Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-01T01:31:23.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Antisocial Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2023

By
Devon L. L. Polaschek
Edited by
Stephen Hupp  and
Cara L. Santa Maria
Stephen Hupp
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Cara L. Santa Maria
Affiliation:
Fielding Graduate University, California
Get access

Summary

This chapter describes pseudoscience and questionable ideas related to antisocial personality disorder. The chapter opens by considering diagnostic controversies such as the construct of psychopathy. Questionable assessment practices and myths that influence treatment are also addressed. Dubious treatments include psychedelics, psychoanalysis, and punishment-based interventions. The chapter closes by reviewing research-supported approaches.

Keywords

antisocial personality disorderpsychopathypsycho-legal outcomespsychedelicspsychoanalysispunishment-based interventionsrisk–need–responsivity model
Type
Chapter
Information
Pseudoscience in Therapy
A Skeptical Field Guide
 , pp. 227 - 246
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-III). 3rd ed. American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association.(2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition, text revision (DSM-5-TR). American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Black, D. W. (2017). The treatment of antisocial personality disorder. Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry, 4, 295–302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40501-017–02123-z.Google Scholar
Blackburn, R. (1988). On moral judgements and personality disorders: The myth of the psychopathic personality revisited. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 505–512.Google Scholar
Boccaccini, M. T., Turner, D. B., & Murrie, D. C. (2008). Do some evaluators report consistently higher or lower PCL-R scores than others: Findings from a statewide sample of Sexually Violent Predator evaluations. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 14, 262–283. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014523.Google Scholar
Bonta, J., & Andrews, D. A. (2016). The psychology of criminal conduct. 6th ed. Routledge.Google Scholar
Bonta, J., Blais, J., & Wilson, H. A. (2014). A theoretically informed meta-analysis of the risk for general and violent recidivism for mentally disordered offenders. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19, 278–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2014.04.014.Google Scholar
Caldwell, M. F., McCormick, D. J., Wolfe, J., & Umstead, D. (2012). Treatment-related changes in psychopathy features and behavior in adolescent offenders Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39, 144–155. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854811429542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlisi, C. O., Moffitt, T. E., Knodt, A. R., Harrington, H., Ireland, D., Melzer, T. R., Poulton, R., Ramrakha, S., Caspi, A., Hariri, A. R., & Viding, E. (2020). Associations between life-course-persistent antisocial behaviour and brain structure in a population-representative longitudinal birth cohort. Lancet Psychiatry, 7, 245–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/ S2215-0366(20)30002-X.Google Scholar
Coid, J., Yang, M., Tyrer, P., Roberts, A., & Ullrich, S. (2006). Prevalence and correlates of personality disorder in Great Britain. British Journal of Psychiatry, 188, 423–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.01.002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cullen, F. T., & Gendreau, P. (2001). From nothing works to what works: Changing professional ideology in the 21st century. The Prison Journal, 81(3), 313–338. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885501081003002.Google Scholar
Cunningham, M. D., & Reidy, T. J. (1998). Antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy: Diagnostic dilemmas in classifying patterns of antisocial behavior in sentencing evaluations. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 16, 333–351.Google Scholar
DeLisi, M. Drury, A. J., & Elbert, M. J. (2019). The etiology of antisocial personality disorder: The differential roles of adverse childhood experiences and childhood psychopathology. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 92, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2019.04.001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DeMatteo, D., Edens, J. F., Galloway, M., Cox, J., Smith, S. T., Koller, J. P., & Bersoff, B. (2014). Investigating the role of the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised in United States case law. Psychology, Public Policy and Law, 20, 96–1067. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeMatteo, D., Hart, S. D., Heilbrun, K., Boccaccini, M. T., Cunningham, M. D., Douglas, K. S., Dvoskin, J. A., Edens, J. F., Guy, L. S., Murrie, D. C., Otto, R. K., Packer, I. R., & Reidy, T. J. (2020). Statement of concerned experts on the use of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised in capital sentencing to assess risk for institutional violence. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 26(2), 133–144. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000223.Google Scholar
