As with many influences on human behavior, environmental actions may actually trigger the genetic predispositions toward antisocial behavior. Of these environmental triggers, childhood abuse may be the most important of situational factors. Understanding antisocial personalities in individuals with biological susceptibility to antisocial behaviors and those who experienced maltreatment in a hostile environment would be at a high risk for developing antisocial personality disorder. Although the diagnosis is limited to those persons over eighteen years of age, it usually involves a history of antisocial behavior before the age of fifteen. The individual often displays a pattern of lying, truancy, delinquency, substance abuse, running away from home and may have difficulty with the law. As an adult, the person often commits acts that are against the law and/or fails to live up to responsibilities. They tend to have difficulty sustaining relationships and frequently are involved in alcohol and drug abuse. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) by the American Psychiatric Association (APA 85), ASPD is characterized by a pervasive disregard for, and violation of, other people’s rights. The APA further categorizes certain behaviors that work as criteria for the disorder. According to the APA, criterion exhibit pathological personality traits including antagonism, manipulative behavior, deceitfulness, callousness, hostility and disinhibition along with lack of empathy. Although not all individuals with ASPD are criminals, criminal actions are characteristic of ASPD. Not surprisingly, a large number of people with ASPD, about 75%, end up in prison. When one becomes unable to fun... ... middle of paper ... ...iolence in Maltreated Children.” Science. 297. (2002): 851-854. Print. Hare, Robert D. "Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Case of Diagnostic Confusion." Psychiatric Times. (1996): n. page. Print. Huizinga, David, Bret Haberstick, Andrew Smolen, Scott Menard, and Susan Young. "Childhood Maltreatment, Subsequent Antisocial Behavior, and the Role of Monoamine Oxidase A Genotype." Biological Psychiatry. 60. (2006): 677-683. Print. Paris, Joel. Nature and Nurture in Psychiatry: A Predisposition-Stress Model of Mental Disorders. 1st edition. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc., 1999. Smith, Carolyn A., Timothy O. Ireland , Terence P. Thornberry, and Laura Elwyn . "Childhood Maltreatment and Antisocial Behavior: Comparison of Self‐Reported and Substantiated Maltreatment." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 78. (2008): 173-186. Print.
In psychology, the nature versus nurture argument is a long-debated topic. With each new discovery, there are two famous questions, "Did genes make this happen or did one's environment cause it?" Torgersen (2009) confronts this battle by gathering data of the effects of the environment on the development of personality disorders, explaining that – due to research in Norway and other regions – the progression and endowment of personality disorders may actually boil down to genetic predisposition rather than environmental factors. In other words, it is suggested
Kaplan, H. I., Sadock, B. J., & Grebb, J. A. (1994). Synopsis of psychiatry: behavioral sciences,
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.
The research community and the clinical community do not agree completely with the DSM IV classification because it overemphasizes symptoms related to delinquent and criminal behavior and underemphasize symptoms rela...
...ibit signs of struggles with social functioning (family and friendship problems often related to mistrust from the sufferer), criminal behavior (as there is a disrespect for social norms that relate to laws that need to be followed by all members of society), desires for harmful and impulsive behavior, and a lack of kindness or compassion. One of the top identifying aspects of ASPD is a lack of remorse when an individual steals from, hurts, mistreats, or kills another. Someone can only be diagnosed with ASPD if he or she meets the following criteria; he or she is at least 18 years of age and have shown significant impairment with normal functioning and home, school, and work. However, it wasn’t until 1980 that ASPD finally became a recognized mental disorder that contained a list of sympotms focused on observations that were agreed upon amoung various psychiatrists.
