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Current Biology : CB Sep 2014Psychopathy is a condition that has long captured the public imagination. Newspaper column inches are devoted to murderers with psychopathic features and movies such as...
Psychopathy is a condition that has long captured the public imagination. Newspaper column inches are devoted to murderers with psychopathic features and movies such as No Country for Old Men and We Need to Talk About Kevin focus on characters who are exceptionally cold and callous. Psychopathy is in fact a personality disorder characterised by lack of empathy and guilt, shallow affect, manipulation of other people and severe, premeditated and violent antisocial behaviour. Individuals with psychopathy generate substantial societal costs both as a direct financial consequence of their offending behaviour and lack of normal participation in working life, but also in terms of the emotional and psychological costs to their victims.
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Cognition; Humans; Neuroimaging
PubMed: 25247365
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.055 -
Alcohol Research : Current Reviews 2019Alcohol use disorder (AUD) frequently co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders, including personality disorders, which are pervasive, persistent, and impairing.... (Review)
Review
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) frequently co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders, including personality disorders, which are pervasive, persistent, and impairing. Personality disorders are associated with myriad serious outcomes, have a high degree of co-occurrence with substance use disorders, including AUD, and incur significant health care costs. This literature review focuses on co-occurring AUD and personality disorders characterized by impulsivity and affective dysregulation, specifically antisocial personality disorders and borderline personality disorders. Prevalence rates, potential explanations and causal models of co-occurrence, prognoses, and the status of existing treatment research are summarized. Several important future research considerations are relevant to these complex, co-occurring conditions. Research assessing mechanisms responsible for co-occurring AUD and antisocial personality disorder or borderline personality disorder will further delineate the underlying developmental processes and improve understanding of onset and courses. In addition, increased focus on the efficacy and effectiveness of treatments targeting underlying traits or common factors in these disorders will inform future prevention and treatment efforts, as interventions targeting these co-occurring conditions have relatively little empirical support.
Topics: Alcoholism; Anticonvulsants; Antidepressive Agents; Antipsychotic Agents; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Behavior Therapy; Borderline Personality Disorder; Comorbidity; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Personality Disorders; Prognosis
PubMed: 31886107
DOI: 10.35946/arcr.v40.1.05 -
Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria (Sao... Oct 2006To illustrate the basic characteristics of several specific personality disorders, focusing mainly in antisocial personality disorder. The differences between antisocial... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
To illustrate the basic characteristics of several specific personality disorders, focusing mainly in antisocial personality disorder. The differences between antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy are highlighted. Serial killers and its psychopathic aspects are also discussed.
METHOD
A bibliographic review was completed in order to outline convergences and divergences among different authors about this controversial issue, especially those concerning the possibility of treatment.
RESULTS
While anti-social personality disorder is a medical diagnosis, the term "psychopathy" (which belongs to the sphere of forensic psychiatry) may be understood as a "legal diagnosis". It is not still possible to identify an effective treatment for serial killers.
CONCLUSION
Personality disorders, especially of the antisocial type, still represent a formidable challenge to forensic psychiatry today. Questions as yet unanswered include the best and most humane place for patients with this condition and the nature of a standardised treatment recommendation.
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Conduct Disorder; Expert Testimony; Forensic Psychiatry; Homicide; Humans; Mental Competency; Mental Disorders; Sex Offenses
PubMed: 17143448
DOI: 10.1590/s1516-44462006000600005 -
Progress in Neurobiology Nov 2020Over the past two decades, research has revealed that genetic factors shape the propensity for aggressive, antisocial, and violent behavior. The best-documented gene... (Review)
Review
Over the past two decades, research has revealed that genetic factors shape the propensity for aggressive, antisocial, and violent behavior. The best-documented gene implicated in aggression is MAOA (Monoamine oxidase A), which encodes the key enzyme for the degradation of serotonin and catecholamines. Congenital MAOA deficiency, as well as low-activity MAOA variants, has been associated with a higher risk for antisocial behavior (ASB) and violence, particularly in males with a history of child maltreatment. Indeed, the interplay between low MAOA genetic variants and early-life adversity is the best-documented gene × environment (G × E) interaction in the pathophysiology of aggression and ASB. Additional evidence indicates that low MAOA activity in the brain is strongly associated with a higher propensity for aggression; furthermore, MAOA inhibition may be one of the primary mechanisms whereby prenatal smoke exposure increases the risk of ASB. Complementary to these lines of evidence, mouse models of Maoa deficiency and G × E interactions exhibit striking similarities with clinical phenotypes, proving to be valuable tools to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying antisocial and aggressive behavior. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the knowledge on the involvement of MAOA in aggression, as defined by preclinical and clinical evidence. In particular, we show how the convergence of human and animal research is proving helpful to our understanding of how MAOA influences antisocial and violent behavior and how it may assist in the development of preventative and therapeutic strategies for aggressive manifestations.
