Antisocial Personality Disorder (cont.)
What is the difference between antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy?
In contrast, psychopathy, although not a mental health disorder formally recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV-TR, 2000), is considered to be a more severe form of antisocial personality disorder. Specifically, in order to be considered a psychopath, an individual must experience a lack of remorse of guilt about their actions in addition to demonstrating antisocial behaviors. While 50% to 80% of incarcerated individuals have been found to have antisocial personality disorder, only 15% have been shown to have the more severe antisocial personality disorder type of psychopathy.
Psychopaths tend to be highly suspicious or paranoid, even in comparison to individuals with antisocial personality disorder. The implications of this suspicious stance can be dire, in that paranoid thoughts (ideations) tend to lead the psychopathic person to interpret all aggressive behaviors toward them, even those that are justified, as being arbitrary and unfair. A televised case study of a psychopath provided a vivid illustration of the resulting psychopathic anger. Specifically, the criminal featured in the story apparently abducted a girl and sexually abused her over the course of a number of days in an attempt to prove to investigating authorities that his stepdaughter's allegations that he sexually abused her were false.
What causes antisocial personality disorder?
One of the most frequently asked questions about antisocial personality disorder by both professionals and lay persons is whether or not it is genetic. Many wonder if it is inherited as easily as hair, eye, or skin color; if this were the case, children of antisocial persons would be highly expected to become antisocial themselves, whether or not they live with the antisocial parent. Fortunately, human beings are just not that simple. Like all personality disorders, and also most mental disorders, antisocial personality disorder tends to be the result of a combination of biologic/genetic and environmental factors.
Although there are no clear biological causes for this disorder, research on the possible biologic risk factors for developing antisocial personality disorder indicates that the part of the brain that is primarily responsible for learning from one's mistakes and for responding to sad and fearful facial expressions (the amygdala) tends to be smaller and respond less robustly to the happy, sad, or fearful facial expressions of others. That lack of response may have something to do with the lack of empathy that antisocial individuals tend to have with the feelings, rights, and suffering of others. While some individuals may be more vulnerable to developing antisocial personality disorder as a result of their particular genetic background, that is thought to be a factor only when the person is also exposed to life events such as abuse or neglect that tend to put the person at risk for development of the disorder. Similarly, while there are some theories about the role of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and other hormonal fluctuations in the development of antisocial personality disorder, the disorder can, so far, not be explained as the direct result of such abnormalities.
Other conditions that are thought to be risk factors for antisocial personality disorder include substance abuse, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or a reading disorder. Theories regarding the life experiences that put people at risk for antisocial personality disorder provide important clues for its prevention. Examples of such life experiences include a history of childhood physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; neglect; deprivation or abandonment; associating with peers who engage in antisocial behavior; or a parent who is either antisocial or alcoholic.
Next: How is antisocial personality disorder diagnosed? »
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