UPDATED FOR 2024. Editor’s note: The following article was submitted by the Lovefraud reader who posts as “Genevieve79.” She explains the Crazymaking One-Liner.
I’ve reached the age of 30 having been on the receiving end of a number of personality disordered individuals, mostly female but the odd male too. I spent (wasted?!) my twenties ducking and diving these people, even changing career direction several times, because I didn’t know how else to deal with them.
As I approach my 31st birthday I think I have finally begun to crack it! These people are actually very predictable if we know how to spot them early on. An experience with yet another one on a professional forum this weekend gave me the most tremendous Eureka moment.
I want to tell you all about what I call The Crazymaking One-Liner.
The Crazymaking One-Liner
The Crazymaking One-Liner is possibly the biggest warning sign you’ll ever have at the beginning of your dalliance with a sociopath. How you deal with it can determine the rest of your experience with them.
When I look back over my experiences with these personalities, they all have this in common and their primary goal is to antagonise, not communicate. They want a fight — I believe it is excess inward anger that makes them what they are, they hate everybody and everything deep down but at the same time feel a deep need and sense of entitlement to have/own/control everybody and everything they want.
So what is this Crazymaking One-Liner of which I speak? It is the enigmatic sound bite that seemingly comes from nowhere, it is the single sentence that makes those of us who are healthy go “WTF?!” It is the one-line statement that simply has no answer and we are left rummaging around in our heads trying to figure out what they are on about, whilst simultaneously searching for something to say in response.
It is at this moment that, depending on our response, determines the rest of our experience with them. It is usually a criticism, though I’m sure not always.
I am not kidding when I tell you that every single sociopathic individual I have ever encountered (mostly female as I say) has had this trait — this tendency — to come out with sound bites that leave you wondering what they’re getting at and what you’re supposed to say in response.
How do you feel?
A fantastic way to identify if you are being fed a big juicy Crazymaking One-Liner is to focus on how it makes you feel when you hear it. The Crazymaking One Liner will make you feel (usually in order)
STAGE ONE
Completely bewildered “Where did that come from?”
Completely uncertain “How is one supposed to answer that?”
Completely confused “What are they getting at?”
AND THEN…
STAGE TWO
Suddenly motivated before the other party says any more to anticipate where it came from, how one should answer and what they are getting at. At this point most of us who are healthy will automatically react, open up the lines of communication and start over explaining ourselves! At this point the psycho has won. We’ve let them in, we’ve opened the floodgates and very soon after that we’ll find ourselves under attack and usually engaged in a fullscale argument/fight with them. Because that is what they wanted all along.
Asserting ourselves
I’ve found often, that once we briefly but directly assert ourselves and refuse to be attacked, as I eventually did with the person on the forum (see the examples below) calling them out for being personal, they will backpedal pretty quickly. That person wrote a post in response saying how it wasn’t meant to be personal and the tone seemed like they wanted to make amends. Haven’t heard from them since despite posting an ‘Ok’ in reply and sending a nice email privately.
This is not unusual with this type of personality. So, after they backpedal, don’t expect them to want to make amends with you when you tell them you accept their apology and wish to get back to normal. You’ll find yourself sent to Coventry, ignored, possibly even blocked by them. All lines of communication, like at the very beginning of the dalliance, with their use of The Crazymaking One-Liner, are suddenly once again closed down. That’s happened every single time to me with each different psycho. Possibly they do this because you have won and they don’t want you rubbing their nose in it! Besides, they never wanted to be your friend/have a healthy connection with you in the first place. It wasn’t a genuine disagreement between two human beings, leading to a peaceful resolution; it was a weird little game played out by the psycho which tends to come to an abrupt halt when you refuse to play anymore!
So, when we hear The Crazymaking One-Liner, how must we respond? Yep, you guessed it with another one liner!!!
The Blessed Phrase of Salvation
Allow me to introduce you to The Blessed Phrase Of Salvation! It is, quite simply
“What do you mean?” (“..by that?” is optional)
I will illustrate the wise use of The Blessed Phrase of Salvation with examples!
1) On A Discussion Forum to me: “I think you’re way oversimplifying the situation Genevieve” Full Stop!
May not seem too bad at first glance but think about it — most people would explain themselves with “because,” especially on a written forum when, unlike normal conversation, you have full chance to say your piece. Why waste all that comment space? But not your personality disordered individual! Instead of leaving my response at “Why do you say that?” and making them explain themselves, I made the mistake all healthy people do by going into a spiel and explaining why I wasn’t oversimplifying! Every response from them after that was pretty much an attack, and very personal at that. I let them in, you see.