DeMatteo, D., & Olver, M. E. (2022). Use of the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised in legal contexts: Validity, reliability, admissibility, and evidentiary issues. Journal of Personality Assessment, 104(2), 234–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2021.1955693.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duggan, C., & Kane, E. (2010). Commentary: Developing a National Institute of Clinical Excellence and health guideline for antisocial personality disorder. Personality and Mental Health, 4, 3–8. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmh.109.Google Scholar
Duignan, B. (n.d.). What’s the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath? And how do both differ from narcissists? Brittannica. www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-a-psychopath-and-a-sociopath-and-how-do-both-differ-from-narcissists.Google Scholar
Edens, J. F., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Kelley, S. E. (2018). DSM-5 Antisocial Personality Disorder: Predictive validity in a prison sample. Law and Human Behavior, 39(2), 123–129. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000105.Google Scholar
Edens, J. F., Marcus, D. K., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Poythress Jr., N. G. (2006). Psychopathic, not psychopathic: Taxometric evidence for the dimensional structure of psychopathy. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 131–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazel, S., & Danesh, J. (2002). Serious mental disorder in 23000 prisoners: A systematic review of 62 surveys. The Lancet, 359, 545–550.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flint-Stevens, G. (1993). Applying the diagnosis antisocial personality disorder to imprisoned offenders: Looking for hay in a haystack. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 19, 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1300/J076v19n01_01.Google Scholar
Fowles, D. C. (2018). Temperamental and risk factors for psychopathy. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (2nd ed., pp. 94–125). Guilford.Google Scholar
Freedman, R., Lewis, D. A., Michels, R., Pine, D. S., Schultz, S. K., Tamminga, C. A., Gabbard, G. O., Gau, S. S., Javitt, D. C., Oquendo, M. A., Shrout, P. E., Vieta, E., & Yager, J. (2013). The initial field trials of DSM-5: New blooms and old thorns. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12091189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gao, Y. (2019). Neurological profiles of psychopathy: A neurodevelopmental perspective. In DeLisi, M. (Ed.), Routledge international handbook of psychopathy and crime (pp. 154–165). Routledge.Google Scholar
Gibbon, S., Khalifa, N. R., Cheung, N. H., Völlm, B. A., & McCarthy, L. (2020). Psychological interventions for antisocial personality disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (9), CD007668. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD007668.pub3.Google Scholar
Goodwin, R. D., & Hamilton, S. P. (2003). Lifetime comorbidity of antisocial personality disoder and anxiety disorders among adults in the community. Psychiatry Research 117(2), 159–166.Google Scholar
Gurley, J. R. (2009). A history of changes to the criminal personality in the DSM. History of Psychology, 12(4), 285–304. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018101.Google Scholar
Harding, D. J., Morenoff, J. D., Nguyen, A. P., & Bushway, S. D. (2017). Short- and long-term effects of imprisonment on future felony convictions and prison admissions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(42), 11103–11108. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1701544114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, R. D. (1980). A research scale for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations. Personality and Individual DIfferences, 1, 111–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(80)90028-8.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D. (1991). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D. (1996). Psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder: A case of diagnostic confusion. Psychiatric Times, 8(1). www.psychiatrictimes.com/antisocial-personality-disorder/psychopathy-and-antisocial-personality-disorder-case-diagnostic-confusion.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D. (1998). The Hare PCL-R: Some issues concerning its use and misuse. Legal & Criminological Psychology, 3, 99–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, R. D. (2003). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised technical manual. 2nd ed. Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D., & Neumann, C. S. (2010). The role of antisociality in the psychopathy construct: Comment on Skeem and Cooke (2010). Psychological Assessment, 22(2), 446–454. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013635.Google Scholar
Harris, G. T., Rice, M. E., & Cormier, C. (1994). Psychopaths: Is a therapeutic community therapeutic? Therapeutic Communities: International Journal for Therapeutic and Supportive Organizations, 15, 283–299.Google Scholar