Topics: Aggression; Animals; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Behavior, Animal; Gene-Environment Interaction; Humans; Monoamine Oxidase; Social Behavior; Violence
PubMed: 32574581
DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2020.101875 -
Psychological Medicine Jan 2019Psychopathy is a personality type characterized by both callous emotional dysfunction and deviant behavior that affects society in the form of actions that harm others.... (Review)
Review
Psychopathy is a personality type characterized by both callous emotional dysfunction and deviant behavior that affects society in the form of actions that harm others. Historically, researchers have been concerned with seeking data and arguments to support a neurobiological foundation of psychopathy. In the past few years, increasing research has begun to reveal brain alterations putatively underlying the enigmatic psychopathic personality. In this review, we describe the brain anatomical and functional features that characterize psychopathy from a synthesis of available neuroimaging research and discuss how such brain anomalies may account for psychopathic behavior. The results are consistent in showing anatomical alterations involving primarily a ventral system connecting the anterior temporal lobe to anterior and ventral frontal areas, and a dorsal system connecting the medial frontal lobe to the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus complex and, in turn, to medial structures of the temporal lobe. Functional imaging data indicate that relevant emotional flow breakdown may occur in both these brain systems and suggest specific mechanisms via which emotion is anomalously integrated into cognition in psychopathic individuals during moral challenge. Directions for future research are delineated emphasizing, for instance, the relevance of further establishing the contribution of early life stress to a learned blockage of emotional self-exposure, and the potential role of androgenic hormones in the development of cortical anomalies.
Topics: Antisocial Personality Disorder; Cerebral Cortex; Humans; Neuroimaging
PubMed: 30207255
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291718002507 -
Comprehensive Psychiatry Jul 2019Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is a severe personality disorder with robust associations with crime and violence, but its precise etiology is unknown. Drawing on...
Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is a severe personality disorder with robust associations with crime and violence, but its precise etiology is unknown. Drawing on near-population of federal correctional clients in the Midwestern United States, the current study examined antecedent background factors spanning adverse childhood experiences and childhood psychopathology. Greater adverse childhood experiences were associated with ASPD diagnosis with physical abuse showing associations with ASPD symptoms and sexual abuse with lifetime diagnosis for ASPD. Conduct Disorder was strongly linked to ASPD; however, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and ADHD had null associations. Given the role of environmental factors in the development of ASPD, greater criminological attention should be devoted to understanding how assorted forms of abuse and neglect coupled with childhood psychopathology contribute to ASPD especially given its linkages to severe criminal offending.
Topics: Adult; Adverse Childhood Experiences; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders; Conduct Disorder; Criminals; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Psychopathology; Retrospective Studies
PubMed: 31079021
DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2019.04.001 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Apr 2018Empathy and anger are two social emotions that modulate an individual's risk for aggression. Empathy is an emotional reaction to another individual's emotional state.... (Review)
Review
Empathy and anger are two social emotions that modulate an individual's risk for aggression. Empathy is an emotional reaction to another individual's emotional state. Anger is an emotional reaction to threat, frustration or social provocation. Reduced empathy, seen in psychopathy, increases the risk for goal-directed aggression. Atypically increased anger (i.e. irritability), seen in conditions like disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and borderline personality disorder, increases the risk for reactive aggression. In this paper, I will outline core neurocognitive functions that correspond to empathy and which are compromised in individuals with psychopathic traits. In addition, I will outline neurocognitive functions involved in either the generation or regulation of anger and which are compromised in psychiatric conditions at increased risk for irritability/reactive aggression. It can be hoped that improved understanding of empathy and anger will lead to better assessment tools and improved interventions to reduce aggression risk.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'.
