Anti-Social Behavior

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 AD\HD 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