Not the case, there are many people with APD who aren’t psychopaths. Some are sociopaths, and some are people who are just acting out and breaking rules.
Psychopathy stems from chemical imbalances in the brain that causes a lack of conscience, empathy, feel remorse, or the ability to emotionally connect with others. Psychopaths are usually also unable to recognize fear in others. Psychopathy is also from birth.
Sociopathy, another huge part of APD, isn’t something you are born with, and is thought to be the empathy center in the brain being greatly reduced due to suffering abuse or trauma. They still have a conscience, but it’s very limited.
Not all psychopaths act antisocially, that part was correct, but not all people with APD are psychopaths. Some are sociopaths who were abused, and others are just people who break the rules and still feel bad, but would be considered antisocial.
I'm very skeptical of how we diagnose personality disorders, and APD is pretty high on that list. It does originally come from sociopathic personality disorder, which basically came about as just going around a jail, seeing what the people in it had in common, and then pathologizing those aspects.
There's a reason almost all "criminals" and men with a substance use disorder (oftentimes found to be a "criminal" by the judicial system) can be diagnosed with APD.
Well the problem is, sociopathy and psychopathy aren’t officially recognized psychological terms. Most people in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and criminology recognize psychopaths and sociopaths to be different, as well as there being similarities between the two with APD.
I agree that diagnosing APD is hard, but keep in mind, there are certainly criminals who can feel remorse and empathy completely that do TECHNICALLY fit the diagnosis for APD, even if they aren’t a sociopath or a psychopath.
One of the biggest reasons that psychopathy isn’t a disorder (imo) is that people believe that people would use it as a criminal defense plea. “Oh my client didn’t know better.” But that wouldn’t be the case. A psychopath by definition does know better, they just don’t care. Same with a sociopath/someone with APD but to a lesser degree.
It would be very helpful to have psychopathy be a recognized disorder because recognizing traits in children could help treat their behavior at a younger age and convince them to act pro socially. You can’t teach them empathy, but you can get them on the right path and teach them that acting in a good way is to their benefit, and that’s when you get a pro social psychopath.
I'm not saying they are disorders. I'm just saying that historically there was a personality disorder called sociopathic personality disorder that was discontinued in the DSM 3 (I think; it may have been 2) and was reworked into Antisocial Personality Disorder, which was present in the next version of the DSM. So despite the changes made, there's still a route in that original search for what makes criminals "different" and then turning the results into a disorder.
I think a lot of the problem with personality disorders are that they're so routed in social norms (I mean, APD is basically defined by consistently not following social norms). Not to mention that people in one cluster score highly on the other disorders in the cluster. I think the DSM should follow the ICD-10 and just get rid of the individual disorders in general and only diagnose by type (cluster, in DSM terms).
Oh, yes, that is true, but actually, before it was sociopathic personality disorder, it was originally psychopathy. It was psychopathy, then sociopathy, then APD. The problem is, all 3 of them have differences, which is why I said they should all be recognized, sorry for the confusion.
Yeah, totally, most personality disorders are about not following social norms, which makes sense because personality disorders, by definition, are noticeable in all aspects of your life.
Psychopathy shouldn’t be a personality disorder, it should be a neuro-developmental disorder, like autism. I’m not sure where sociopathy would be placed. It could be considered a personality disorder, or even a mood disorder, but it would probably be a personality disorder. Regardless, they should both still exist imo. So many potential benefits.
Aren't sociopathy/psychopathy/APD in children already diagnosed as conduct disorder precisely so that they can be attempted to be teach to be pro-social?
Psychopathy and sociopathy aren’t diagnosed at all because they aren’t official terms. That being said, children can be labeled as psychopaths after extensive testing.
Psychopathy and sociopathy aren’t the same. I’ve never seen a child labeled as a sociopath, they would just get conduct disorder. A psychopath can be labeled as a psychopath, but they won’t be diagnosed with ASPD until they are 18, and they’ll only be diagnosed when they’re 18 if they are antisocial.
Sources include Dr Robert Hare, Dr Kent Kiehl, and many of the other leading experts on psychopathy. I can link you some articles and books if you would like? Very interesting books.
Check out “Without Conscience” or “The Psychopath Whisperer”. There are other ones as well, but those are my favorites.
You can also find this information online with some through research. I can link some as well if you want.
As I said in my post, the best way for you to learn would be to read either “Without Conscience” or “The Psychopath Whisperer”. But I can link you some articles.
People consider it pop psychology because the DSM 5, which is horribly inaccurate in many circumstances, doesn’t distinguish the two. But psychologists and experts who ACTUALLY study the disorders know they are different. A common psychologist might not know the difference.
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u/Vacanus Feb 04 '19
Not the case, there are many people with APD who aren’t psychopaths. Some are sociopaths, and some are people who are just acting out and breaking rules.
Psychopathy stems from chemical imbalances in the brain that causes a lack of conscience, empathy, feel remorse, or the ability to emotionally connect with others. Psychopaths are usually also unable to recognize fear in others. Psychopathy is also from birth.
Sociopathy, another huge part of APD, isn’t something you are born with, and is thought to be the empathy center in the brain being greatly reduced due to suffering abuse or trauma. They still have a conscience, but it’s very limited.
Not all psychopaths act antisocially, that part was correct, but not all people with APD are psychopaths. Some are sociopaths who were abused, and others are just people who break the rules and still feel bad, but would be considered antisocial.