Topics: Adult; Aggression; Anger; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Cognition; Empathy; Female; Humans; Irritable Mood; Male
PubMed: 29483341
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0155 -
Italian Journal of Pediatrics Sep 2017Conduct Disorder (CD) is a psychiatric diagnosis characterized by a repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviour in which the basic rights of others and major... (Review)
Review
Conduct Disorder (CD) is a psychiatric diagnosis characterized by a repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviour in which the basic rights of others and major age-appropriate social norms or rules are violated. Callous Unemotional (CU) traits are a meaningful specifier in subtyping CD for more severe antisocial and aggressive behaviours in adult psychopathology; they represent the affective dimension of adult psychopathy, but they can be also detected in childhood and adolescence. The CU traits include lack of empathy, sense of guilt and shallow emotion, and their characterization in youth can improve our diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic abilities. A strong genetic liability, in interaction with parenting and relevant environmental factors, can lead to elevated levels of CU traits in children. We pointed out that CU traits can be detected in early childhood, may remain stable along the adolescence, but a decrease following intensive and specialized treatment is possible. We here provide a narrative review of the available evidences on CU traits in three main domains: aetiology (encompassing genetic liability and environmental risk factors), presentation (early signs and longitudinal trajectories) and treatments.
Topics: Adolescent; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Child; Conduct Disorder; Emotions; Empathy; Female; Humans; Male; Narration; Parent-Child Relations; Parenting; Prognosis; Risk Assessment; Severity of Illness Index
PubMed: 28931400
DOI: 10.1186/s13052-017-0404-6 -
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) Jul 2021Psychopathy is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy, and egotistical traits. These traits vary also in normally functioning individuals....
Psychopathy is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy, and egotistical traits. These traits vary also in normally functioning individuals. Here, we tested whether such antisocial personalities are associated with similar structural and neural alterations as those observed in criminal psychopathy. Subjects were 100 non-convicted well-functioning individuals, 19 violent male offenders, and 19 matched controls. Subjects underwent T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and viewed movie clips with varying violent content during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Psychopathic traits were evaluated with Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (controls) and Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (offenders). Psychopathic offenders had lower gray matter density (GMD) in orbitofrontal cortex and anterior insula. In the community sample, affective psychopathy traits were associated with lower GMD in the same areas. Viewing violence increased brain activity in periaqueductal grey matter, thalamus, somatosensory, premotor, and temporal cortices. Psychopathic offenders had increased responses to violence in thalamus and orbitofrontal, insular, and cingulate cortices. In the community sample, impulsivity-related psychopathy traits were positively associated with violence-elicited responses in similar areas. We conclude that brain characteristics underlying psychopathic spectrum in violent psychopathy are related to those observed in well-functioning individuals with asocial personality features.
Topics: Adult; Affect; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Brain; Brain Mapping; Criminals; Female; Gray Matter; Healthy Volunteers; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Photic Stimulation; Self Report; Violence; Young Adult
PubMed: 33834203
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab072 -
Current Psychiatry Reports Nov 2023Sadistic pleasure-the enjoyment of harm-infliction to others-can have devastating interpersonal and societal consequences. The goal of the current review is to... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Sadistic pleasure-the enjoyment of harm-infliction to others-can have devastating interpersonal and societal consequences. The goal of the current review is to illuminate the nomological net of traits related to sadism. We aim to achieve an understanding of the current empirical status on the link between sadism and personality disorders, psychopathy, the Dark Triad, and basic personality traits in clinical and community-based samples.
RECENT FINDINGS
The field is dominated by self-report studies on the Dark Triad with convenience samples. The link with DSM personality disorders has hardly been empirically studied. Existing evidence shows that sadism is most strongly related to increased psychopathic personality traits. Sadism can originate both from the interpersonal, affective, and behavioural basis of dark personality traits. There are diverging ideas on the differential status between sadism, psychopathy, and other dark traits. Research is needed on the causal impact of the broader range of personality disorders on sadism, in more diverse samples, including behavioural assessments of sadistic pleasure, as well as on the interplay of such personality traits with situational and affective aspects, and victim attitudes.
Topics: Humans; Sadism; Personality Disorders; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Personality
PubMed: 37856033
DOI: 10.1007/s11920-023-01466-0