Who is a sadist?

A sadist is a person who experiences pleasure from watching others undergo discomfort or pain. A sadist can also engage in using emotional cruelty and intentionally manipulating other people through the use of calculated fear. More frequently, some sadist perform aggressive social behaviors and/or enjoy publicly humiliating other people to achieve a feeling of power and control over others. Surprisingly enough, even though sadistic personalities do gain pleasure and satisfaction from inflicting suffering and pain upon others, the act of sadism do not necessarily always involve usage of violence or physical aggression.

There are different classes of sadists;

ENFORCING SADIST

This category of sadistic people can often be found within important positions of authority, such as military sergeants, police officers, prison overseers and deans of universities. These individuals are in a situation where they feel that they are the ones who should be in charge of controlling, overseeing and punishing people for breaking laws, rules and regulations. Although they might have the opinion that they are actually acting for common interest, more critical, deeper motives are involved than just that. Enforcing sadists normally seek out rule breakers within their authoritarian domain, or within the society in general, and by doing so exercise the worst punishments they can give out for an individual case. The more they punish and dominate others, the more powerful and satisfied they feel. With more of these acts, their self-image of righteousness gets reinforced which increases their ego.

EXPLOSIVE SADIST

People having this form of sadistic personality are known to be unpredictably violent as they are disappointed or frustrated with their general lives. They lose control when they feel humiliated and/or hopeless and seek retribution for the deprecation and mistreatment to which they sense they have been subjected to.These sadists do not generally move about in grumpy or surly manner and as a result it is difficult to know what might set them off. Although the violence that gets released is nearly always directed at a particular individual, it primarily serves as a form of emotional release for the pent up feelings that the sadist had been holding inside himself or herself.

TYRANNICAL SADIST

This type of sadistic personality is counted among the more cruel and frightening of all subtypes as they seem to really relish their acts of brutalizing and menacing others. It appears that forcing their unwilling victims to submit and cower provides them with some special feeling of satisfaction. An important difference between the explosive sadists and the tyrannical ones is that the tyrannical sadists choose their victims quite carefully to make sure that they are not going to stand up and fight back when they are attacked. The tyrannical sadists normally have a low self-esteem and several inner insecurities that they try to conceal from the world. In order to do this and feel superior, they often overwhelm others by their behavior.

SPINELESS SADIST

This type of sadist is completely opposite of other three types, as they are extremely insecure and behave like cowards. These people anticipate real danger, project their hostile ideas and strike first, thereby hoping to forestall the antagonist and put forth questions later. Although these sadists are afraid of many things, during times of stress they try to enforce the fears of their enemies. Spineless sadists employ aggressive hostility to portray the idea that they are not intimidated or fearful, which allows them to manage their inner feelings and display exactly the opposite of how they are actually feeling. Their mannerisms can be termed as counterphobic, a trick that allows them to control their personal fears as well as divert and propagate a false aura of self-assurance and confidence. Spineless sadists even seek out scapegoats whom they gang up on as this allows them to live in a state of denial about their own inner states.

Below are some behavioral pattern of a sadist;

• A sadistic individual does not hesitate to humiliate people intentionally in presence of others. The shame and disgrace that he inflicts on other people makes him feel larger than life and supremely important.
• He considers all people to be under his control, no matter whether the other individual is a student, child, prisoner or patient, and treats them in an unkind and harsh manner. All that he hopes to gain is unchallenged dominance within a relationship.
• A sadistic individual finds pleasure in causing pain to other people or harming them by lying without any apparent reason or without any motive to achieve any other goal. This action of harming others like that makes him feel contented and invincible.
• Unlike a normal person, a sadistic individual frightens and terrorizes others for getting his job done.
• He often puts restriction on the freedom of other people within a close relationship. For instance, a spouse may not be permitted to leave the premises of the house unaccompanied or the teenage daughter may not be allowed to attend various social functions. The controlling nature of the person makes it difficult for others to have his or her say. A sadistic person behaves as if his word is final and the ultimate law. Hence it should be obeyed, even if it may seem outrageous and senseless to others.
• A sadistic individual gets highly enthralled by all forms of violence, martial arts, weapons, injuries, torture or death. He or she channelizes the inner killer instinct in various socially acceptable ways like “studying” as well as admiring historic figures such as cruel monarchs or dictators like Hitler.
• He does not falter from making use of violence or cruelty for establishing his dominance in any form of relationship. The main goal is to exert full and unbroken control over an individual or situation.

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