I had a growing up and am similar to sociopaths/schizoids in that that I didn't fully develop emotions such as empathy and others, but I want to fix that. It feels as if these emotions are 95% "locked". Would owning small pet rodents such as hamsters, mice, gerbils, etc, help me learn to develop these emotions?
>Inb4 go to therapy
Can't. It's illegal for me due to being an immigrant, long story.
Contextualizing your experience is important first. You have to accept that what your parents did was wrong.
I have recently, about some months ago due to my SO and friend pointing many things out.
Get a green card you dumbass or go back to your own country for therapy. If you buy rodents you'll probably end up killing them.
Nice assumption but no, I'm completely non-violent and wouldn't ever purposely harm something. I'm also not returning to some shit hole that ruined me in the first place where I'd starve. At least here I have a roommate SO who's helped me a little bit to develop some empathy and Psychologists in my homeland are just morons that prescribe Xanax that make you worse anyway.
>Would owning small pet rodents such as hamsters, mice, gerbils, etc, help me learn to develop these emotions?
You have the right idea. Recovery from this type of problem inside or outside a therapist's office must act on the attachment system. If the attachment system is damaged in development, the ability to relate to other humans including feeling empathic responses is disturbed.
Taking care of and learning to recognize signs of distress or satisfaction in an animal can help a lot. Also, earning its trust. Nothing replaces therapy though.
Then the next step is accepting that what you think is normal isn't as a result of how you were brought up. The way you interact with people is damaged as a result of this abuse.
I'll get therapy eventually but in the meanwhile, need to do something else. Thanks for the tip, I often wondered why they use animal bonding in therapy for children who are sociopathic, but I see how a child growing up with a lack of trust/attachment to anyone leads to them having a lack of empathy now. I certainly lacked this with my family too.
I see. I have been telling myself it's wrong for long but it barely has helped so far, sadly.
If you're a sociopath as you say you wouldn't be able to make the judgement that you're non-violent. Get a green card, dumbass, you're endangering your SO you love so much by not doing so. Why don't you marry her?
You may be able to find some nonprofit organization to help you. They usually have supervised interns providing therapy services.
get a rat. They're super smart and affectionate. Way better than any other rodent.
Go away, attention whore.
es, absolutelly, that's exactlly what this type of pet is for.
Get a rat though, rats are the only small rodent that will help you bond emotionally. The other animals are hit or miss, and a lot of them are jerks.
Get a rat. Rats are very affectionate and psychologically similar to humans, so much so that scientists study human social problems on them.
Hm, thanks user. Will do. I tried online ones before.
I began highly considering this. I remember child me had one for a very short time and felt a bond with it. I lack space for a proper cage though so I'll temporarily start out with mice and switch to rats as soon as I get a bigger apartment. Thanks.
Very interesting. I did own a dog, several, who just don't give a shit about me. They'd often go to my room to lay with me but wouldn't be very loyal as someone offering food immediantly made the dog ditch me. Are rats much more loyal than most dogs? Do they recognize certain emotions? Would owning mice for a short while also work similar? Because for the next year I won't have space for a big enough cage for rats.
You can try mindfulness to start. The other thing is to practice empathy in a controlled way like he was saying, with a pet. But you need to work it, you can't just do it and finish, it's a process. What you didn't learn (or what you learned wrong) you were supposed to learn as an infant. It will take at least as long to correct these wrong behaviors as it took to learn to do them wrong, which is, your entire life.
>You can try mindfulness to start
What did you mean by this? I'm not a native English speaker.
Online therapy
I'll try it
Mindfulness is what Buddhists do. It's about recognizing thoughts that live in your head as books on a shelf that can be open or closed. If you encounter a thought that doesn't match what your goals are, that's a book that's come open, you just close it up and put it back on the shelf.
No. mice are not the same at all. Completely diffrent species and they don't generally bond with their owners.
Rats are about the same as dogs, but like both animals, it depends on the individual pet. Some are more loving than others. I had one rat that would come when she was called and would follow me around the house, curl up in a ball on my pillow when I slept. Not all rats are like that though, but most are. Males tend to be more cuddly.
How odd, a lot of rodent youtubers said mice are the same in behaviour. Shame. Thanks for the information, user.
They work just as well for their intended purpose: food for more important animals.
Wew based edgelord atheist cocksucker
>t. rat guy