Sociopath vs Narcissist: What's the Difference?

Even though not everything is white and black, people with antisocial personality disorder tend to lack empathy or lack of remorse for their wrong doings. Even though someone with narcissistic personality traits is similar to a sociopath in the sense that they are both manipulative, someone with narcissism do care about how they are presented to others. A sociopath on the other hand do not care as much and is usually only after the end goal. In this video, we cover some signs of how a sociopath and a narcissist differ.

Disclaimer: this video is for informative purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition. If you are struggling, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional. Also, this video is not meant to discriminate anyone with any of these traits but instead for self education or informational purposes.

Writer: Sid Thompson
Script Editor: Caitlin McColl
Script Manager: Kelly Soong
Voice: Amanda Silvera
Animatior: Chantal Van Rensburg
Youtube Manager: Cindy Cheong

REFERENCES:

[Psychgo]

How's everyone doing today? Any plans for the weekends?

[Lovefromali]

Omg Psych2go!! Not only have you been helping me with my psychology but you have helped me understand why I am the person I am today. You are one of the only channels here on YouTube that I truly cherish. You’re all doing absolutely remarkable things :) and you have allowed me to come up with ways to help me with healing and I cannot thank you so much xx I wish I found you sooner

[thebonustage]

I honestly couldnt think of anyone better to do mental health videos. Your voice has a sort of calm and soothing feel to it, really helping me to digest some of these serious concepts.

[kuychi]

1) 0:16 What is sociopathy ?

2) 1:12 What is narcissism ?

3) 1:55 How are they similar ?

4) 2:26 How are they different ?

5) 2:57 How are they treated ?

[witchypoo]

I’m glad y’all are teaching others that everyone deserves help & compassion.

[deb_rina]

Now imagine these people (abusive narcissists or sociopaths) in relationships or as an important family member in your life. I feel sorry for the people who are stuck in a relationship with abusive narcissists.
Ps. It's never a good idea to stay with someone who is abusive altogether it's just going to take a toll on your mental health.
Edit: Sorry I meant people who are stuck in narcissistic toxic relationships. I lived with someone who was a narcissist for years and I'm grateful me, my mom and my siblings got out of that toxic relationship before it was too late. I'm just speaking from my experience though. I've had bad experiences with all narcissists I've met.
People with Aspd and Npd are humans too and they deserve the love and support any other person does.

[SilentNinjaaa]

The scary thing is you see a lot of these personalities in healthcare. They are very self-serving, manipualtive, driven, and their morals are very flexibile depending on the circumstance. I used to wonder why then I went into healthcare and realized its because their training is devoid of any real empathy towards them. They are taught to be empathizing of patients needs but they are personally pushed to their limits. So they never truly learn empathy because its not a luxury afforded to them.

[psychgomandarin]

0:00 Intro
0:16 What is sociopathy ?
1:12 What is narcissism ?
1:55 How are they similar ?
2:26 How are they different ?
2:57 How are they treated ?
3:43 Outro

[jaynejones]

My sister and mother are sociopath/narcissistic and neither would ever recognise that any fault or blame lies with them. There surely must be so many people with these traits that never get diagnosed because you have to know them well as family members to recognise what they are. They have both been for therapy but they are superficially charming and can easily manage to fool people that it is everyone around them that is the problem. They have both had a fair amount of trauma so their problems could easily be blamed on that by any therapist. They both however, are exactly as described in this video and extremely toxic as family members.

[sailordarty]

I recently took an "Intro to Criminal Justice" college course, and it explained a little bit about ASPD.
For example, a range of 0.02% - 3.3% of individuals are diagnosed of the USA population, but 35% of that population is in prison.
They are also difficult to rehabilitate due to their manipulative behavior, leading to them pretending to be rehabilitated to be released early, as well as their sense of superiority in believing they're too intelligent to be caught if they commit another crime.

