TikTok Psychopaths: Content Creators Turning to Social Media to Destigmatize Their Personality Disorders

For centuries, people have been fascinated with psychopaths. True crime and fictional crime play a big role in today’s entertainment, from podcasts to films, from documentaries to novels. Most people have heard of serial killers like Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Jack the Ripper, as well as fictional ones like Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates, and Patrick Bateman. There’s a widespread notion of psychopaths being charismatic and merciless evildoers incapable of human emotion. So it may feel shocking to scroll through TikTok and see a person with a personality disorder introducing themselves as a diagnosed psychopath.

What is a Psychopath?

Despite the popularity of the term, psychopathy isn’t typically used in medical settings. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) doesn’t use it, neither does the American Psychiatric Association, World Health Organization, and many others. This is because psychopaths are often considered evil people who cannot change or be helped. It’s an unhelpful term as best and destructive as worst. It’s also associated with criminals, further creating a negative stigma.

Instead, psychologists and psychiatrists use the term antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Its symptoms include impulsivity, lack of remorse, lying and manipulating for personal gain, violence or aggression, disregard for the law and social norms, a sense of superiority, being irresponsible financially, and so on. And like other mental health conditions and personality disorders, it exists on a spectrum from occasional rule-breaking to extreme criminal activity.

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“Hi, I’m Vic and I’m a Diagnosed Psychopath.”

Vic Path, known as @victhepath on TikTok, begins her video with this dramatic admission. But the twenty-three-year-old is quick to clarify her real diagnosis is antisocial personality disorder, but starting with “I was diagnosed with ASPD” is less recognizable and attention-grabbing. And that’s her goal: To garner attention to ASPD and challenge its stigma through education. After all, ASPD doesn’t look like a typical serial killer flick in real life.

Vic received her diagnosis at 19 years of age, though the signs appeared in childhood. She admitted to enjoying bullying children and manipulating teachers to get away with it. When she got a bit older and bored of her stable home life, she began to purposely endanger herself. She abused drugs, traveled alone, slept in public restrooms, and stayed in strangers’ homes. Finally, she decided to go to therapy to help with this feeling of boredom.

She explains she is on the lower end of the ASPD spectrum. One of her most surprising revelations is that she can feel empathy. “One of the main characteristics of psychopathy is a lack of empathy, however we can experience empathy it’s just that we are able to choose how we experience it,” she says. “Empathy is like a faucet. I can turn it off and on as I want. If I want to be empathetic towards others I can. It helps me manipulate others better.” 

Living With a Personality Disorder

“I get to help destigmatize a heavily misunderstood disorder,” Path says. “Every day, people leave ignorant and closed-minded comments on my videos, demonizing me for my disorder or trying to discredit me. But people also tell me I’ve changed their perspective, and those are the people I love to post for.” 

She also enjoys being paid the equivalent of a full-time salary from TikTok. She admits her “sole motivator is money” after struggling to find a job after graduating college. “ASPD was the easiest thing for me to market about myself, so that’s what I chose to center my social media presence around, and it’s working out beautifully,” she says.

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“We Can be Good People”

Another notable creator is Cherry, or @thatplasticbitch on TikTok, who identifies as a sociopath. (Sociopathy is no longer considered a formal diagnosis but some people with ASPD use the term.) She explains she was diagnosed with a conduct disorder (an official diagnosis similar to ASPD given to minors) at age 14 after using a computer to beat up a classmate. This was no surprise since she always considered herself selfish and uncaring. “I was always a good liar. Good at manipulating people,” she explains. “I could cry on cue. I was a good actor.”

But as she matured and worked with therapists, Cherry began to manage her symptoms. “I used to start chaos around me just to feel something. Now, I’ve learned coping skills and things I can do when I need entertainment. I still don’t care for others’ feelings, but [now] I can see their side of things. It’s in my nature to be selfish, but I can work towards becoming a better person.”

She admits it’s risky to confess her diagnosis online since people may use it against her in the future. But Cherry (a stage name) is determined to fight the stigma. “I want people to understand what a sociopath actually is, because when they see us in books and movies, we appear crazy,” she says. “People think we go on killing sprees, or they think of Ted Bundy. I want to show them we can be good people.”

Don’t Self-Diagnose a Personality Disorder

Although TikTok accounts such as Vic and Cherry’s can decrease the stigma of this personality disorder, some professionals are concerned about another potential impact—namely the rise of people diagnosing themselves with psychopathy.

“This happened originally with ADHD,” says Dr. Paul Losoff, a clinical psychologist who’s worked with ADHD patients for over 15 years. “As the trend [of sharing ADHD diagnoses on TikTok] grew and more information got out there, more people were falsely self-diagnosing. You can’t just fill out a bunch of questions and discover that you’re a psychopath or sociopath. A licensed professional needs to spend hours getting to know you.” For that reason, if you or someone you know have traits of ASPD, speak to a medical professional. 

It’s Not the People, It’s the Behavior

There’s another potential issue with these social media accounts, according to Dr. Abigail Marsh, a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience at Georgetown University and a leading researcher in psychopathy. She points out there’s a fine line between stigmatizing a personality disorder and punishing the bad behavior of individuals with it. “If you persistently engage in behaviors that exploit or harm others or violate their rights, that should be stigmatized,” Marsh explains.

However, it’s good to note that ASPD is not synonymous with criminal behavior. As Cari Oliver, PsyD, a clinical psychologist and the founder and clinical director of Elysian Psychological Services, says, “When it comes to danger, anybody can hurt anybody, including people with ASPD. But just because people have ASPD, does not mean they’re prone to violence.”

Moreover, Marsh explains that many people with ASPD are developing strategies to manage these behaviors, as Vic and Cherry claim. For that reason, people with the diagnosis shouldn’t all be painted with the same brush. “It’s not the traits themselves that are the problem for any disorder,” Marsh says. “It’s how the traits manifest behaviorally and how well the person has learned to manage them.”

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