Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder
Introduction The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the constructs of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. The aim is to highlight whether the terms psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder reflect the same construct or whether they differ. Furthermore, recommendations for treatment of criminal behavior will be explored. For the purposes of this evaluation some definitions need to be highlighted: Criminal offence is an act that breaks a law, which relates how to behave in society. The harm caused by the act is seen to be against society as a whole, not just a specific person. Sometimes it refers to the specific law that was broken (Herring, 2009). Crime is the breach of rules or law for which some authority (via mechanisms such as legal systems) can ultimately prescribe a conviction. Crimes may also result in cautions, rehabilitation, or be unenforced (Block & Block, 1984). Mental illness – Modern psychiatric practice considers mental illness as the pervasive inability to engage reality (Mcauley, 1993). Harrower (1998) argued that there is a need to adopt a mode of analysis, to try to understand the pleasures of crime as it is clear to him that one of the major reasons offenders commit crime is because they enjoy it. In accordance, Katz (1988) studied the seductions of crime, meantime, Hodge et al (1997) referred to criminal behavior as an addiction. Winstead et al (2005), pointed out that there has been a heated debate throughout the history of psychology and psychiatry over the definition of psychopathology and its related terms such as mental disorder. Gergen (1985), questioned if mental disorder can be defined objectively using scientific criteria or if it is a social construct entirely defined by societal and cultural values. Wakefield (1999), believes that the harmful dysfunction
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conception of mental disorder is strongly influenced by social and cultural values. Psychologists describe psychopathology as a
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conception of mental disorder is strongly influenced by social and cultural values. Psychologists describe psychopathology as a
References: Dolan, B. & Coid, J. (1993). Psychopathic and antisocial personality disorders: treatment and research issues. London:Gaskell. Hodge, J. E., McMurran, M., & Hollin, C. R. (1997). Addicted to crime? Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Mcauley, F Widiger, T. & Corbitt, E. (1995). Antisocial personality disorder in DSM-IV. NY: Guilford. Widiger, T.A., (1997). The construct of mental disorder. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 4, 262-266.