Do Psychopaths have Antisocial Personality Disorder?

For those of you who know who Sherlock Holmes is, you may also know that he describes himself saying, “I’m not a psychopath, I’m a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research.” That’s a very famous line written by the author- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But then, who are psychopaths and sociopaths? Do they have something called ‘Antisocial Personality Disorder‘?

Who are Psychopaths and Sociopaths?

First and foremost, people with Antisocial Personality Disorder lack regard for society’s moral or legal standards. These people are the ones we call “psychopaths” and/or “sociopaths”. There’s is a personality type characterized by several features, such as:-

• Lack of remorse
• Extreme egocentricity (selfishness)
• Lack of emotional expressiveness
• Impulsivity
• Untruthfulness (lying)
• Disreputable
• Manipulative behaviours

What causes this disorder?

Biological theories have focused on brain abnormalities, such as defects in the prefrontal lobes of the cerebral cortex. There is considerable support for the notion that genetic makeup plays an important, though not exclusive, role. Psychological theories have focused on the notion that these individuals are unable to feel fear or anxiety or to process any information that is not relevant to their immediate goals.

Besides this, sociocultural theories focus on family, early environment and socialization experiences. they give a lot of importance to the family’s condition, sociocultural condition and parenting of people who go on to develop Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Characteristics of Antisocial Personality Disorder

Although you may never have heard the label “Antisocial Personality Disorder,” you may have heard of people called “psychopaths” or “sociopaths”. These terms are commonly used to refer to people with a pattern of traits that would currently be labeled Antisocial Personality Disorder.

In 1801, Philippe Pinel first recognized this disorder as a form of foolishness in which the individual exhibited impulsive and even destructive behaviors while maintaining rational thought — “la folie raisonnante.” Several decades later, this disorder was labeled moral insanity (Millon et al., 2000).

The diagnosis of antisocial behavior used today in the DSM-IV-TR has its origins in the work of Hervey Cleckley. His 1941 book, The Mask of Sanity, represented the first scientific attempt to list and categorize the behaviors of the “psychopathic” personality, a work that appeared in its most recent edition more than 30 years later (Cleckley, 1976).

Cleckley developed a set of criteria for psychopathy-a personality type characterized by a cluster of traits that constitute the core of what is now called Antisocial Personality Disorder.

He outlined more than a dozen characteristics of psychopathy, which have provided the foundation for current diagnostic criteria. Cleckley’s characteristics include:

• Lack of remorse or shame for harmful acts committed to others
• Poor judgment and failure to learn from experience
• Extreme egocentricity and incapacity for love
• Lack of emotional responsiveness to others
• Impulsivity (“Fantastic and uninviting behavior”)
• Absence of “nervousness”
• Unreliability
• Untruthfulness
• Insincerity

Diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder

The diagnostic criteria in the DSM-IV-TR go beyond the central traits of psychopathy and include the behavioral aspects of the disorder as reflected in a long list of chronic disreputable or manipulative behaviors. Consequently, not all individuals with psychopathic personalities meet the diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder.

These criteria involve a pervasive disregard for the rights of others as shown by such behaviors as

• Unlawfulness
• Deceitfulness
• Impulsivity

Individuals with this disorder may

• Behave impulsively
• Aggressively
• Recklessly without showing signs of guilt
• Acting guilty with the intention of escaping a difficult situation.
• Rather than being outwardly aggressive, some are smooth talkers who are able to get what they want by presenting themselves in a likable manner.

Diagnostic features

This diagnosis is assigned to adults who showed evidence of conduct disorder. Moreover, they had also shown a pervasive pattern of disrespect and violation of the rights of others from the age of 15 years. This was indicated by three or more of the following:

• Repeated engagement in behaviors that are grounds for arrest
• Deceitfulness, such as lying, using false identities, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
• Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
• Irritability and aggressiveness, such as repeated fights or assaults
• Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others
• Consistent irresponsibilities, such as repeated failure to keep a job and/or pay taxes
• Lack of remorse, such as being indifferent to or rationalizing one’s hurtful or dishonest behavior

As is the case with all personality disorders, the problematic characteristics of people with antisocial personality disorder are enduring. That is, their problems begin in childhood and continue throughout most of their adulthood.

Also, in one fascinating study, researchers who assessed individuals at age 3 and again at age 21 found that under controlled young children (i.e., children who are impulsive, restless, and distractible) are more likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder and to be involved in crime as adults (Caspi, Moffi tt, Newman, & Silva, 1996).

Does it “go away with time?”

It has been hypothesized that aging brings with it a reduction of Cluster B traits of

• acting out,
• impulsivity, and
• extreme behaviors

This is referred to as the maturation hypothesis (Segal, Coolidge, & Rosowsky, 2000). People with antisocial and the other Cluster B disorders, according to this view, become better able to manage their behaviors as they age. Supporting this hypothesis was a longitudinal study of men from adolescence to middle adulthood; personality traits related to antisocial behavior decreased in a large majority of men in midlife (Morizot & Le Blanc, 2005).

Conclusion

We may thus conclude the people with Antisocial Personality Disorder are the ones we call “psychopaths” and “sociopaths” in day-to-day language. These symptoms arise because of certain biological conditions. Parenting, family and sociocultural aspects also play an important role in the development of this disorder.

Lastly, you can help someone suffering from this disorder by connecting them to a Psychologist who can help them. Click here to do so.

Originally published at blog.mindsolace.com on June 18, 2017.