What is Antisocial Personality Disorder . . . is it the Same as Being Psychopathic?

The DSM-IV gives specific criteria that each individual must meet before he or she can be diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). First, the patient must display "a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 18 years" (PsychNet-UK, n.d.b, para. 1).

This pattern must also be in the form of at least three of the following: (1) "failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest," (2) "deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure," (3) "impulsivity or failure to plan ahead," (4) "irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults," (5) "reckless disregard for safety of self or others," (6) "consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligation," or (7) "lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another" (PsychNet-UK, n.d.b, bullets).

Lastly, person must be "at least 18 years old (under 18 see Conduct Disorder)" and he or she is believed to have experienced symptoms "of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 years and the occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia or a Manic Episode" (PsychNet-UK, n.d.b, para. 2).

DSM-IV Criteria for Conduct Disorder

Since Conduct Disorder is believed to be a predecessor of Antisocial Personality Disorder, we should briefly review the criteria for Conduct Disorder. The DSM-IV states that a patient is suffering from Conduct Disorder is he or she fits all of the following criteria. First, the individual must experience a "pattern of repetitive behavior where the rights of others or the social norms are violated and in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following criteria in the past 12 months, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 months" (PsychNet-UK, n.d.a, para. 1). These criteria include the following:

(1) "Aggression to people and animals" (i.e., frequent bullying, threats, or intimidation of others; frequent instigation of physical disputes; use of a weapon which is capable of causing serious injury to others; cruel behavior toward people; cruel behavior toward animals; theft of victim's property during confrontation; or forced sexual activity (PsychNet-UK, n.d.a, bullet 1).

(2) "Destruction of property" (i.e., deliberate fire setting to cause serious damage or other deliberate destruction of property) (PsychNet-UK, n.d.a, bullet 2).

(3) "Deceitfulness or theft" (i.e., breaking into another's building, car, or house; frequent lies for personal gain or avoidance of obligations; or theft of nontrivial objects without confrontation with victim) (PsychNet-UK, n.d.a, bullet 3).

(4) "Serious violations of rules" (i.e., frequent curfew violations; two or more times of running away overnight or once if for long period of time; or refusal to attend school regularly (starting before 13 years old) (PsychNet-UK, n.d.a, bullet 4).

And lastly, the patient's symptoms must be to such a degree that they cause "clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning" and are not better explained by Antisocial Personality Disorder (if 18 or older) (PsychNet-UK, n.d.a, bullets 5 & 6).

Antisocial Personality Disorder vs. Psychopathy

Antisocial Personality Disorder is often confused with psychopathy. ASPD is a mental disorder recognized by the DSM-IV. Psychopathy, on the other hand, does not appear in the DSM-IV, although a growing number of experts believe it to be a mental disorder, too, separate from ASPD. Fundamentally, psychopathy is fairly similar to ASPD in many ways but focuses less on "criminal behavior and age of onset" and more on the individual "having a true lack of conscience/superego and a lack of genuine emotional reactions" (University of Western Ontario, n.d., para. 2). Also, it is very possible that psychopathy may be caused more by physical factors than ASPD. And although people suffering from ASPD and psychopathy may have similar symptoms (especially those involving criminal behavior), there are quite a number of individuals diagnosed with psychopathy that have avoided criminal behavior but have used their manipulative and remorseless mentality in perfectly legal ways (University of Western Ontario, n.d.).

Measuring Antisocial & Psychopathic Tendencies

There are a number of the checklists used to determine if an individual is actually psychopathic, one of which is the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. This checklist, developed in the 1990s, is designed to measure a person's antisocial and psychopathic tendencies (Esposito, 2005; MindDisorders.com, 2007). It uses 20 different items with answers applying a three-point scale: "0 = item doesn't apply, 1 = item applies somewhat, 2 = item definitely applies" (Esposito, 2005, Type of Instrument and Scoring Method, para. 1) to determine what level of psychopathy an individual might have by adding these numbers after the interview (Esposito, 2005; MindDisorders.com, 2007).

References:

Esposito, L. (2005). The Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R). Retrieved November 12, 2007, from Swinburne University of Technology (Australia), Victims' Web Web site: http://www.swin.edu.au/victims/resources/assessment/personality /psychopathy_checklist.html

MindDisorders.com. (2007). Hare Psychopathy Checklist. In Encyclopedia of mental disorders. Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Hare-Psychopathy-Checklist.html

Penney, S. R., & Moretti, M. M. (2007). The relation of psychopathy to concurrent aggression and antisocial behavior in high-risk adolescent girls and boys. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 25, 21-41. Retrieved November 11, 2007, from Colorado Technical University Online, Virtual Campus, PSYC336-0704A-02: Abnormal Psychology, Instructor Files: https://campus.ctuonline.edu

PsychNet-UK. (n.d.a). Disorder information sheet: Conduct Disorder. Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://www.psychnet-uk.com/dsm_iv/conduct _disorder.htm

PsychNet-UK. (n.d.b). Personality disorder information sheet: Antisocial Personality Disorder. Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://www.psychnet-uk.com/clinical_psychology/criteria_personality_antisocial.htm

University of Western Ontario. (n.d.). What is the difference between Antisocial Personality Disorder and psychopathy? Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://instruct.uwo.ca/psychology/023/pdfs/apd_vs_psychopaths.htm