Likewise with others I have seen the exact same pattern unfold. It starts with a one-line criticism that has a limited possible response and as soon as we over respond they have got us.
How about an example in the real world?
2) At Work with someone in authority over me. Sitting in silence, alone with her. I was working; she was working. Out of the blue with her back to me, she suddenly says in a threatening voice, “They’re monitoring the amount of work you and your colleagues do, you know” Full Stop!
What is a person supposed to say to that? In the real world we have the benefit of tone of voice but if we’re savvy we can pick up the same snarky tone online as well. I made the mistake of under responding here I stayed quiet because I lacked confidence at the time. She was basically implying I was not working hard enough when the truth was I wasn’t being given enough to do.
What I should have said was, like the previous one, “What do you mean by that?” I should have briefly but directly challenged her statement, her Crazymaking One-Liner. My inadequate response that day helped seal my fate in that employment — the same woman’s behaviour towards me escalated to the point that she had effectively bullied me out of my job by a year later.
3) The Personality Disordered Family Member of a friend, via sms, “Good to know what you truly think of your niece” Full Stop.
How many of us healthy people would instantly start defending ourselves if we received a text like that? Stop! It’s one of those Crazymaking One-Liners again!! You’re dealing with a personality disordered person and they want a fight! Instead, draw them out, remember our Blessed Phrase of Salvation and let them dig their own hole! Because they will. Their Crazymaking One-Liner has no basis in everybody else’s sane reality and The Blessed Phrase of Salvation will very quickly expose that if you put your faith in it!
The family member who received this text message chose to under respond to it (stay quiet!) and the sender then moved on to another family member to have a fight with them. You might think great, but all under responding did was shift the problem close by — it would have been far better for the original recipient to have exorcised the demon straightaway using our trusty Blessed Phrase of Salvation!
Seriously! It works. In fact, to not use it is potentially fatal! Draw them out. Do not over communicate, but do not under communicate either letting them get away with it is also a bad idea. Simply ask them a brief but direct “What do you mean?” and keep asking them questions and drawing them out, don’t go into explaining yourself. Avoid expressing yourself in any big way until they start talking more and even then be very careful. Keep batting the ball back into their court make them explain themselves. Eventually they’ll give up and walk away, finding someone else take their pathological inner anger out on.
Healthy people like us don’t usually make one-liners; we tend to qualify a one-line criticism with some sort of explanation. With personality disordered individuals, they shoot out these weird little sound bites at their targets without any explanation, leaving the listener hanging, wondering what the heck just happened!
Nipping being targeted in the bud
So this is how we spot them, ladies and gentlemen! The Crazymaking One-Liner, in my experience, occurs at the very beginning of the relationship. This can be a platonic, family or romantic relationship it seems to be across the board. The Crazymaking One-Liner is one of the main ways that a sociopath tests us out and draws us in at the start. If we can spot this straightaway, and deal with it as outlined above, the chances of them continuing on to target us further are less.
Don’t worry about any of them reading this and changing their game plan. They have no control over their behaviour — they truly can’t help themselves. They’re all wired pretty much the same way; it’s an impulse. They’re on another planet to the rest of us, and it’s pointless us trying to relate to them like they aren’t. There is now medical evidence to suggest that their brains are actually wired differently to healthy individuals.
Every single one of them I have ever been targeted by in my entire life (going back to age 9 with a school bully!) has been the same way at work, in my family and in education. They even pose in photographs in a similar way! I have noticed that few of them smile, or when they do it is not real somehow; they emanate fakeness, rather like a vampire having no reflection. Watch out for the eyes as well, they can be a real giveaway. You’ll know what I’m getting at when you begin to think about it.
Their predictability is our one consolation. Let us therefore continue to pool our experiences on this site and realise just how much those that have targeted us have in common!
With best wishes,
Genevieve79 xxxx
Learn more: Tools for navigating narcissists and other manipulative people
What if you decide to stay with your sociopathic spouse?
