The Walking Supernatural

This is obviously only my point of view and I am only talking about my personal experience with aspd here and how I would write it!!!

Its possible for the character to have a good relationship with one or both of their parents! The root of abuse doesn't always have to be the own home, theres so much more than that but for the character to have aspd there should be some traumatic events in the past.

These traumatic events can go from physical- to sexual- and emotional abuse. Your character doesn't need to get beaten up or sexually assaulted, sometimes its enough to not hear "I love you" from your parents or to get less attention because of younger siblings.

One symptom of aspd that many of us experience is chronic boredom where even your favourite activities get boring after a few minutes. Make your character struggle with finding something to do that keeps them entertained. Make them switch hobbies, sports, music instruments, all of that.

Having aspd doesn't always mean that the person is stone cold and doesn't care about others. Some of us don't have any empathy at all and don't care about other people but theres also the ones who care about a certain amount of people and who are able to feel empathy for them. Create a character who loves his family and friends and wants to protect them at all costs, but chooses different ways than "normal" characters would ( "normal" = people without a mental illness in this case.

Show them having difficulties with social interaction, getting tired of conversations, not knowing what to say, not knowing how to calm people down who cry, getting pissed when people talk all the time. BUT show them still trying to get better at it, show them practising phrases or emotional reactions. (Thats basically what I did as soon as I got behind my diagnosis)

Don't make them the bad guy or the villain or an abuser. Make them the hero, the heros best friend, the love interest, give them some good representation while still showing the struggles of the disorder

Show them going to therapy, getting help, talking about their problems and working on themselves. Show them reaching out to others when they need it

People with aspd still experience all of the emotions a normal human being does. Show them being sad, happy, frustrated, embarassed, angry, jealous, hyperactive and so on but make sure to point out that its sometimes not easy for them to access those emotions and that they might react later or only in private

Normalize the intrusive thoughts! Make the character talk about those and show that they don't make them a bad person. Please just point out that they can still be a good and nice human being even if they have thoughts about killing other people or hurting someone.

Let them have a pet they adore, a song they dance to, a book they could read 100 times, a special food they would kill for. Show your readers that we are just normal people with a collection of symptoms that can be hidden perfectly

Some of us might get in trouble more often than others, have problems with authority especially teachers or parents or commit a crime. It is perfectly fine to show that we are more likely to have / do something like that. You can even show that we don't always really regret the thing and do it impulsively but at the same time normalize us wanting to get better. Us apologizing, trying to find different ways to cope that aren't illegal and that it can be a huge struggle.

We are not broken angels who deserve to be treated like fredgile little babys but we also dont deserve always being the villain or bad guy. Give us some other characters who adapted to society and try their best to just live a normal life. Make sure to point out that its possible but that it can be incredibly hard

Them: *sees through what im doing and calling me out on it*

People who are born without the capacity of feeling fear wouldn't be afraid of someone holding a knife against their neck, they don't know what the sensation of fear is. But even though they can't feel fear, they can recognize that that is a threatening situation. They can't feel fear as a motivation to run or to do something about it, but rationally they know that they should run or do something about it.

people with low/no empathy are not:

monsters

terrible people

incapable of being sympathetic

incapable of being compassionate

incapable of being nice

punchlines to a joke

people with low/no empathy are:

deserving of love

human beings

capable of holding a stable, healthy relationship

just as valuable to the world as empaths are (many surgeons and er doctors have low/no empathy!)

we are just as human and as deserving of love as anyone else. we’re not something to be afraid of - we still have morals and a value for life.

we do not deserve to be demonized as we are.

affective empathy (the kind we can’t feel) is the ability to share feelings with others. for example, if your friend was anxious, you could become anxious through seeing them anxious. those of us born with low/no empathy have no control over it and cannot change this (no matter how much one may want to!)

cognitive empathy (the kind we can feel) is the ability to understand others’ feelings. for example, if your friend was anxious, you would be able to understand what they’re going through, even if you’re not necessarily feeling anxious through them.

compassion is concern and pity for others. for example, if your friend was anxious, you would feel bad for them and want to help as a result.

a post that explains it with more simple and easy to understand format

low/no empathy people can be sympathetic and compassionate. it’s not a bad thing to have low/no empathy - again, some of the most crucial occupations are dominated by low/no empathy people, as they can handle messy situations better than many empaths. first responders, surgeons, trauma doctors, morticians, to name a few.

it’s okay if you’re empathetic and this is the first positivity you’re seeing about this! i was the same way for a long time, i thought no/low empathy people were scary because i didn’t realize i was one of them. you don’t have to be perfect, you can still be learning, all that matters is that you try!

[Image Description:

An infographic with a red heading, titled “Empathy Explained”

A simple picture of an empty glass, labeled “Cognitive Empathy,” with caption “Cognitive empathy is the ability to recognise and understand the emotions of others”

A simple picture of a drop of liquid, labeled “Affective Empathy,” with caption “Affective empathy is the ability to feel the emotions you percieve others having as your own”

Two pictures, one of a half-full glass on the left, and one of a full glass on the right. Captioned “Empathy is a spectrum, regular empathy levels look like anything within this range. The water is in the glass and you have enough to take a drink.”

Three pictures, on the left an overflowing glass, in the center a glass half as tall which is also overflowing, on the right liquid without a glass. Captioned “Hyperempathy, high levels of affective empathy that cause the person who has it great distress, looks like anything with this range. No matter how big the glass is the water is overflowing.

Four pictures, from left to right. A short glass with barely liquid at the bottom. A tall, empty glass. A medium sized glass with condensation forming on the sides. A large, empty glass with a much smaller, half-full glass. Captioned "Low empathy, defined by affective empathy is a wide range that can look like many different things. No matter the size of the glass it could only have a few drops at the bottom, condensation forming on the side, be completely empty, or have a seperate glass you can’t drink from.

Text: You cannot change what level of affective empathy you experience, you cannot develop it if you missed your chance growing up. Empathy has no moral value, do not glorify the suffering of people with hyperempathy and do not demonise people with low empathy for lacking something they cannot control.

This is my first comic in my new series about understanding NPD! My drawings are based off research and my own experiences with the disorder, but obviously I cannot speak for everyone with NPD.

Thank you if you reblog and please consider learning more about Narcissistic Personality Disorder and other stigmatized mental illnesses!

nope. not always. not for everyone. sometimes it’s easier to be angry. sometimes it’s easier to hate people and sometimes all you want to do is yell or scream or slam things about.

sometimes it takes a monumental effort to choose to be kind.

and that’s okay! you’re not broken if your default, easy option, is something that is often frowned upon. you’re not broken if you find it hard to do the right thing.

I’m proud of you for trying your best and for pushing through, despite the odds. I’m proud of you for working hard. I’m proud of you for still trying, even when you stuff up sometimes.

you’re allowed to find kindness and love hard.

you’re allowed to be kind for “the wrong reasons”.