[WonderlandAdventure]

I really appreciate and like your videos. My partner is physically and mentally abusive, I don’t know whether he is a narcissist or sociopath and it’s not my place to diagnose anyone but he is not well and he’s very cruel and explosive. I feel like there is not much that can be done to help, I have made him go to therapy and agression support but it hasn’t changed anything, ultimately some people are so unwell that they believe deep down that the person deserves it. I wish it was so easy that just getting professional help could change someone but that just isn’t the case with certain things. If your partner is displaying any of these traits do not try to change them or get them help, just remove yourself from the situation. I wish I had done that the first moment they displayed manipulative and aggressive behaviour, rather than believe they could change.

[pandacrush]

I am a 22 year old with ASPD. I have been unmedicated since 2018. ASPD people are missing 11% of our prefrontal cortex. Meaning we have to input logic into how to react. Yes it is hard to do this without meds but I am a Father and a devoted husband. Impulse will slip but always remember don't use it as a crutch

[kekedoyouluvme]

Thank you for this. People these days are miss diagnosing others with narcissistic personality disorder, but they are sociopaths. They’re very similar but not the same.

[natashaevsimon]

They are both so damn destructive to others.
I have learnt that these disorders overlap, creating a bigger monster

[inkystarz]

The description of npd here is of a Grandiose style, but there are other sub-types such as Vulnerable, Communal, Benign and more. These subtypes can overlap as well. A malignant narcissists characteristics are an almost exact overlay of the sociopathic characteristics.

[idfc]

Although both ASPD and NPD are Cluster B disorders, they're pretty different in many perspectives. Yeah, they both have a lot in common but also very very different... I'm saying this based on my own experience as someone who was diagnosed with ASPD.

-Narcissists have fragile egos whereas sociopaths have big egos.
Narcissists lack true confidence and self-worth, that's why they act arrogant. Sociopaths on the other hand, we aren't necessarily insecure individuals. We tend to come across as arrogant people due to our over confidence. But as I said, unlike narcissists, sociopaths are not arrogant as a self-defense mechanism.

-Narcissists are often vindictive whereas sociopaths are careless.
People often act like sociopaths and psychopaths are creepy stalkers who are obsessed with getting revenge on their ex's. This is because of the inaccurate portrayal of Hollywood. Sociopaths are not vindictive, we simply don't give 2 sh*ts about people (of course it also depends on the individual, everyone has a different story with their "condition"). But like I said, narcissists are more likely to be people centric individuals, so they tend to come across as vindictive people.

-Sociopaths are more likely to get inclined to crime than narcissists.
Narcissists have a tend spot for getting humiliated and feeling shameful, so they highly care about their status. That's why they prefer to not get inclined to crime. But sociopaths do not feel shame deeply, and most of us have no qualms about committing crime. But of course, those are generalizations. Sociopaths do not necessarily need to be inclined to crime, I can give myself for an example. It totally depends on how high we are on the antisocial spectrum. High functioning Cluster B individuals avoid illegal activities.


There are many more things that separate the narcissists and sociopaths. But I have to note that, as long as we're high functioning people, we are not harmful.

[kittenmimi]

I hope everyone realize that if you are in a relationship with one of these people and they are becoming toxic to you etc, you should leave. Do not play hero, do not try to put up with it. It's not within your responsibility to do so, it will only be detrimental to yourself. Not like the condition can be treated either. I mean this only for the ones who decide to act toxic / affect people negatively. If they have these conditions yet never really act toxic to you, if they take the effort to be a decent person then that would be fine... you won't even notice perhaps

[chopsticck]

Thank you for saying "suffers" in regards to people with NPD and ASPD, I see too often people degrading and minimizing people with them as evil when they literally have very little control of thejr personalty disorder

[ohno]

Thank you for including the small but important line that people with NPD and ASPD are people. It should be obvious but there is so much stigma, especially on social media. People with any cluster B disorder are not inherently evil or going to be abusive or anything like that, just like non cluster B people are all different. Everyone deserves love and support ❤

[sleepingalongtherazorsedge]

I got diagnosed as a sociopath/aspd a few months ago. Watching psych channels just makes me realize that these channels have information people definitely wouldn't want people like me to have access to.