PSYCHOPATHY

1. PSYCHOPATHY WATCH YOUR BACK! Powerpoint overhaul by Nick Bloom & Andrew Blonde Original powerpoint by Fulero & Wrightsman

2. Psychopathy Defined • A specific form of personality disorder. • What is a Personality Disorder?

3. Psychopathy Defined • Personality Disorders Defined by DSM-IV-TR: • An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture. • Pattern manifested in two (or more) areas: • Cognition (ways of perceiving and interpreting self, others, and events) • Affectivity (range, intensity, lability & appropriateness of emotions) • Interpersonal function • Impulse control

4. Psychopathy Defined • Personality Disorders Defined by DSM-IV-TR: • The enduring pattern is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations. • The enduring pattern leads to clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

5. Psychopathy Defined • Personality Disorders Defined by DSM-IV-TR: • The pattern is stable and of long duration and its onset can be traced back at least to adolescence or early adulthood. • The enduring pattern is not better accounted for as a manifestation or consequence of another mental disorder. • The enduring pattern is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance or a general medical condition.

6. The Antisocial Personality Disorder • A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years as indicated by three (or more) of the following: • 1-Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.

7. The Antisocial Personality Disorder • A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years as indicated by three (or more) of the following: • 2- Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure. • 3- Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.

8. The Antisocial Personality Disorder • A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years as indicated by three (or more) of the following: • 4- Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults. • 5- Reckless disregard fro safety of self or others.

9. The Antisocial Personality Disorder • A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years as indicated by three (or more) of the following: • 6- Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations. • 7- Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

10. Psychopathy Defined • Hare (1996): “A socially devastating disorder”…”intraspecies predators.” • Psychopathy includes antisocial behaviors and interpersonal and affective components. • It is not always behavior that is criminal in nature (“Snakes in Suits”).

11. Psychopathy: Core Traits • Cleckley (1941) Mask of Sanity • 16 Characteristics: • Superficial charm and good intelligence • Absence of delusion and other signs of irrational thinking • Absence of nervousness • Unreliability • Untruthfulness and insincerity • Lack of remorse or shame • Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior • Poor judgment and failure to learn from experiences

12. Psychopathy: Core Traits • Cleckley (1941) Mask of Sanity • 16 Characteristics: • Pathological egocentricity and incapacity for love • General poverty in major affective reactions • Specific loss of insight • Unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations • Fantastic and uninviting behavior with drink and sometimes without • Suicide rarely carried out • Sex life interpersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated • Failure to follow any life plan

13. Robert Hare: The Psychopathy Checklist Factor 1: Interpersonal/Affective Factor • Glibness/Superficial charm • Pathological lying • Absence of nervousness • Lack of remorse or guilt • Shallow affect • Callous/lack of empathy • Failure to Accept Responsibility for actions • Conning/Manipulative

14. Robert Hare: The Psychopathy Checklist Factor 2: Socially Deviant/Antisocial Lifestyle • Lack of realistic, long-tem goals • Impulsivity • Irresponsibility • Failure to Accept Responsibility for actions • Need for stimulation • Parasitic lifestyle • Poor behavioral control • Early behavioral problems • Juvenile delinquency • Revocation of conditional release

15. Robert Hare: The Psychopathy Checklist Additional items that do not load on a factor • Promiscuous sexuality • Many short-term marital relationships • Criminal versatility • PCL-R 20 items. Each items scored 0, 1, 2. • Cutoff score of 30 (some studies 25).