Hatchett, G. T. (2015). Treatment guidelines for clients with Antisocial Personality Disorder. Journal of Mental Health Counselling, 37(1), 15–27.Google Scholar
Hicks, B. M., & Drislane, L. E. (2018). Variants (‘subtypes”) of psychopathy. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (2nd ed., p. 297). Guilford.Google Scholar
Holoyda, B. (2020). The psychedelic renaissance and its forensic implications. Journal of the American Academy of Science, 48(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.29158/JAAPL.003917-20.Google Scholar
Howells, K., Day, A., & Thomas-Peter, B. (2004). Changing violent behaviour: Forensic mental health and criminological models compared. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, 15, 391–404.Google Scholar
Kelley, S. E., Edens, J. F., Mowle, E. N., Peonson, B. N., & Rulseh, A. (2019). Dangerous, depraved, and death-worth: A meta-analysis of the correlates of perceived psychopathy in jury simulation studies. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 75, 627–643. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22726.Google Scholar
Kiehl, K. A. (2015). The psychopath whisperer: The science of those without conscience. Crown.Google Scholar
Latessa, E. J., Johnson, S. L., & Koetzle, D. (2020). What works (and doesn’t) in reducing recidivism. Routledge.Google Scholar
Lilienfeld, S. O., Smith, S. F., Sauvigné, K. C., Patrick, C. J., Drislane, L. E., Latzman, R. D., & Krueger, R. F. (2016). Is boldness relevant to psychopathic personality? Meta-analytic relations with non-Psychopathy Checklist-based measures of psychopathy. Psychological Assessment, 28, 1172–1185. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000244.Google Scholar
McGuire, J. (2002). Integrating findings from research reviews. In McGuire, J. (Ed.), Offender rehabilitation and treatment: Effective programmes and policies to reduce re-offending (pp. 3–38). Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701.Google Scholar
Motz, R. T., Barnes, J. C., Caspi, A., Arseneault, L., Cullen, F. T., Houts, R., Wertz, J., & Moffitt, T. E. (2020). Does contact with the justice system deter or promote future delinquency? Results from a longitudinal study of British adolescent twins. Criminology, 58(2), 307–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12236.Google Scholar
Olver, M. E., Stockdale, K. C., Neumann, C. S., Hare, R. D., Mokros, A., Baskin-Sommers, A., Brand, E., Folino, J., Gacono, C., Gray, N. S., Kiehl, K., Knight, R. A., Leon-Mayer, E., Logan, M., Meloy, J. R., Roy, S., Salekin, R. T., Snowden, R. J., Thomson, N., … Yoon, D. (2020). Reliability and validity of the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised in the assessment of risk for institutional violence: A cautionary note on DeMatteo et al. (2020). Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 26(4), 490–510. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000256.Google Scholar
Patrick, C. J., Fowles, D. C., & Krueger, R. F. (2009). Triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy: Developmental origins of disinhibition, boldness, and meanness. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 913–938. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579409000492.Google Scholar
Polaschek, D. L. L. (2010). What do mental health services offer to people with antisocial personality disorder? A commentary on the NICE clinical guideline. Personality and Mental Health, 4, 20–29.Google Scholar
Polaschek, D. L. L. (2014). Adult criminals with psychopathy: Common beliefs about treatability and change have little empirical support. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 296–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414535211.Google Scholar
Polaschek, D. L. L. (2022). Criminal justice responses to psychopathy. In Vitale, J. E. (Ed.), The complexity of psychopathy (pp. 571–610). Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polaschek, D. L. L., & Skeem, J. L. (2018). Treatment of adults and juveniles with psychopathy. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (2nd ed., pp. 710–731). Guilford.Google Scholar
Poythress, N. G., Edens, J. F., Skeem, J. L., Lilienfeld, S. O., Douglas, K. S., Frick, P. J., Patrick, C. J., Epstein, M., & Wang, T. (2010). Identifying subtypes among offenders with antisocial personality disorder: A cluster-analytic study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 389–400.Google Scholar
Raine, A. (2018). Antisocial personality as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 14, 259–289. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050817-084819.Google Scholar
Rice, M. E., & Harris, G. T. (1992). Ontario’s maximum security hospital at Penetanguishene: Past, present, and future. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 16, 195–215.Google Scholar
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of a maximum security therapeutic community for psychopaths and other mentally disordered offenders. Law and Human Behavior, 16, 399–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robins, L. N., Tipp, J., & Przybeck, T. (1991). Antisocial personality. In Robins, L. N. & Regier, D. A. (Eds.), Psychiatric disorders in America (pp. 258–290). Free Press.Google Scholar
