Antisocial Personality Disorder
Wyatt Halbach
About Anitsocial Personality Disorder
ASPD was first recorded sometime around 350 B.C. when Aristotle wrote about an "unscrupulous man", who had many symptoms common with ASPD. Since then, the Disorder has been known by many names, such as Psychopathic Personality or Sociopathic Personality.
Prevalence
Antisocial Personality Disorder appears more often in men than in women. It also appears earlier in men, usually onsetting in early childhood, while in women it's usually around puberty. The showing of ASPD increases in lower socioeconomic groups. It is also found in as many as 75% of prison inmates.
Causes
Noone knows the exact cause of ASPD but its widely accepted to be from a mix of genetic and environmental factors. In people with ASPD the heart rate and skin conductance activity are lower and they have a slower electroencephalographic rate. Also, in 1944, there was a study done that showed maternal deprivation in a child's first five years of life affected the presence of ASPD.
Treatment
People with ASPD also need to be treated for other things, such as depression, anxiety, or substance abuse. As a result there are a number of ways in which to care for ASPD victims. A common treatment is psychotherapy, in which the individual with the disorder is talked with and taught to see the bad things they have done and what good things to do instead. This, unfortunately, doesnt always work. Other than psychotherapy medication can be used. There is no drug specifically for ASPD but many different medications help conditions associated with ASPD.
Symptoms
Symptoms of ASPD can start early. Even before the age of fifteen. The early signs of ASPD include:
- Agression to People and Animals
- Destruction of Property
- Deceitfulness or Theft
- Serious Violatoins of Rules
- Failure to Conform to Social Norms
- Breaking Laws on Numerous Occasions
- Repeated Lying
- Agressiveness
- Disregard for safety of self or others
- Lack of Remorse
- Dying From Physical Trauma
- Drug and Alcohol Abuse
- Suicide
- Homocide
- Other Mental Disorders
- Committing Serious Crimes