Hello all. Let me preface this by saying that I do not have ASPD (but I do have BPD... although that's probably irrelevant). As a student of psychology, I am genuinely interested in what it's really like to live with ASPD, given that this diagnosis is very stigmatized. So I have some questions for anyone who would like to help me understand the experience of living with ASPD. I'm familiar with the symptoms and diagnostic criteria, but I want to know more about the subjective experiences of living with those symptoms. Here are my questions:
1. What is the most difficult part of having ASPD?
2. Which emotions do you feel the most/the strongest? Which ones do you wish you could feel more or less of?
3. Are you able to build close, meaningful, loving, and fulfilling relationships with people? If not, do you wish that you could?
4. Have you ever received treatment for ASPD? If so, what kind of treatment, and did it help?
5. If you haven't received treatment, do you want to?
6. What is a common misconception about ASPD that you wish people knew the truth about?
7. What brings you happiness?
8. What do you think contributed the most to your having ASPD? Have you lived through a lot of abuse and/or neglect? Do you think you were born with a certain biology that makes it difficult to feel things such as remorse, guilt, shame, and empathy?
9. Regarding remorse, guilt, shame, and empathy, do you feel these things much, if at all? Do you ever wish you could experience them more or less? Do you ever try to feel more of these (perhaps due to pressures from society) but struggle to?
10. If/when you feel the urge to harm people, is that usually out of anger? Or another emotion? Or something else completely?
11. Is it hard for you to maintain healthy relationships with others?
12. If anyone has ever called you a bad person, psychopath, sociopath, or something similar, how did that make you feel?
13. How would you define morality?
14. What do the terms "good/bad" and "right/wrong" mean to you?
15. What does a typical day in your life look like?
Answers to any or all of these questions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.