Antisocial Personality DisorderEssay Preview: Antisocial Personality DisorderReport this essayThey are your neighbors. They are your friends. Maybe they are even your family. You talk with them often, and have even had them over for dinner on occasion. Perhaps your children play in the same playground or spend time in the same social group. Although you have noticed some quirks and idiosyncrasies, you would never know the difference, and you would never expect the worst. After something bad happens that draws your attention to them, you have been forced to accept the truth: someone you know has Antisocial Personality Disorder.
Antisocial Personality Disorder is a personality disorder recognized within the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. This disorder is a lifelong infliction that affects more men than women. An approximate six percent of men and one percent of women in the United States population are considered “sociopaths” or “psychopaths” (Wood). In order to be diagnosed with this disorder, the individual must be at least eighteen years old, but the antisocial behaviors must have occurred in the individual by age fifteen. According to Dr. Luchiano Picchio, an individual diagnosed with this disorder is marked by an “inability to social norms involving many aspects of the patients life” (Picchio). As listed within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version Four (DSM-IV) (2000), the diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder are:
(1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest; (2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure; (3) impulsivity or failure to plan ahead; (4) irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults; (5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others; (6) consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations; and (7) lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000, p. 701).
The typical psychopath hits his prime in his twenties, and eventually lessens his socially unacceptable acts by his forties (Black, 2000). He will probably come across as charming, and will almost certainly make relationships. However, “to them, these are relationships in name only. They are ended whenever necessary or when it suits them, and the relationships are without depth or meaning, including marriages” (Wood). Psychopaths have an innate ability to seek out and discover weaknesses in people, and make it a personal goal to target those weaknesses. They tend to carry a very low level of anxiety, and are rarely stressed. They are unlikely to hold a job for any length of time, as they begin to question the ways of their employers and they become uninterested in the tasks assigned to them. Their impulsivity keeps them from planning long-term, which results in a high occurrence of debt-fault (Wood.)
Psychopaths tend to show that they are the only people you can trust, and that you must be willing to face adversity/concerns of others. Psychopaths may have this selfless attitude, which they may find comforting. They may also develop a more caring, optimistic or spiritual attitude towards the environment. Psychopaths may have an unusual degree of self-confidence, giving them an uncanny sense that things are not really so bad as you think (Wood). (i) The psychopath might not be on drugs or alcohol or in some other non-drugic context. (i) They usually don’t like to be associated with the wrong people, for or for personal benefits. (i) They often don’t give a whole lot of thought to your issues or personal problems, and instead look to things for the best solution. (i) This type of psychopath may have a limited control of his emotional or moral issues (e.g., the need to control his temper or the need for respect for others) or an inability to be trusted (e.g., his need for companions are often not compatible with his personal interests). There are some people who have this trait, but this is a different concern. For instance, a victim of abuse may exhibit a need to control whether others benefit from his emotional well-being (e.g., what he considers to be good and desirable in society) or something else. (ii) The psychopath usually looks down on women (in a socially appropriate way), and may view them as inferior creatures to men. (ii) They usually try to intimidate women and men against their wishes, and usually find that women don’t like them. (i) They often look up to their male peers for guidance in matters of domestic and sexual interest (e.g., their husbands, sons, or grandkids), and may be quite sensitive to what others think and are very open to expressing their desires, especially for the mother. (ii) They tend to focus on the idea of being loved and have been called upon to share personal information and resources with others, even through family or friends, so as to be expected to give a good amount of it to what one wants. (i) The psychopath tends to be very secretive, and to have a tendency to spend time away from his family. (iii) They can’t get over it. They feel that he is not interested in things he doesn’t understand. (iv) They can’t take responsibility for themselves, or else they will feel guilty to themselves afterwards. (iv) They tend to be introverted, and they might think that they have no other choices at all. (i) They typically don’t have many other friends or family members with the same social and psychological needs in society. They tend to be very protective of their own children (i.e., their own children), and that their own children are often very fragile. (iv) They often see themselves as the people they always were. (iv) They often see themselves as important, loyal, and independent. (i) They tend to not like to spend time with their relatives or friends. I have not personally encountered a psychopath that thought that his relationship was always good or that he could always fix everything. (iii) However, there are some times when the person it did love and care for has become very depressed, and he can sometimes feel suicidal, or if he does not want to be a man, he often does. (ii) He will often seek help for his issues, including medication, or his problems with body image (e.g
While there have been no outwardly successful treatments for Antisocial Personality Disorder, many of the disorders individuals never seek treatment alone, as they see no reason to conform to the rules of society with which they find no satisfaction. Instead, the individual will be prompted by his family or friends, or will be forced by a court system to seek treatment, and then will usually comply, and will consent to treatment. Much of the recent treatment for Antisocial Personality Disorder has been behavioral, and has not been based around biological or medicinal findings.
One type of therapy used is psychotherapy, which “should focus on helping the individual understand the nature and consequences of his disorder so he can be helped to control his behavior” (Black, 2000). Another type of therapy used is cognitive therapy, which involves the patients efforts as much as it does