SAINT SADIST

but sa is more of a patriarchy thing than murder so i hate sa more.

Mindsets like this are the reason why people (no matter what gender or sexuality) are laughed at and not being believed because their abuser does not fit the stereotype people have in their heads when they think of sexual abusers.

And btw, the stereotype is not white cis men - it's queer people and POC, who are very often wrongly accused and suspected. I work nightshifts at a gas station and I had people come inside because they were scared that a little group of POC outside were going to SA them, while those people were coming in just 10 minutes ago and being utterly happy about us having croissants.

Repeat parts of their sentences and add reaffirming statements to it. (For example: "My mother threw away all my toys." - "I'm so sorry that your mother threw away your toys. I'd also be upset about it.")

Learn certain phrases like vocabularly of another language. Don't resort to "that sucks" at all times, but switch it up a little. Things like "I'm so sorry that happened to you." or "This was absolutely not okay of them to do". Honestly, just look how other people show empathy after someone is venting to them, remember those phrases and use those if needed. Some phrases which are burned into my brain are general reaffirments of them being in the right for being upset, and sentences which validate their feelings.

This does not work for every person you talk to, but I get really far with showing anger at the abusers. Anger is something which comes naturally to me, and expressing it is easier than expressing empathy. (For example: "What the fuck were they thinking? I'd really love to punch them in the face for that.")

Don’t say “neurodivergent” unless you mean the entirety of literally every single mentally ill, developmentally disabled and insane person that that broad ass label implies.

Autistic isn’t a bad word. You can say autistic if you just mean autistic. Because I know for a fact when most of y’all say neurodivergent you don’t mean people with personality disorders or addictions or ptsd or Down syndrome or schizophrenia or psychosis. You mean autistic, and sometimes adhd.

I personally had a CD diagnosis, but I know that my brother was assessed for ASPD as well without a CD diagnosis. He talked about his childhood and that was what our psychiatrist saw as evidence for conduct disorder. He was also not breaking any laws, but he was just terrorising everyone around him via hitting them, manipulating them, constantly breaking apart friend groups, shit like that. He was diagnosed with PDNOS in the end because he had symptoms from multiple personality disorders over all the clusters, but he still got assessed for ASPD.

Well, partially because its written right into the DSM-5. Any doctor in their right mind wouldn't diagnose anyone under 18 with antisocial personality disorder. But why is that? (TLDR at the end)

Most minors who exhibit dysfunctional behavioural issues will go on to be diagnosed with conduct disorder (CD). Having a history of conduct disorder symptoms in childhood is necessary for an ASPD diagnosis. If theres trouble, theres a cause, and in medical practice, we strive to find ways to treat the causes of trouble.

Professionals diagnose someone with a disorder for the sole purpose of treating them. We diagnose someone with cancer so we know to give them chemotherapy, we diagnose someone with schizophrenia so we know to give them antipsychotics instead of stimulants.

Up to 50% of minors with CD will go on to develop ASPD. The reason why we don't diagnose ASPD in minors, is because the progression of conduct issues in childhood -> ASPD is preventable. Did you know that 92% of kids with conduct issues improved their symptoms because their parents took parenting classes? Once someones symptoms gets to the developmental point of being as severe as ASPD, their symptoms are ingrained in their personality, beliefs, and behaviour. They wont be able to be treated by having their parents go to classes.

We diagnose minors with CD instead of ASPD because we treat minors with behavioural issues by looking at their parents and the issues in their life that may be causing them to act out (which is, as I said, most likely their parents.) ASPD isn't necessarily treated that way. The goal is to stop minors from progressing into the severity of ASPD, not to diagnose them with it right off the bat when we know for a fact it can be prevented.