I lived with a sociopath and liar. They really really believe what they say.

[Hekate]

25. The problems discussed in this thread seem to be inborn, with no source & no cure...

I have read thoughtful essays (even some here) by psychologists and psychotherapists that work in institutional settings such as prisons. They all agree that in their experience an ordinary criminal can be rehabilitated, change their ways of thinking and behaving; but that a sociopath/psychopath will never change -- not with drugs and not with psychotherapy. It is as the former spouses in this thread have testified: they think there is nothing wrong with them, and they don't give a flyng fig what you think or feel.

Many walk the streets in business suits and occupy board rooms in tall buildings. They get elected to political office or start mega-churches. I'm sure they are represented in the military as well. They are good at what they do, and are rewarded by society for their performance. The fact that the path of their progress is littered with broken people they have crushed seems to be beside the point. They are very functional -- and again, they think there is nothing wrong with them, and that other people are just tools and fools. They can get away with this for a lifetime -- and if they are busted for their behavior (#MeToo), they still will believe there is nothing wrong with them.

It seems to me that there is something physically wrong in the wiring of their brains, and that there is no "cure." Society needs to be protected from them more than they need to be compassionately understood. Or rather, by all means compassionately understand the sociopath, but only after you put him in jail or help his wife and kids escape.