Antisocial Personality Disorder Essay

Antisocial Personality Disorder

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

Of these individuals, there are; Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Tommy Lynn Sells. Charles Manson is known for showing many signs of ASPD. He created a cult that easily influenced women and brainwashed them to carry out his crimes. As his ego grew, so did the severity of his crimes. “He showed absolutely no remorse for his crimes” (6 Famous people with ASPD). Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer during the 80’s through the 90’s. Dahmer felt neglected by his family when he was an adolescent and did not fit in well with his peers, he enjoyed fire-setting, and pathological lying. Tommy Lynn Sells claims to have murdered between 20-50 people during his travels across the United States. “Mostly abandoned by his mother, he was raised until the age of 13 by his great-aunt. He spent some time living with a man from a nearby town that sexily molested him before he eventually left home and traveled as a transient. Sells killed his first victim at the age of 15 in Mississippi…” (6 Famous people with

Antisocial Personality Disorder can be transmitted genetically. A statistic says, “Family studies show that nearly one fifth of first-degree relatives of antisocials are themselves antisocials” (Craighead and Nemeroff). If an ASPD person has a child, there is a higher chance that the offspring will have antisocial personality disorder. Genetically, the central nervous systems neurotransmitter serotonin has been linked to aggressive behavior. “MRI brain scans of criminals… revealed reduced gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex” (Psychology in Action). Environmentally, if an ASPD person has children, they could unintentionally raise them to have the same perspective on life. How an ASPD person was raised influences how severe the disorder is also. In some instances, if a set of twins are separated at birth and one is adopted by a family with a non-antisocial personality disorder and the other is adopted by an antisocial personality disorder person, the one who is not antisocial will raise a non-antisocial child and vice versa. In other words, some people seem to have a biological tendency to develop ASPD, and the family environment will determine whether that tendency is fulfilled (Batten). This idea can be scientifically supported by the Nature vs. Nurture theory, even though ASPD is not just one side of the theory but