Anti-Social Essay, Research Paper

In a world full of fears, perhaps the worst one a human being should have

is that to be afraid of his fellow man. The human that should be most

feared is the one that has Anti-Social Personality Disorder or in laymen?s

terms the psychopath. The psychopath is probably the most deviant mind

that exists and treatment is not very successful because there is not a cure

or drug to control it. The solution in my mind to control the problem of

sociopaths is to let them live in colonies with each other. Through my

research I will develop an understanding of this personality disorder and

convince you the reader that my solution might be a viable solution. The

sociopath is a combination of other mental illnesses that are incurred in

childhood as a result of heredity, trauma and the lack of emotional

development. The lack of moral or emotional development which gives a

sociopath a lack of understanding for other people?s feelings which

enables them to be deceitful without feeling bad about whatever they do.

The under developed emotional system as explained in the video ?The

World of Personality Disorders volume 5? says the sociopath is

?emotionally retarded? . The sociopathic behavior problems that start as a

child have links to heredity, a family with a pre-disposition to perform

crimes, alcoholic parents that do crimes, irresponsible behavior that

persists and parents that do not discipline. The child that will eventually be

a sociopath exhibits certain feeling inside that they are inadequate, shamed

and because of that they are teased and made fun of. The child

characteristics of a future sociopath consist of being incapable of

following the rules. The youngster will skip school, bully, steal! , torment

animals, run away from home and the child is likely to develop Attention

Deficit \Hyperactivity Disorder or AD|HD. At an earlier age than their

peer group the child will smoke drink, do drugs, and become sexually

active. The diagnoses of Anti-Social Personality Disorder is not used for

people under the age of 18. The Psychopath is defined in the dictionary

as a person suffering from, especially a severe mental disorder with

aggressive antisocial behavior which is a nice way of saying a really bad

and mean person. There are many characteristics of a sociopath and each

sociopath has their own special traits. A sociopath gets great gratification

in the act of hurting someone for absolutely no reason. The behavior of a

sociopath is so close to normal it is extremely hard to diagnose. A

sociopath is a person that acts against society and their sole purpose it

seems is to act against the laws of the given land their end. The sociopath

will in most cases become violent and abuse drugs and alcohol to facilitate

the violent behavior. The violence in many cases is the result of

sub-concious decisions that might lead to murdering or assaulting

someone for no reason. When a sociopath is attacking someone they will

inflict more pain if the victim fights back. The lack of moral development

lets the person feel no guilt or pain for what they did and quite possibly

feel great about their actions. A sociopath has little self regard for

themselves and pays little attention to their own personal safety when

picking fights. Quite often they will be outsized and get hurt. Some

sociopaths are non-violent and stay out of prison by doing small crimes

like swindling and insurance fraud. It is possible that a sociopath will

come from a normal home but their are more that do not. A sociopath has

the opposite morals of society and by doing things like beating up people

that are stronger than them they feel like they did something positive. A

psychopath is very reactive and will blow their cool because of little things

and no doubt assault the person they are reacting to. There is a possibility

that saratonin a chemical that is linked to behavior has something to do

with the disorder but is not the major cause. The type 2 male sociopath

drinks heavily no matter what, has a history of frequent fights and arrests,

they are impulsive risk takers, curious, excitable, quick tempered,

optimistic and independent. Characteristic List ? be glib or superficial ?

have a grandiose self image ? be deceitful or manipulative ? lack of

remorse ? lack of empathy ? be impulsive ? be irresponsible ? be easily

angered or frustrated ? have serious problems as a child or teenager ?

shows callous unconcern from other?s feelings ? disregard social norms or

the rights of other people ? be unable to maintain enduring relationships ?

be incapable of experiencing guilt ? blame others or rationalize antisocial

behavior ? be constantly irritable The antisocial tends to have short lasting

relationships if they are capable of having a relationship. The psychopath

is incapable of having long lasting, close, warm and responsible

relationships with people. The adult will habitually lie and cannot hold a

job for long. The sociopath can seem charming in superficial social

interactions but repeatedly hurt, anger, exploit, cheat, rob, harass or injure

them. The actions a psychopath no matter what laws they break, whoever

they hurt, whatever trouble they have to deal with they do not feel bad.

