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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Every few years there are disturbing, yet fascinating headlines: “BTK killer: Hiding in plain sight” or “Police discover at least 10 victims at Anthony Sowell's home”; but what would allow an individual to commit the crimes they did? In cases like these there is usually a common link: Antisocial Personality disorder. It is an unknown disorder to most of the population which is why there are so many questions to be answered, the main ones being what is antisocial personality disorder and how does it effect patient and society as a whole? To answer these questions one needs an accurate background picture of the disorder.
First, Anti Social Personality Disorder is a mental condition that can cause a person to think and behave in a destructive manner. “Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is characterized by a pattern of socially irresponsible, exploitative, and guiltless behavior. ASPD is associated with co-occurring mental health and addictive disorders and medical comorbidity.” (Black, 2015) People with ASPD have a habit of antagonizing and manipulating others but also have no awareness for what is right and what is wrong. One tends to disregard the feelings and wishes of others. “ASPD typically begins during childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood.” (Kivi, 2012) ASPD usually is noticed around 8 years old, but it is categorized as a conduct disorder. Though children can be treated in what doctors may think is ASPD, children will not be completely diagnosed with the title of ASPD until at least 18 years of age. In time those with ASPD behavior usually end up turning criminal.
Antisocial personality disorder is a personality disorder marked by a general pattern of disregard for a violation of other people’s rights. Explanations of antisocial personality disorder come from the psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and biological models. As with many other personality disorders, psychodynamic theorists propose that this disorder starts with an absence of parental love during infancy leading to a lack of basic trust. In this view, the children that develop this disorder respond to early inadequacies by becoming emotionally distant, and they bond with others through use of power and destructiveness. Behavioral theorists have suggested that antisocial symptoms may be learned through modeling, or imitation. As evidence, they point to the higher rate of antisocial personality disorder found among the parents of people with this disorder. Other behaviorists suggest that some parent’s unintentionally teach antisocial behavior by regularly awarding a child’s aggressive behavior. The cognitive view says that people with this disorder hold attitudes that trivialize the importance of other people’s needs. Cognitive theorists also believe that these people have a genuine difficulty recognizing a point of view other than their own. Finally studies show that biological factors may play an important role in developing antisocial disorder. Researchers have found that antisocial people, particularly those with high impulse and aggression, display lower serotonin activity and has been linked this same activity with other studies as well.
Conduct Disorder has been a part of the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic Statistical Manuel (DSM) since its original release date in 1994. Although, there is new information about the disorder that was previously unknown, Conduct Disorder is distinguished by a “repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate norms or rules are violated” (American Psychiatric Association, 1994.) This mild, moderate, or severe antisocial behavior begins to appear either in childhood, categorized as early-onset conduct disorder , or in adolescence after ten years of age, classified as adolescent-onset conduct disorder (Passamonti et al., 2010.) The criteria to meet to be diagnosed with this disorder are separated into four subgroups: aggressive conduct, nonaggressive conduct, deceitfulness or theft, and serious violations of the rules. Three or more incidents must be present in the past twelve months with at least one of the characteristics being present in the past six months. This disorder causes severe impairment of functioning across a variety of situations so it is important to keep in mind society and individual situations because this diagnosis may be “misapplied to individuals in settings where patterns of undesirable behavior are sometimes viewed as protective” (American Psychiatric Association, 1994.) For example, a patient that has recently relocated from a war torn country would most likely not be a candidate for Conduct disorder even though he or she may exhibit some of the characteristics.
In conclusion, Anti-Social Personality disorder has immense effects on people concerning empathy, violence, and even learning. It is also a very resistant disorder to treat. However, much needs to be learned about this disorder in order to help patients live normal lives, and can even be useful in establishing a treatment context for addressing conditions such as substance abuse, impulsive aggression, and schizophrenia ( Pajerla, 2007).
I have decided to research the development of antisocial personality disorders due to the quality of early childhood care and early childhood experiences. Antisocial personality disorder is described generally as disregard for others. Diagnosing ASPD involves features such as delinquency, physical assaults, deceitfulness and lying, impulsivity, and irresponsibility. This topic appealed to me because my step sister goes to see a therapist and they have reason to believe that she may have an antisocial or borderline personality disorder. While I won’t divulge, she has had many traumatic childhood experiences and had quite the rough upbringing with her parents. This led me to be interested in this article and to find out more about the connections between the two phenomena.