Romer, A., Elliott, M., Knodt, A., Sison, M., Ireland, D., Houts, R., Ramrakha, S., Poulton, R., Keenan, R., Melzer, T., Moffitt, T., Caspi, A., & Hariri, A. (2021). Pervasively thinner neocortex as a transdiagnostic feature of general psychopathology. American Journal of Psychiatry, 178(2), 174–182. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.19090934.Google Scholar
Singh, J. P., Desmarais, S. L., Hurducas, C., Arbach-Lucioni, K., Condemarin, C., Dean, K., Doyle, M., Folino, J. O., Godoy-Cervera, V., Grann, M., Mei Yee Ho, R., Large, M. M., Nielsen, L. H., Pham, T. H., Rebocho, M. F., Reeves, K. A., Rettenberger, M., de Ruiter, C., Seewald, K., & Otto, R. K. (2014). International perspectives on the practical application of violence risk assessment: A global survey of 44 countries. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 13(3), 193–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/14999013.2014.922141.Google Scholar
Singleton, N., Melzer, H., & Gatward, R. (1998). Psychiatric morbidity among prisoners in England and Wales. The Stationary Office.Google Scholar
Skeem, J. L., & Cooke, D. J. (2010). Is criminal behavior a central component of psychopathy? Conceptual directions for resolving the debate. Psychological Assessment, 22(2), 433–445. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0008512.Google Scholar
Skeem, J. L., Polaschek, D. L. L., Patrick, C. J., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2011). Psychopathic personality: Bridging the gap between scientific evidence and public policy. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 12, 95–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100611426706.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skeem, J. L., Steadman, H. J., & Manchak, S. M. (2015). Applicability of the Risk–Need–Responsivity Model to persons with mental illness involved in the criminal justice system. Psychiatric Services, 66(9), 916–922. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201400448.Google Scholar
Taylor, S. (2013). The real meaning of “good” and “evil”: How are saintly people different from “evil” ones? What does ‘good’ really mean? Out the Darkness. www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/out-the-darkness/201308/the-real-meaning-good-and-evil.Google Scholar
Van den Bosch, L. M.C, Rijckmans, M. J. N., Decoene, S., & Chapman, A. L. (2018). Treatment of antisocial personality disorder: Development of a practice focused framework. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 58, 72–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.03.002.Google Scholar
Waldman, I. D., Rhee, S. H., LoParo, D., & Park, Y. (2018). Genetic and environmental influences on psychopathy and antisocial behavior. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (pp. 335–353). Guilford.Google Scholar
Walsh, A., & Wu, H. (2008). Differentiating antisocial personality disorder, psychopathy, and sociopathy: Evolutionary, genetic, neurological, and sociological considerations. Criminal Justice Studies, 21(2), 135–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/14786010802159814.Google Scholar
Walters, G. D., Gray, N. S., Jackson, R. L., Sewell, K. W., Rogers, R., Taylor, J., & Snowden, R. J. (2008). A taxometric analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV): Further evidence of dimensionality. Psychological Assessment, 19, 330–339.Google Scholar
Wermink, H., Blokland, A., Nieuwbeerta, P., Nagin, D., & Tollenaar, N. (2010). Comparing the effects of community service and short-term imprisonment on recidivism. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 6, 325–349. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-010-9097-1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werner, K. B., Few, L. R., & Bucholz, K. K. (2015). Epidemiology, comorbidity, and behavioral genetics of Antisocial Personality Disorder and psychopathy. Psychiatric Annals, 45(4), 195–199. https://doi.org/10.3928/00485713-20150401-08.Google Scholar
Wormith, J. S., & Zidenberg, A. M. (2018). The historical roots, current status, and future applications of the Risk–Need–Responsivity Model (RNR). In Jeglic, E. L. & Calkins, C. (Eds.), New frontiers in offender treatment (pp. 11–41). Springer Nature.Google Scholar
Yakeley, J. (2012). Treating the untreatable: The evolution of a psychoanalytically informed service for antisocial personality disorder. In Lemma, A. (Ed.), Contemporary developments in adult and young adult therapy (pp. 179–204). Routledge.Google Scholar
Yang, M., Wong, S. C. P., & Coid, J. W. (2010). The efficacy of violence prediction: A meta-analytic comparison of nine risk assessment tools. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 740–767.Google Scholar
Yoon, D., Eher, R., & Mokros, A. (2022). Incremental validity of the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised above and beyond the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder regarding recidivism in sexual offenders. Journal of Criminal Justice, 80, 101780. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2020.101780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×