When a sociopath is punished they have no feeling of regret because no

matter how cruel or selfish the behavior is they feel it is justified. People

like us give the sociopath little sympathy because they hurt people so bad

but their illness is recognized as somewhat of an explanation of why they

do it. The idea of the disorder is no excuse for their behavior that results

from it. The sociopath is very intelligent and knows how to manipulate

people into thinking they are normal and that is when they work their

magic. Beneath the mask of sanity a sociopath is full of tension, hostility,

irritability, rage, emptiness and sadness at the core of the sociopathic

personality. When they hurt a person a sociopath might think he had it

coming or I?m watching out for number 1. Those sociopaths with children

neglect them and do not keep them safe. As a spouse the sociopath can

be glib, superficial, manipulative, dishonest, abusive and unfaithful. The

sociopath tends to borrow, squander and not repay the money they owe.

Many sociopaths never settle down for any period of time, they will travel

without aim looking for jobs or whatever they need and get it by doing

anything. A sociopath may look tough and resilient but is very fragile and

can erupt very easily. The diagnoses of a sociopath or psychopath is very

difficult and has to meet several criteria in order to get that diagnoses.

Diagnoses as explained in Caring for the Mind is based on ? a pervasive

pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring

since the age of fifteen, as indicated by at least three of the following, 1.

failure to conform to the social norms for lawful behavior, as indicated by

repeatedly performing illegal acts that are grounds for arrest 2.

deceitfulness, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning

others for personal profit or pleasure 3. impulsivity failure to plan ahead 4.

irritability and aggressive , as indicated by repeated physical fights or

assaults 5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others 6. consistent

irresponsibility as indicated by failure to keep a job or honor financial

obligations 7. lack of remorse, as indicated by indifference or

rationalizations for having hurt , mistreated or stolen from others ? must be

older than 18 to be diagnosed with it ? must be evidence of a conduct

disorder before the age of 15 ? antisocial behavior doesn?t occur only

during the course of schizophrenia or manic episodes of bipolar illness

Anti-Social Personality Disorder is found in as much as 75% of the prison

population. Alcohol is a contributing cause or consequence of being

antisocial. People that are both antisocial and alcoholic are prone to

violent behavior. Not every antisocial becomes a criminal. An antisocial

person?s disorder peaks between the ages of 24 and 44 and drops off

sharply after that. After the age of 30 the sociopath fights less and

performs less crime but the illness can persist into the ages of between 60

and 70 but after 30 are less likely to be in trouble with the law. In a

sociopaths in their thirties will continue to have problems such as unstable

relationships, substance abuse, impulsiveness, poor temper control and

failure to honor financial obligations. In our population 3% men have

Anti-Social Personality Disorder and 1% women in the overall population

have it. The ratio of men to women is 4 to 1. Identical twins are several

times more likely to have a personality disorder compared to fraternal

twins. A genetic link strongest in anti-social disorder has a pattern of

irresponsible behavior 5 times more common amongst close relatives of

anti-social men than in the general population. Some people with a genetic

link to alcoholism have a genetic link to anti-social personality disorder

too. Male relatives of people with Somatization Disor! der have a higher

incidence of anti-social personality disorder ( somatization – begins in the

teens to twenties and consists of chronic physical problems and

complaints). Sociopaths with a history of substance abuse and criminal

behavior fit Manchausen Syndrome ( Manchausen is the extreme type of

factitious disorder which symptoms are lying ,falsification and pathological

lying). Sociopaths also have a tendency to have a non -psychiatric

condition that is called malingering which is the production of grossly

exaggerated symptoms for a specific illness or problem for the purpose of

winning legal action or things like committing insurance fraud or basically

anything they have to lie to get. The sociopath is a bundle of problems

that could come from any part of life and they are very hard to handle. If

a person is diagnosed with Anti-Social Personality Disorder is very hard

to treat and there is no cure for their behavior. Because the disorder

remits in the thirties, it tends to be less obvious. Those that are forced into

psychotherapy cannot tolerate the intimacy of the required therapy.The

therapist has to focus on enhancing strength, channel the sensation of

seeking actions on people into more positive socially responsible

behaviors and to teach practical ways in dealing with every day

frustration. Medications are not recommended in the treatment of

sociopath but drugs can diminish the violent episodes. People with

Anti-Social Personality Disorder also have Attention Deficit\

Hyperactivity Disorder and stimulants are used to treat that such as

Ritalin. There are no long term results to study of this approach of using

stimulants but they should not be prescribed unless the person is

specifically diagnosed with AD\HD and has not responded to other

medication. The use of drugs cannot be abused and should be closely

monitored. Those that are co! nvicted of crimes are usually incarcerated.

