What is bad person? Character traits of a bad person
We all know toxic people, who have very negative attitudes towards life or others, who try to manipulate and take you to their terrain or who exert their influence to make you have a hard time. They are what we commonly know as bad people. These individuals do not necessarily have a personality disorder. They simply have this attitude towards life due to adaptive causes. Bad people generate suffering in the environment, but they also suffer.
What is bad person?
Giving an exact definition of what a bad person is is quite difficult. We could say that bad people are those with bad intentions, that is, those who act to do evil consciously, systematically, and without remorse.
Being a bad person without having a personality disorder
There are people who are bad because they have a personality disorder. However, there are others that are bad because yes. It is true that there are people with ‘evil’ behavior towards their environment who do not respond to personality disorders, rather to a way of being and functioning in life.
Therefore, one should not identify being a bad person with having a mental disorder, nor think that it is more likely to be evil if one has psychological problems. Obviously, there are bad people who have personality disorders, just as there are bad people who do not have any type of disorder. There is no need to stigmatize; on the contrary: we must ensure social inclusion and remember that no mental illness leads anyone to do harm in a premeditated way on its own.
The bad person has a basic background of negative emotion towards others, without the others having done anything to deserve it.
This hostile component towards the other is part of their life, in a significant way, and if they can harm them in any way, they will do so, without any feeling of guilt and fully justifying their actions.
There is an important point in this and it is that we have all been able to do wrong at various times in our lives and that does not make us bad. However, these people have a lot of hostile energy on a chronic basis and it is part of their usual repertoire of behavior.
Are bad people born or made?
Human beings are born with the capacity to do evil and exercise cruelty. There is no ‘gene’ for evil. What really influences whether a person is good or bad are their experiences. If you have felt protected, if you have lived a full childhood, if you have received enough affection, if you have had people to guide you and support you in bad times… It is precisely when the most basic needs are not covered that the problems develop. personality traits that normally characterize bad people: selfishness, narcissism, thirst for revenge…
Thus, as in almost all behavior, there may be an innate part and a learned part. The truth is that this type of trait is not the most ‘human’ so to speak. We are gregarious mammals and we respond to social stimuli as a way of establishing a bond and security with those around us.
However, we have all seen children with inappropriate behavior towards others from very early ages. When this type of behavior appears and develops over time, it is a way of managing the environment seeking control, so perhaps it was useful for the person at first and then it became a personality style.
It should be possible to distinguish between anger, which is an activating emotion that serves to balance emotions when there has been something disturbing, from the concept of hostility, which is more related to that negative thought towards others and which is constantly fed. Hostility can last a lifetime, being the ‘bad’ person’s schema, while anger comes and goes.
How to distinguish a bad person?
There are many types of bad people and making an accurate portrait of all of them is an impossible mission. However, bad people often feel superior to others and therefore do not mind doing harm or failing in this regard. If you are human and you assume that other people are less than you, then you come to the conclusion that they are subhuman and that they do not have to have the same rights as you. Hence, they do not mind being hurtful, liars, or manipulative.
The energy of a bad person is immediately perceived, even if they put on a mask to fit in with society. In fact, it is likely that they will be unmasked in a short time and that hostility they have towards others or towards oneself will be discovered.
Likewise, the usual emotions of these people are bitterness, revenge, disproportionate and unjustified hatred, causeless envy and a constant state of negative activation.
Their thoughts are ruminating, obsessive and hostile towards the person or people who are the object of their resentment. It is very difficult for them to get them out of their heads and the only thing that can relieve them is to see that they are doing badly in life, rejoicing at their failures or misfortunes.
Their frequent behaviors are manipulation, criticism and lies as a way of gaining control and for things to be the way they want.
It is necessary to insist that they do not have to have an objective and real reason to start their evil.
What are the risks of living with a bad person?
The most dangerous are those who have the ability to hide that style, because if their way of working is noticed, people end up moving away from them, as a form of security.
However, if you hide these traits in any way, they will try to manipulate you. For example, turning those around you against someone.
The more subtle they are, the more difficult it can be to detect their maneuvers, but you can always tell that something is up.
If it is a partner or a closest friend, you will begin to feel that exhaustion that produces that continuous hammering caused by your attitudes.
This situation is more difficult to handle when withdrawal is difficult or impossible. Very close relatives, superiors at work, couples from whom it is difficult to separate… In these cases, the wear and tear they generate is very great and can end up causing anxiety in the environment.
Advice for someone who suspects they are a bad person
These behaviors are adaptive. It is a way of generating control while maintaining a defensive state in a chronic way. If the person detects that this trait is not something he wants to keep in his life, because he realizes the consequences it has for her environment, he is already taking a big step. And it is important to work more deeply on the origins of that behavior to be able to treat and process it.
Realizing, in fact, is the first step. It is important to be aware of the “evil things” we do and question why we do them and how they make others feel. If they are deeply rooted customs in life, it is best to put yourself in the hands of a professional capable of finding the origin of these attitudes and giving us the necessary tools to develop more productive customs. In these cases, going to a psychologist is also an option. It will help us gain perspective, replace wrong beliefs, improve empathy, active listening, the way we communicate, and other factors we need to achieve success.
In conclusion, it must be taken into account that there are more and more people, in fact, who realize that something is happening to them, since the bad person is not happy being the way they are either. These types of emotions are very destructive and their influence on health has been demonstrated.