Another way to put this would be that a person with antisocial personality disorder will display psychopathic or sociopathic traits beginning in early in their life and continuing into adulthood. People with this disorder often have a lack of empathy or remorse, an aggressiveness towards people in many situations, and deceitfulness and manipulation. For example, a person with antisocial personality disorder may justify an action that they made against someone else by saying, “well they had it coming.” Or, the person may play with people’s thoughts and emotions in order to receive personal gain, which could be anything from sex to money to
“Antisocial personality disorder is characterized by a long-standing pattern of a disregard for other people’s rights, often crossing the line and violating those rights. It usually begins in childhood or as a teen and continues into their adult lives.” (Staff & Grohol, 2014) Individuals with antisocial personality often display deviant behavior throughout their life and are often classified as different outcast groups in the society such as sociopaths and psychopaths. People with this disorder tend to social predators who befriend individuals and overtime gain their trust and loyalty then cause pain and suffering to these individual’s lives without feeling any form of remorse.
Ogloff, J. R. (2006). Psychopathy/antisocial personality disorder conundrum. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, (40), 519-528.
Two Greek words: ‘psyche’ (soul or mind) and ‘pathy’ (suffering or disease), were combined in the 19th century by German Psychiatrists, to form a word that would describe the most dangerous and violent of all humans. Psychopathy, today, is called ‘mental disorder’, the study of which is still known as psychopathology. Other relating terms like 'constitutional (inborn) psychopaths' or 'psychopathic personalities' were used through the early 20th century to cover anyone socially undesirable in any way or those who violated legal laws and moral expectations.
How many individuals go through life and say, “I am antisocial” because they do not like talking to people? Too many do, however many of which are not antisocial. If someone says they are antisocial, they simply mean they are selectively social. People who are antisocial suffer from a disorder known as Antisocial Personality Disorder. Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is an ongoing pattern of behavior that includes the disregard of social rules, serious violations of rights, and irresponsible acts. This disorder affects roughly three percent of males and one percent of females in the United States. Individuals who have ASPD are interesting to learn about. Many of these individuals, we know. These individuals
The main cause of antisocial personality disorder is unknown. However, genetic factors and environmental factors are both believed to be linked to antisocial personality disorder. Environmental factors include being a victim to child abuse or a dysfunctional family life. “People with an antisocial or alcoholic parent are at increased risk”:(“Antisocial Personality Disorder Symptoms,” 2013). On the other hand, research suggests that genetics could also be a factor. When abnormalities development in the nervous system, this leads to learning disorders, hyperactivity, and bedwetting which in turn leads to antisocial personality disorder.:(“Antisocial Personality Disorder Symptoms,” 2013). Not only are the causes unclear, but also because they are unclear exams and tests are given to determine if one has the disorder or not. “Antisocial personality disorder is diagnosed based on a psychological evaluation that assesses the history and severity of symptoms. To be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, a person must have had conduct d...
Antisocial Personality Disorder, also informally known as psychopathy/sociopathy, is a disorder where people elicit manipulative behaviors and lack morals. This includes disregard for rules, violence, superficial charm, promiscuity, a superiority complex, and difficulty forming attachments. This is said to be caused by genetics as well as modeling, or watching other people perform this kind of behavior. 3.3% of Americans are diagnosed with Antisocial Personality disorder. It’s 70% more common in males than females and is seen greatly in
In this paper I will be discussing the causes, symptoms, treatments and cures of the psychological disorder called Antisocial personality disorder. Antisocial personality disorder is also known as sociopathy. Sociopathy is a mental condition where someone continuously shows that they are not able to tell the difference between right and wrong. They also chose to ignore the feelings and rights of others they come in contact with. People with antisocial personality disorder tend to be the antagonizer, manipulate and treat others unkindly and seem to have no feelings of remorse because this disorder defeats the personals morals. They are incapable of containing guilt or remorse for their behaviors. Individuals who have antisocial