Anti Social Disorder Essay, Research Paper

Anti-Social Personality Disorder

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 Disorder 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 ADHD and has not

responded to other medication. The use of drugs cannot be abused and

should be closely monitored. Those that are convicted 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