Blog #3

The question has to be answered now — is Raskolnikov is actually a sociopath, or just a person with an extreme case of superiority complex and a rough upbringing? A sociopath (antisocial personality disorder) is a mental illness “in which a person has a long-term pattern of manipulating, exploiting, or violating the rights of others” (Merrill, 2012). The characteristics of a sociopath include charm, manipulation, unreliability, insincerity, lack of remorse, egocentrism, use of alcohol (Thomas, 2013), lack of change after getting punished, difficulty controlling impulses, incapacity to form a true relationship, and more than usually lives in poor conditions (Jimeny, 2000). A sociopath is someone who shows no worry for the wellbeing of others, not even those who are close to him/her. Sociopaths are aggressive, irritable, irresponsible, impulsive, and all over the place. Males are more susceptible to this mental illness, especially if they are unemployed and of a lower social status — like Raskolnikov (Jimeny, 2000). A person with a superiority complex, on the other hand, is someone with an immense feeling of being better than, or superior, to everyone else. It is usually just a psychological defense mechanism to hide feelings of inferiority (Alfred Adler : The Inferiority and Superiority Complex, 2009). Alfred Adler, whom is most famous for doing studies on the superiority complex, states, “Behind everyone who behaves as if he/she were superior to others, we can suspect a feeling of inferiority which calls for very special efforts of concealment. It is as if a man/woman feared that they were too small and walked on their toes to make themselves taller”. This superiority complex connects with “existential reality, [and] produces people who look confident one moment and ineffectual the next, motivated one moment and apathetic the next, sober and hard-working one moment and self-indulgent and addicted the next” (Maisel, 2012).