Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy

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The terms “sociopath” and “psychopath” generally evoke images of villains from popular culture such as DC Comics’ The Joker and Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series. However, Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder are real psychological disorders that have a rare set of symptoms and an even rarer chance of being treated successfully. Antisocial Personality Disorder is marked by the disregard and blatant violation of the rights of others (APA, 2013). Psychopathy is not an official title in the DSM-V. Rather, it is a personality disorder category that encompasses Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). Psychopathy is categorized by antisocial behavior, lack of remorse, and an inability to control behavior (Hare, 1996). Although some have claimed that ASPD and Psychopathy are synonymous, there are certain differences that will be explored later. The goal of this paper is to examine research in antisocial behaviors present in ASPD and Psychopathy as well as to look at treatment options currently available.
Antisocial Personality Disorder is a fairly new diagnosis in the field of abnormal psychology, but psychopathic and antisocial traits have been discussed since the early nineteenth century (Seabrook, 2008). The French surgeon Philippe Pinel first described Psychopathy in 1801 under the term “mania without delirium” (Seabrook, 2008). Shortly after, American surgeon Benjamin Rush wrote about “moral derangement” which described antisocial behaviors as being neither delusional nor psychotic (Seabrook, 2008). Rush also noted that these traits appear early in life (Seabrook, 2008). The term “sociopath” was not used until 1930 when it was coined by psychologist G. E. Patridge (Hart, 1995). The most groundbreaking and infl...

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Pemmet, J., Psychopathy versus sociopathy: Why the distinction has become crucial, Aggression and Violent Behavior (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2013.07.001
Riser, R. E., & Kosson, D. S. (2013). Criminal behavior and cognitive processing in male offenders with antisocial personality disorder with and without comorbid psychopathy.. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 4(4), 332-340.
Seabrook, J. (2008, November 10). Suffering Souls. The New Yorker, 114, 1-18.
Shoemaker, W. J. (2012). The Social Brain Network And Human Moral Behavior. Zygon®, 47(4), 806-820.
Thomas, M. E. (2013, June). Confessions of a Sociopath. Psychology Today, 46, 52-61. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection database.
Yang, Y. (2008). Functional Neuroanatomy Of Psychopathy. Psychiatry, 7(3), 133-136.

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