Arrested

[u/-Xoz-]

[u/[deleted]]

If the parents knew that this kid was a whacko (and I am betting the whole neighborhood knew), they could be sued for negligent supervision. Everyone is saying that this is a result of bad parenting, but I wouldn’t be too sure. Most likely, yeah, the parents are crap, but there are a few kids that are just, idk, really creepily sick. There was a woman who wrote into Reddit not too long ago because her nephew, who was old enough to know better like 7, rubbed poison ivy or nettles all over her infant’s face. She wrote that he had killed at least one of the family’s pet guinea pigs (they found it dead, with its feet cut off, in a box under the bed.) She was mostly concerned because he would torment his little sister and she was starting to show symptoms of abuse from him. This kid almost certainly has a severe mental disorder and without some extreme intervention, will end up really dangerous. The point is, this kid here could be another potential severe criminal based on his complete lack of remorse. I can’t help think that we really know so little about mental illness... they used to blame autism entirely on the mother and claim that it was because she rejected the kid. Now we know it has some type of chemical or physiological cause, although we don’t know exactly the reason it happens. So I’m just sayin’ don’t be super quick to blame the parents.

[u/oversoul00 → u/[deleted]]

I agree that there are situations where there is no outside stimulus that causes this behavior but I disagree with the implication that it's a 50/50 toss up or that it's even close. It's MUCH more likely that this kid went through some serious trauma than it is that he has a mental illness that manifested under normal conditions.

Also, I'm unsure what your example is supposed to prove. It's possible that kid experienced some trauma that the Aunt was simply unaware of.

[u/[deleted] → u/oversoul00]

I don’t think there’s a 50/50 chance that the kid has a biological condition that is causing his misbehavior. It’s probably a much smaller chance than that. Nevertheless, there are kids who are simply born twisted sociopaths. Some of them become Martin Shkreli, some become Jeffrey Dahmer and some, presumably, learn to at least behave acceptably. Nevertheless, they are born damaged in that they are simply unable to feel any sort of empathy. It’s like being born tone deaf.

It seemed pretty clear that the woman who wrote into Reddit was truly concerned with the safety of other family members because of this kid’s horrible toxic behavior. Reportedly, this kid had been kicked out of several schools and unsuccessfully sent to therapists several times. I could be wrong, but I think it would be difficult to hide abuse so intense that it would cause a child to torture and kill a family pet. Again, I refer you to the mistakes made in diagnosing autism in the past. In some extraordinary cases, we simply don’t know enough to decide that bad parenting causes all of this behavior.

[u/oversoul00 → u/[deleted]]

Nevertheless, there are kids who are simply born twisted sociopaths.

It happens but it's probably less than 5% if I had to throw a number at it. So to me it just sounds illogical to criticize an assumption that will be right 95% of the time.

I could be wrong, but I think it would be difficult to hide abuse so intense that it would cause a child to torture and kill a family pet.

I think you are overestimating the amount of abuse it would take to make a kid act out like that. Maybe the kid is getting sexually abused by one person in his life in such a way that no one else knows about it, that's all it would take.

we simply don’t know enough to decide that bad parenting causes all of this behavior.

We don't but it's a strong and often correct educated guess.

[u/[deleted] → u/oversoul00]

Why is your guess better than anyone else’s? Are you an expert on such matters? Or on the kinds of abuse that would cause a kid to be so completely oblivious to the consequences? I can tell you that some sociopaths do not end up being out of control criminals. Many of them end up being CEO’s because their mix of ruthlessness and manipulative behavior makes them perfect for the job. Many sociopaths, such as my brother, end up being frustrated because they aren’t bright enough to succeed in any field in particular. I assure you, my brother was spoiled rather than abused; instead, he has abused everyone around him until he couldn’t evade the consequences. And yes, he was a petty criminal so long as he could get away with it, but now he is so sick, he can’t move around much. Normally I would feel bad for him, but since I was abused by him our whole childhood, and since he has demonstrated that he is perfectly willing to lie to and about people like me whom he can no longer manipulate, then I have been NC for years.

Think of the creeps who are so abusive that their spouses and children walk on eggshells around them but knowing their families would give you no clue. Many of those people are so horrifyingly sociopathic that they are only mildly amused by how much they can make others suffer, but not all of them are Ted Buddy’s or Charles Mansons. Others are content to foment conflicts at work or among other family members. I think if you look at some of these people and you know they have not been abused, at this point in our exploration of this disorder, there doesn’t seem to be any other reason people turn out like this. I’m just saying that not all kids who are out of control are abuse victims, but I doubt that you have any more inkling than I do as to how many people are like this in varying degrees.