What really made my stomach turn is that my Aunt had a smile on her face. At first I took it as maybe she’s trying to stay positive about the situation or having some odd nervous reaction but it was a huge huge smile as if she won the lottery. My grandma was not well off by any means so I highly doubt she had much in her will and my uncle was clearly not smiling in the picture.
She was also extremely unempathetic when my dad passed away during my mid 20s, telling me I need to man up and do better in life. I was working, in a relationship and doing my best to help my mom out. Am I overreacting or does she come off as a full blown sociopath?
It’s not like it’s intentional, usually. Everyone has a different way of coping with trauma and sadly, one of the brain’s most usual defenses is repeating the same behaviour, because that makes what happened normal - if I do it too, how could it be something bad?
People who do that need a therapy to stop repeating the abusive behaviour, but as with alcoholism, the first step is to admit you have been abused. You would be surprised how many people don’t get past the first step. And that’s how abusive behaviour in people who are not necessarily psychopaths occurs.
As an aside, being a psychopath (not a sociopath, that term doesn’t exist in psychology) is also a defense mechanism, although one on the extreme side of things and it’s generally incurable past a certain age.