I just kind of wonder with how casually people express these thoughts. It’s a little disturbing how normalized it is to entertain such notions, given how other types of fantasies are very stigmatized.
Like when discussing char.ai, acting out sexual or romantic fantasies is something a lot of people do, but it’s considered embarrassing. While people freely discuss violent roleplays without any shame.
And then there’s the cliche of fantasizing about killing one’s boss or coworkers.
Are these really common thoughts for mentally sound people to have?
From the Intrusive Thoughts Wikipedia Page:
Many people experience the type of negative and uncomfortable thoughts that people with more intrusive thoughts experience, but most people can dismiss these thoughts.[7] For most people, intrusive thoughts are a “fleeting annoyance”.[8] Psychologist Stanley Rachman presented a questionnaire to healthy college students and found that virtually all said they had these thoughts from time to time, including thoughts of sexual violence, sexual punishment, “unnatural” sex acts, painful sexual practices, blasphemous or obscene images, thoughts of harming elderly people or someone close to them, violence against animals or towards children, and impulsive or abusive outbursts or utterances.[9] Such thoughts are universal among humans, and have “almost certainly always been a part of the human condition”.
Not quite the same as to fantasizing about killing your boss or co-worker.
There’s a big difference between thinking/imagining something and acting on it. I wouldn’t consider it an issue unless it’s causing damage to your life or relationships. Fixating on morbid stuff to the point that it impacts your life is probably a sign of something bigger going on.
I think there are different kinds of violent fantasies. I imagine all kinds of violent stuff in an unrealistic action movie kind of way, with exploding heads and disembowelment and all that (I run D&D games lol). I got worried that I might be dangerous. Then, one time I tried to vividly imagine the actual real world consequences of hurting a real person that I knew, and I couldn’t get any further than imagining the pained, betrayed look on their face before I had to hit the eject button. That brief exercise fucked me up for weeks afterward, but it was pretty reassuring. In the long run. I think I’m the schmuck in the horror movie that chokes when it comes down to actually firing a gun at someone and gets killed for hesitating, and honestly I think I’m okay with that.
If you’re worried, have a Hare test done. It’s a question and answer survey that helps diagnose sociopathy.
Personally I have a hypothesis that humanity has invisibly specialized, like ants. Hundreds of thousands of years of living in very dangerous environments with people living a few miles away that constantly want to kill you and take your food.
This has led to a mentally prepared warrior caste that will be less likely to fall to fear or panic in combat (of course this is natural selection, only the surviving warriors get to reproduce)
And I am thinking part of that is, as you experience, these violent fantasies.
You aren’t having them because you are mentally ill, you are having them because your ancestors evolved over thousands of generations to have more Fight than Flee in your emergency response.
Unfortunately that means your brain is geared for violence, like mine.
Were we born 400 years ago we might have been lauded heroes, but in our modern safe world we are relics that society wants to forget.
I would say no, that is not normal.
Its important to note that someone saying “I wish I could/ I would kill my [whoever],” that doesn’t usually mean anything beyond just “I am voicing my frustration with that person.” That doesn’t mean they have actually given the idea thought.
If someone is actually thinking about killing or harming someone, please seek professional help.
I havent had anyone express views like this around me; at all.
Are you OK, OP?
OP Is ok. Don’t tell me that you have not had a dick of a boss that was cruel to you and thought about ways to kill the SOB. The thoughts are fine but putting it into action is a whole different thing.
Mmm no, can’t say I have. I have tried to come up with the perfect way and time to quit that most inconveniences them, you know make them feel my missing labor. Or fantasize a Newsies-style unionization. But not murder, no
Dick of a boss? Yes.
Thought of shouting at him, telling how I feel? Yes.
Thought of brutally murdering him? No.
Like when discussing char.ai, acting out sexual or romantic fantasies is something a lot of people do, but it’s considered embarrassing. While people freely discuss violent roleplays without any shame.
Violence is culturally normalized, while sexual things are usually shamed and censored. We can see this a lot in different media, especially the US is very big on that part.
And then there’s the cliche of fantasizing about killing one’s boss or coworkers.
Never heard of that and I’d say that’s downright sociopathic. I think the only time I had seriously violent thoughts were about my cheating ex girlfriends, and there was a lot of shit that came along with that, that I’m not going to go into here. Let’s just say it was very traumatic and accordingly caused a lot of very different thoughts in general. But casually having fantasies about killing people? Nah dawg. That’s when you get a therapist.
Reading through these comments makes me worry about y’all and maybe the people I interact with on a daily basis.
Like I would understand maybe punching someone to try and “convert” the emotional/mental pain they caused you into actual pain they can understand; to teach them a lesson or open their eyes. Take punching a nazi as an example.
But having “violent sadistic fantasies” especially involving those close to you should probably invoke some level of concern about your mental state and warrant a psych eval.
Put it this way, if you sat down in front of a therapist and told them what you just told us, would they warn the authorities after the appointment or just go about their day?
Put it this way, if you sat down in front of a therapist and told them what you just told us, would they warn the authorities after the appointment or just go about their day?
That’s why you don’t do that…
As long as they’re just thoughts, then it sounds normal to me
Of course. Everyone does.
That’s just not true. I certainly don’t.
My brain seems to draw the line at fantasizing a good punch in the nose. And even then, they have to really be asking for it, and then that’s it, I walk off. I can’t recall ever fantasized killing or torturing somebody that I had problems with. If that’s normal then idk, but honestly that’s totally weird to me