Yet, Hitchock created the character Bruno ahead of the times who fits the description of someone suffering from ASPD to a tee. A diagnosis of ASPD requires three of the following behaviors such as a failure to conform to societal norms, lack of remorse, deceitfulness, impulsivity, aggressive behavior, and careless disregard for the safety of others. Sometimes the observable symptoms of ASPD lead to abhorrent or criminal behavior, sometimes it does not. In Bruno Antony’s case, the disorder would lead to the murder of one stranger and the consequential turmoil inflicted on another stranger’s
Silberg, J. L., Maes, H., & Eaves, L. J. (2012). Unraveling the effect of genes and environment in the transmission of parental antisocial behavior to children's conduct disturbance, depression and hyperactivity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53(6), 668-677. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02494.x
Simons, C. (2001). Antisocial personality disorder in serial killers: The thrill of the kill. The Justice Professional, 14(4), 345-356.
Considered one of the most arduous mental disorders to diagnose, antisocial personality disorder has gained the needed attention it deserves over the past couple of decades. In the past, antisocial personality disorder, also known as ASP, was often misdiagnosed. Many earlier psychiatrists and psychologists often confused ASP with other disorders, such as: narcissistic personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder (Black). As time went on, better guidelines for diagnosing ASP were brought to the forefront.
The first three arguments will be discussed support the notion of childhood abuse increasing the likelihood of later criminality: Firstly, the correlation found between childhood physical abuse and anti-social behavior in later life; secondly, the role of the environment in influencing criminality; and thirdly, the relationship between neglect and future criminality.
Tuvblad, C., Grann, M., & Lichtenstein, P. (2006). Heritability for adolescent antisocial behaviour differs with socioeconomic status: Gene-environment interaction. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 734-743. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01552.x
This is an interesting topic because offenders are a threat to a harmonious society, and learning the background of this behavior can help humanity reduce violence and dangers to society. Antisocial personality disorder shows more prevalence in males than in females and primarily effects people within the inferior economic classes, which are one in forty-seven people within the United States (Nevid, J.S. et al. 2008).
This disorder carries many different symptoms and not everyone who has been diagnosed suffers from all of them. The most prevalent symptoms amongst diagnosed individuals is lying, lack of remorse/empathy and exploitation/manipulation of others. Other individuals often deceive other people through scams and partake in fraud, aggressive behavior and complete disregard for the law or the safety of others and themselves. Many people who have this disorder often deal with substance abuse to cope either for personal pleasure or to use as a method for coping with the symptoms of this disorder. This disorder of the mind is typically rooted from a bad upbringing, in which the individual is raised in a bad environment with lack of parental attention, and possible physical and/or mental from the present guardian. There are hereditary components to Antisocial Personality Disorder, if a parent or immediate relative has been diagnosed with ASPD then it is possible for the offspring/relative of those individuals will inherit this mental condition. Although other individuals might suffer from these environments it does not allows result in an Antisocial Personality Disorder
It is quite evident that brain imaging is key to understanding why an antisocial persons’ characteristics are the way they are. In studying how the brain works, and what functions predispose to certain behaviors perhaps steps can be taken when an adolescent or adult undergoes trauma. One of the important takeaways one must bare in mind while reading this paper is that though certain environments and scenarios may predispose one to being antisocial, it is not always guaranteed. It is simply that when observing violence juveniles and adults, time and time again they replicate data previously had, reinforcing the areas researchers feel are causal for such behavior. Nevertheless, there is much to be learned on all fronts, and a considerable amount
One side of the research suggests that having a mental disorder does not mean that an individual is necessarily going to engage in violent behaviour (Gavin, 2014; Hollin, 2013). McGuire (2004) states that individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental disorder are no more likely to engage in deviant behaviour than the population as a whole. However, some disorders can disrupt an individual’s thinking, mood and ability to relate to others (Gavin, 2014; National Alliance on Mental Illness, n.d.). If that person is lacking treatment for their mental disorder and the means to overcome such a disruption, they may turn to anti-social behaviour (Cassel & Bernstein, 2007; Gavin, 2014). Despite the opposing sides of research regarding the relationship between psychopathology and crime, offending by the mentally ill remains relatively low (Sinnamon, 2017). This is because people with mental disorders are not everywhere, however there are some mentally disordered states that can contribute to the risk of offending (Sinnamon, 2017). These are highlighted below when addressing the specific disorders that are related to violent