Some sociopaths may be able to instead of a jail term choose a residential

facility that has counseling but there is a high drop out rate in those

facilities. Another alternative to jail for the adolescents with delinquent

behavior and are in trouble with the law are wilderness programs that are

designed to be like Outward Bound.The camps much like that in the T.V.

show Neon Rider provide difficult and dangerous challenges that would

keep their minds busy. The success of the wilderness camps is not quite

clear. There is a disorder called Borderline that is often misdiagnosed as

Anti-Social Personality Disorder which is quite similar to it. Borderline

Disorder is a little bit more aggressive than Antisocial. Characteristics of

Borderline Disorder ? Violating the rights of others and age appropriate

societal norms or rules with at least three of the following in the past 6

months and one in the last 12 Aggression to People and Animals 1. often

bullying, threatening, or intimidating others 2. often iniating fights 3. use of

a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (bat ,brick ,

broken bottle, gun, knife ) 4. physical cruelty to people and animals 5.

stealing in a confrontation with victim ( mugging, purse snatching,

extortion, armed robbery ) 6. forcing someone into sexual activity 7.

Destruction of Property – deliberate fire setting with intention to cause

serious damage 8. deliberate destruction of other?s property in other

ways 9. Deceitfulness or Theft-breaking into someone?s house, car,

building 10. frequent lying to get goods, favors and avoid obligations 11.

stealing items of non – trivial value without confronting the victim -forgery,

shoplifting 12. Serious Violation of the Rules- often staying out all night

dispite parental rules that begin before the age of 13 13. running away

from home at least twice (once not returning for a lengthy period) 14.

frequent truancy from school ? significant impairment in functioning socially

at school or work ? in individuals 18 or older but symptoms don?t meet

criteria for Anti – Social Disorder The diagnoses of a sociopath is

extremely difficult because they have so many mental problems to

contend with the complete diagnoses might not occur. The possibility of

being diagnosed with something similar to being a sociopath is quite great

and this point should be stressed with relationship between Borderline

and Anti-Social Disorder. The inability to diagnose and treat properly

leads me to believe that there is not a clear solution as to how the general

population should react and treat these severely troubled people. This is a

disorder that blinds the emotions and actions the sociopath which in no

way is their fault for having it. Although the disorder is not the given

sociopath?s fault there is no real place for a sociopath in our society.

Because sociopaths hurt us, I believe that once diagnosed with the

disorder that all sociopaths should be sent to some kind of controlled

colony that would run like a normal city or town except all it?s residents

would be sociopaths. I come to this solution as almost a way to remove

them from society and treat the people in a way to. By having sociopaths

colonized together with all the parts of a normal society it would be good

for them because the only people the could hurt or manipulate would be

their fellow sociopath. The sociopath would be constantly bored with

average person and sometimes causing them to hurt the average person

when if! they were caused to interact with fellow sociopaths it would

keep them interested because it is not as easy to manipulate or con. The

possibility of violence in my colony is great but the sociopaths would not

mind because it is in their personality and it would serve us better if they

killed or hurt each other rather than us. In closing the sociopath is so hard

to deal with we should make strides to control their behavior in public.

BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS Wing , John Kenneth, Reasoning About

Madness, Oxford Press, Oxford ,1978 Milt, Harry ,Basic Handbook on

Mental Ilness,Scribner, New York , 1974 Hales, Dianne,Caring for the

Mind, Bantam Books , New York , 1995 ARTICLES Salama M.D.,

Aziz A.,The Antisocial Personality,The Psychiatric Journal of the

University of Ottawa , Ottawa , 1988 Malaney M. D. , Kathleen R.,

Patients with Antisocial Personality Disorder, Post Graduate

Medicine,1992 Unknown, unknown , Psychopathic Patients Pose

Dilemma For Physicians and Society, CMAJ ,1995 Hare

Ph.D.,Robert,Predators, Psycology Today , Feb. 1994 Hill,

Heather,Monsters In Our Midst,Homemaker?s Magazine, Oct. 1995

VIDEO The World of Abnormal Psychology Personality Disorder