Personality disorders are a particularly complex part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, published by the American Psychiatric Association. While it’s become fairly common to hear clinical terms related to personality disorders being thrown around on TikTok and Instagram, not everyone who uses these terms does so in the right context.
A diagnosed narcissist has shared a riddle that can allegedly determine whether you are a psychopath or not.
Jacob Skidmore posts on TikTok under the username “The Nameless Narcissist.” He uses his clinical diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder as an entry point to create content about the different nuances of narcissism. He explains how he enters and experiences the world, focusing mostly on how his diagnosis affects his ability to maintain relationships.
Skidmore photographed himself sitting in a beige room, sparsely decorated with a map on one wall and a calendar on the other. “If you can answer this riddle correctly, this is a major sign that you are a psychopath,” he announced in a TikTok post.
He offered a caveat about the nature of the riddle, noting that “there’s no research to validate it.” Still, Skidmore said, “If you do get it right, don’t get all in a panic. However, that being said, the only people in my life who are accurately able to answer was me, a diagnosed narcissist, and my sister who is diagnosed with ASPD, aka sociopathy. So, take that as you will.”
He offered a caveat about the nature of the puzzle, noting that “there is no research to verify its validity.” However, Skidmore said: “If you do it right, there is no need to panic. However, that being said, the only people in my life who can answer accurately are me, a narcissist, and my sister who has been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, also known as sociopathy. So take that as you will.”
“So, a woman goes to her mother’s funeral, and there she meets a man she’s never met before, and they hit it off,” he introduced the puzzle. “Like this woman thinks, ‘Oh my God, this could be my soulmate.’ But she doesn’t realize until the funeral is over that she forgot his name, forgot his number. She has no idea who this man is, and whoever she asks, they don’t know either.”
“The following week, she killed her sister,” he announced. “So the mystery is: Why did she do it? Why did she kill her sister?”
He offered the answer to the riddle, saying: “Because if she killed her sister, since the sister and her mother are close relatives, it is likely that this man will also attend this funeral.”
Skidmore went on to explain that the answer seemed obvious to him and he was able to answer quickly. He stated that his sister, who he claimed had antisocial personality disorder, “answered it very slowly because she thought it was a trick question because she found it very obvious.”
He explains that in his view, the woman in the puzzle doesn’t seem particularly psychopathic, saying: “It seems more like Machiavellian traits than psychopathic traits. But still, I think it’s an interesting little mystery.”
Related: 8 Reasons Why My Narcissistic Cat Would Be The Worst Husband Ever
Being able to answer the riddle is not a diagnosis in any way.
The puzzle is more of a thought experiment than any legitimate clinical tool.
The majority of comments on the post declared that the answer to the riddle was clear, as most people reached the same conclusion, which is that the woman killed her sister in the hope that the mysterious man would come to her funeral.
“Oh, are we thinking in realistic terms?” Someone asked. “I was like, ‘Man is death.’”
“I immediately said I would see the man again,” one woman explained. “But I feel like that just indicates good logical skills. Because knowing the answer doesn’t mean believing it’s moral.”
Her commentary on the moral politics of the puzzle raises a valuable point, one that touches on issues of empathy and psychopathy. A March 2022 American Psychological Association article noted that various aspects of psychopathy include “low empathy and remorse, grandiosity, impulsivity, and sometimes aggressive or violent behavior.”
