towards the story (within the actual game, that is; they can still very much bond indirectly by relating to how other people also share their love for the game) .
Having Emotional Empathy is more akin to playing a MMORPG. In this mode, the experience hinges around connecting and interacting with other players, which gets prioritized over the narrative (in some cases the later is almost negligible) - and every player's choices clearly and causally affect everyone else. That's what living in the emotional realms feels like. It can be conceptualized as a sort of multiplier that augments or hampers one's individual experience playing the game. In this affective mode, the story takes second stage to the shared emotions aka human bonding.
Hm, that turned out longer than I expected. Thankyou for reading through my speculations. I appreciate in advance any thoughts and remarks anyone out here may have, regarding this concept.
Hey Athena, do you enjoy playing MMORPG's ( or other games that hinge around online group mechanics), I wonder?
I a, very different - I would rate on high oxytocin for many of the reasons mentioned in your article, both for good or ill. I love especially your distinction between the brainstem fight/flight and the emotional fight/flight response, which I can feel as distinct. For example, playing airsoft or paintball (which can be enormously fun) is very different from being afraid of a person's emotional or social behavior. As a third scenario: Having a bayonet mounted on a rifle accidentally approach your chest has three responses, first the brainstem one, and then the limbic one, and then the mental processing of the event.
What is crystallizing in my mind is that what matters ultimately is deed (thoughts, words, and actions ) and truth. The rest is subject to interpretation and therefore not to be pinned as reality. Therefore it is so important for me to reassure myself that what you are sharing about yourself is a truthful "testimony" rather than a construction or projection, in other words some sort of lie either by false interpretaton or cut from whole cloth. But that is difficult if not impossible to figure out online, at least I need more skills to be sure of my own assesment.
This post makes a lot of sense. There are some aspects of feeling that leave me "empty" (as in not getting it; not good, not bad, just not there as others seem to experience it). Certain things just don't register for me. As a kid in grade school and high school, sometimes I'd notice some people would behave off toward me. I would go up to them and ask point blank if I had done something to offend them. If the answer was no, then I'd just say, "OK" and walk away. I was curious to understand what I was seeing, so I asked. Their behaviors were often based on emotions that had nothing to do with me, so I concluded it was not my problem. Often, NT reactions can be enjoyable. Sometimes, irritating.
Great post btw,
So I read through your emotions again, and I'm no professional here. I'm someone who has very deep and sometimes problematic emotions.
I can easily become overwhelmed.
I think that maybe some of the emotions that you're not sure you have, even though they are listed as emotions, are there it seems, however they may be so low on your radar that when you compare them to an NT, they seem to turned down. Like they are just a blip on your radar.
What I'm trying to say is you probably have them, but due the the fact that you are a logical thinker and that they are so turned down, you think they aren't there as an emotion.
The fact that you acknowledge you have discust or whatever was on your list means that you recognize the emotion listed. I'm thinking the ones you doubt are just so low you're not sure you have them, perhaps.
If getting something from person A and B needs you to appear shy and anxious for one and bold, confident for other, wouldn't that change in personality be very obvious to people who know you , who might become suspicious? Has that ever happened to you ? And if not, how do you avoid that?
Awesome article. Very THOROUGH. And a fabulous graphic, too.
Thank you for writing explicitly about emotions that you, and psychopaths generally, do and do not feel. I was looking for exactly this information the other day (knowing you'd written about it somewhere), and couldn't find it. (Of course, silly me, I didn't try googling it for Quora stuff.)
Interesting how oxytocin and depression are linked. Didn't know that one!
This is brilliant. Late here, my mind is shutting down for the night, have favourited, will re read and digest properly tomorrow. So much of what I wanted to ask is answered here. :)
This reading was so interesting, Athena. Thank you for writing it and explaining things so well. It is very helpful.
I am an empath, and I had no idea how powerful a role oxytocin can play. Your article has been so illuminating to me about my own condition, which could perhaps be considered an inverse to your own (not a precise inverse, maybe. I don't know). I often wish I could just "turn off" my emotions, and your description of emotional empathy, or "hot empathy," (in your article "Empathy Switch" https://athenawalker.substack.com/p/empathy-switch) is so acutely felt by me- I often feel like I am literally catching other people's emotions. It's exhausting. Imagine expending your energy and time trying to learn how to put your emotions in the back seat and let your brain do all the driving. Reading your descriptions of how you process things is so alien and yet also so calming. It feels amazing to put myself in your shoes (cognitive empathy, all things considered!) and imagine living as you do. What a relief to not be overwhelmed at all times by emotion. Thank you for your willingness to write so exhaustively about your experience as a psychopath. I won't go so far as to wish I were a psychopath myself, as there are definite rewards to being able to experience emotions the way neurotypicals feel them. But what an interesting world it could be if we actually could mute or amplify our emotions at will. Feeling too much? Mute. Feeling too little? Amplify. It seems that you would not want to amplify your emotions if given the chance. Is that true?
Do psychopaths get impatient?
Would you, for example, get bored of walking somewhere interesting, and decide to run, so that you would get there faster?
Well medical wise I'm diagnosed shizo affective disorder, yet even I found out a model to lie indiscrimately and without guilt.
Basically the brain is wired to take in stories and accept them as most likely reality. Most people try to tell honest stories most likely for the fact of fearing to be found out.(I can't deduce that yet)
In so far if one person ceases his fear to be found out - that is a self training - and realises that we are all drops in an ocean and that each drop cares most about her/his own stories going on in the mind, then one can deduce that most likely in small things no one is interested in investigating others people stories.
Is pain muted? Or is it comparable to NTs?