See, I’m gone for a day and y’all are talking about snakes again. LOL
You rock, Sky. Tell it like it is, woman! (((hugs)))
So I’ve been feeling pretty blocked lately and not knowing how to deal with it. I told you guys about the sexy neighbor rock star dude and how he just stopped calling. It really hurt me, but I didn’t want to risk more rejection by telling him, because obviously a guy like this is not good enough anyway. So finally I had an IMAGINARY conversation with him tonight. It really unblocked a lot of stuck energy, and of course, the pain morphed into the pain of my parents’ not loving me. So I’m now focused on me again and not obsessing over men. I haven’t completely cleared this issue – it’s pretty deep. But I’m feeling so much more detached from the neighbor guy and also from the guy I met in Costa Rica. I’m getting a glimpse of what it’s like to be a normal person who can just walk away when someone doesn’t love me or treat me well. I see my healthy friends able to do this with guys, and I have never been very good at it. I’m getting there. I will get there.
Star, You sound great!
You know, when we’re kids we are supposed to internalize the love our parents give to us, so that we love ourselves. Their positive regard for us becomes our positive regad for ourselves. If we never got that love, we don’t know how to love ourselves, and we become focussed on finding another person to love us. Even if we succeed, it doesn’t really work because what we truley need is to heal the inner spirit that was stunted, and learn to love ourselves.
We use men and relationships as a distraction, too, I think, because if we are focussed on that we don’t have to deal with ourselves, or our pain.
I googled love addiction yesterday and found a site that spoke volumes to me, personally. It said it was very common for a love addict to hook up with an “avoidant”.
Well, that has been the story of my life….I have been Skylars trained horse in all my relationships with men. Funny thing is that I chose these men. They appear strong, confidant, unshakable, (all qualitys that I percieve to be missing in me) but, in the end, they abandon me, at least emotionally, and I am left even more damaged.
Anyway, Star, I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re on the right track, today. I’m glad you’re feeling better.
Aww guys I’m just reading the latest posts and I’m so pleased that my article has helped! I love that we are all slowly but surely leading, and guiding, each other to freedom -within and without 🙂 Squeezy bear hugs xxxx
Star,
That is REALLY good stuff that you accessed within!! YAY!! 🙂
I’m curious.
Has anyone here been to the sociopath world blog?
It could be very triggering, but also INCREDIBLY interesting in how spaths think and talk to one another lol! It’s almost comical if it weren’t so sad. BUT it does give me an excellent perspective from a spaths point of view, how they think….if very little. It’s actually somewhat validating and helps me understand both my ex’s.
They make fun of us “empaths” though…..
I wouldn’t suggest it if it’s triggering for others.
LL
Yes. I went once about a year ago. A young woman spoke about losing interest in all of her boyfriends, and ignoring them. She held nothing but contempt for them as long as they continued to pursue her….but when they stopped, and went (as we call it) NC, she was furious and would stop at nothing to get their attention back! Ah, the power of NC.
It was very enlightening.
Dear LL–my sincere advice is to stay away from that site unless you are just in for DRAMA—Just MHO
Sky, the “horse trainer” only told him part of it. That kind of training is done in a round ring with the trainer in the middle with a long “string” (read WHIP) the horse is made to run around the ring in first one direction and then the other by use of the whip (if the horse turns his butt to the trainer when the trainer steps forward from the middle to make him change direction he is whipped until he turns facing the trainer.) the trainer keeps on doing this and running the horse around and around the ring until the horse will change directions with simply the trainer taking a step forward from the center, and the horse will TURN toward the trainer instead of butt toward the trainer.
Eventually, after quite a bit of this kind of activity, the horse WILL come toward the trainer in the center of the ring, but it ISN’T “just a take a wild horse and don’t look at it and it will come to you and you can put a halter on it.” It is quite a bit more complex than that.
There IS a lot of psychology in training/teaching a horse or a dog or a child for that matter. They have to trust us to get the best results, but fear or beatings WILL accomplish some BEHAVIORAL training in the horse, dog or child. In teaching a dog, horse, or child there have to be sanctions, both positive and negative to change behavior. The carrot and the stick. If the stick is used too much or too harshly though, I don’t think you get a really positive result even if the behavior does change in either the horse, dog or child.
Sometimes, though, with a horse, dog or adult human that has been “soured” for some reason so that they are aggressive and dangerous, a BIG STICK is about the only thing you can use to keep them from hurting you. In the case of the violent and aggressive horse or the dog, I think putting them down for the good of humanity is the best and safest option, but with people, I think Life without parole is the best option for violent people.
Kim, I just wanted to tell you how healthy I think you are sounding and how much progress I have seen you make in the time you have been here at LF! Congratulations on your new outlook on life and your insights!!!! TOWANDA for you!! Your posts are really great!!!! (((hugs))))
Thank-you, Oxy. That just made my day. 🙂