16. Are there types of Psychopaths? • Primary Psychopathy • Prototypical type caused by an inherent deficit: • Commits antisocial acts • Is irresponsible • Lacks empathy • Superficially charming

17. Are there types of Psychopaths? • Secondary Psychopathy • This type develops because of “social disadvantage, low intelligence, neurotic anxiety, or other psychopathology.” Key distinction: Lack of anxiety in Primary. Anxiety drives behavior of Secondary

18. Is Psychopathy different from ASPD? • Both constructs highly correlated (r. =.55 - .65) • Psychopathy is not listed as a disorder in the DSM-IV-TR • International Classification of diseases does list a “dissocial personality disorder”

19. Is Psychopathy different from ASPD? • DSM-IV-TR focuses on objective behaviors • Psychopathy includes behaviors (Factor 1) and Interpersonal/Affective characteristics (Factor 2). • Conclusion: Psychopathy diagnosis is more narrow and specific than ASPD

20. Statistics • Prevalence rates for: General. Public ASPD 3-5% Psychopathy 1% Prison Populations ASPD 50-80% Psychopathy 15-30% Not all psychopaths have ASPD (only 90%) 15 – 30% of people with ASPD suffer from Psychopathy

21. Successful Psychopaths: Snakes in Suits • Successful or white-collar psychopaths have higher IQ’s, higher education levels, from higher SES background. • Found in corporations, sales, or political offices. Are you involved with a Psychopath? http://www.crisiscounseling.com/Articles/Psychopath.htm

22. The Relationship of Criminal Behavior and Violence to Psychopathy • General Violence and Criminal Behavior • Psychopathy is strong predictor of future violence. When predicting risk of future violence. Psychopathy Is the biggest risk factor.

23. The Relationship of Criminal Behavior and Violence to Psychopathy • General Violence and Criminal Behavior • Significant relationship between Psychopathy and general criminal recidivism. • Significant relationship between Psychopathy and violent recidivism. Salekin et al. 1996

24. The Relationship of Criminal Behavior and Violence to Psychopathy • General Violence and Criminal Behavior • Psychopathy, unlike ASPD, does not diminish (burnout) with age. • Psychopaths appear to commit higher rates of violence than non psychopaths even after age 40. Harris, Rice, & Cormier. 1991

25. The Relationship of Criminal Behavior and Violence to Psychopathy • General Violence and Criminal Behavior • Instrumental Violence versus Reactive Violence • Instrumental Violence- pursued with clearly defined goal-planned by Psychopathy. • Reactive Violence-perpetrated out of emotion or passion.

26. The Relationship of Criminal Behavior and Violence to Psychopathy • Sexual Violence • Psychopathy predicts sexual recidivism among rapist and child molesters and related to sexual arousal in general. • High PCL-R scorers show more frequent and severe levels of violent sexual offenses.

27. The Relationship of Criminal Behavior and Violence to Psychopathy • Violence in Civil Psychiatric Patients • The risk of violence among civil psychiatric patients is much lower than general offenders. • However, Psychopathy is a strong predictor of violence in civil psychiatric samples..

28. The Relationship of Criminal Behavior and Violence to Psychopathy • Violence Among Domestic Violence Perpetrators • Psychopathy is not a strong statistical predictor of domestic violence.

29. Other Facts about Psychopaths • Interpersonal/Affective Aspects • Deficits in ability to sustain human connection • Less sensitive to emotional expression • Stories generated more superficial and void of deep meaning • Fewer behavioral gestures • Difficulty processing and understanding emotion • Particularly negative emotion • Sham emotions used to control individual or situation.

30. Other Facts about Psychopaths • Cognitive and Learning Deficits • Difficulty learning from their mistakes • Problem with passive avoidance learning—an inability to learn from behaviors that punish. • It may be that they are hypersensitive to rewards leading to a narrowed attention focus.

31. Other Facts about Psychopaths • Biological Basis fro Psychopathy • Variability on physiological measures • Reduced fear (heart rate, skin conductance) in anticipation of aversive stimuli. • Reduced skin conductance when exposed to distressful stimuli (people crying).

32. Other Facts about Psychopaths • Biological Basis fro Psychopathy • Variability on physiological measures • Cerebral cortex less active in psychopaths. • Activation confined to occipital cortex-process information visually. • Psychopaths fail to use frontal cortex, limbic system, amygdala when processing emotional information.

33. Other Facts about Psychopaths • Treatment of Psychopathy • Does treatment work? • Some say not. • Some say treatment makes them worse. • Some say more research is needed.

34. Special Groups and Psychopathy • Women • Ethnic and Cross-Cultural Issues • Children and Adolescents