Antisocial Personality Disorder and its Potential Dangers

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Antisocial Personality Disorder is a personality disorder that is both easily diagnosed and can be potentially dangerous depending on severity. It is a disorder in which the person with the disorder does not feel empathy and can have the ability to manipulate others (Long, Philip W, 2011). Is this disorder treatable? Can it be diagnosed in children? What are the symptoms of this disorder? What are the dangers of this disorder? What causes one to develop this disorder? These are a few questions that I hope to address in this paper.

What is antisocial personality disorder? It is a disorder in which a person feels no empathy and does not have a sense of what is right or wrong (Long, Phillip W, 2011). Some of the symptoms of this disorder include the disregard for right and wrong, chronic lying, the use of charm with the intent to manipulate another person, problems with the law, child abuse, continuously violating rights of others, use of intimidation, violent behavior, no remorse, being impulsive, agitation, inability to maintain relationships, and irresponsibility (Mayo Clinic, 2010). With these symptoms a person could be almost capable of anything and may not even feel that they have done something wrong. Those with this disorder may even view themselves as superior to others (Health Tree, 2010). The symptoms for a person with the disorder to be labeled as a psychopath are a little different. How is this disorder diagnosed?

Diagnosing this disorder can be easy, however the difficulty lies in getting the person with the disorder to seek help (Health Tree, 2010). Also there needs to be a history conduct disorder in childhood and must be at least 18 in order to be diagnosed and the individual must also have at least 3 of the s...

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