ANTISOCIAL: Characteristics, Criminality, and Associated Disorders

This episode answers questions about the relationship between co-occurring disorders, antisocial personality, and criminal offending. With antisocial personality disorder we see seven symptoms in the symptom criteria: repeatedly violating society's norms so, engaging a behavior that could be grounds for arrest, deceitfulness, impulsivity, irritability and aggression, a disregard for the safety of self and others, being irresponsible, and a lack of remorse. The prevalence of Antisocial Personality Disorder is about 3% of males and 1% of females. About 70% - 80% of males in prison may have Antisocial Personality Disorder. Sociopathy and psychopathy are sets of characteristics that represent distinct patterns of behavior and etiology, but are still under the Antisocial Personality Disorder classification. Generally, a person suffering from sociopathy is thought to have developed the disorder as a result of a stressor, such as trauma. Genetics are thought to be responsible for psychopathy. Both are associated with criminal activity, however, sociopathy is associated with impulsive criminal acts whereas psychopathy is associated with planned crimes. Meaningful relationships are difficult to form with psychopathy, but slightly easier to form with sociopathy. Sociopathy is associated with mood dysphoria and dysregulation, whereas psychopathy is associated with remaining more emotionally stable. Psychopathy is associated with being cold and calculating, and considering the consequences of behavior more carefully than in sociopathy. Also, in ASPD generally we see a decreased ability to experience what are referred to as “complex emotions,” specifically guilt, trust, respect, and closeness. Individuals with antisocial personality disorder have a greater risk of experiencing difficulty recalling emotional information and they tend to have a fairly good memory when it comes to negative affect, but a poor memory for positive emotions.A co-occurring disorder is when there's a presentation that has both, a substance use disorde