When sociopaths or people with ASDP do get close to someone, they show their love in unconventional ways. “This usually involves loving someone who helps them to feel better about themselves (someone of a high status, for example, or someone who adores them and will do anything for them),” Dr. Ho says. “It may also involve loving someone for the sake of transaction or a goal. They will get into a relationship with someone and say they love the person, but really it’s to get at their bank accounts or some other thing that helps the sociopath reach one of their goals.”
The answer to “can sociopaths love?” is a nuanced one, because the love they experience looks and feels different than what most others understand as love. As Dr. Darrel Turner, president of Turner Psychology, tells Bustle, “For the sociopath, the experience of love is much more shallow and less meaningful.” They view relationships in “self-serving terms,” so they’re more likely to see their partner as a “trophy” rather than someone they love and are committed to.
