The human race is wired in a way that they have the ability to relate and associate with each other in a distinct way depending on their habits and characters. How one thinks affects what they do, how they do it, with who and to who. Consequently, an individual’s mind directly impacts their interactions with everyone else. While the brain is developed at an early stage, the composition of a person’s thoughts is affected by their surroundings. The habits and characters that some people end up having at an older age are usually impacted by what they observed, experienced and had to endure during childhood. The antisocial personality disorder is a condition that psychologists define as a cognitive condition where a person has extended pattern of violating, intimidating, manipulating and exploiting the rights of others while subjecting them to harsh situations like torture and even painful death. Researchers and scholars have not found the primary cause of antisocial behavior although they affirm that an individual’s environment, genetics, and possible childhood abuse play a role in the development of the mental condition in the people in question. As for the case of individuals who underwent abuse during their childhood, they tend to internalize the pain and get used to it which later in their lives release they it to others hence the violation of other individual’s rights (Schacter, D.L., Gilbert, D. T., Wegner, D. M., & Nock, M.K. 2015)..
Symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder
People who are considered or identified to possess an antisocial personality disorder are in most cases characterized by prevailing attitudes that range from being impulsive, easily agitated and often engage in criminal activities. In other situations, these individuals have to be charming and act in a witty way to ensure that their actions are not traced by the authorities. While conducting their criminal activities, they tend to manipulate and enjoy flattering with the hurt emotions of other people. Antisocial individuals do not care about anyone’s safety including themselves. As in the case of Vincent Perotta, a criminal who repeatedly committed homicide and always subjected his victims to torture and prolonged pain before killing them lacked no remorse for his action or mercy towards his victims. Uploaded by Martyr Prodigy (2014), the YouTube video on Criminal Minds identified that Vincent Perotta acquired his habits from the childhood abuse he had to endure where his father was the orchestrator. Moreover, he helplessly observed his mother undergo painful times under the hands of his father. His anger toward Frank – his father, developed into a mental disorder that contributed to him causing pain to other innocent individuals. Most of his victims were men, which explained his hatred for his father and tenderness towards his mother. Perotta, like most of the antisocial people, had no trust towards anyone, with anything at any time. He was dismissive and showed signs of no fear for any situation including the time he was captured by the federal authorities and handed over to the investigative and interrogation team. Vincent easily mocked them and insisted on the fact that they were doing a useless job trying to find out the reasons he engaged in criminal activities because nothing would stop him from continuing with his lifestyle and habits, not even incarceration or being chained from head to toe. As for Perotta’s case, he had learned to take in pain from his father’s beatings and his dysfunctional family hence he had no compassion for anyone’s well-being or death.
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The onset of Antisocial Personality Disorder
As mentioned earlier, individuals with this disorder grow up learning and observing some of the activities that directly affect their future habits. The disorder must have been on a long-term hence its diagnosis in not conducted to individuals who are less than the age of eighteen (18). On the contrary, in case a minor showcase a history of continuous misconduct that is in line with the condition’s symptoms, they qualify to undergo diagnosis before or at the age of fifteen (15). Antisocial personality disorder takes the time to develop hence its onset is as early as early as the childhood abuse commences. In most cases, children begin to understand the nature of their lives as compared to that of other kids as long ago as four years hence can start to internalize their experiences and observations. The mind of a child develops during their early years, and hence it is at this stage that they are in a position to identify who they are in the society, what is required and expected of them and they are also able to analyze the community treatment towards them. Considering that these individuals learn their habits at an early age, some of them tend to bully other children within their neighborhood and school to release their pain and enjoy the pain of others. As a result, the habit develops as they become adults hence the antisocial personality behavior.
According to Richard Lynn and Helen Cheng (2002), the antisocial personality disorder is not equally distributed among ethnic and racial populations. On the other hand, the distinction observed is attributed to the difference in genetic make-up and cultural practices. About the author’s analysis, they equate the antisocial disorder to psychopathy and an individual’s deviant behaviors in the society. On the contrary, Lynn and Cheng fail to identify the personality that is behavior based on the mental condition and the syndrome’s conceptions. Unlike the relations of an individual’s intelligence and the state of socioeconomic that affects one’s behavior’s Lynn and Cheng emphasizes on genetic factors that are inclined to the differences in racial antisocial behavior and deviance. Moreover, evolution is also portrayed as a significant aspect of the genetics of different races and ethnicity that influence psychopathy and antisocial personalities.
Available Treatments for Antisocial Personality
For one to be treated, proper examinations and tests must be conducted to confirm an individual’s mental condition. The diagnosis of the antisocial disorder involves the evaluation of a person’s psychological history and habits which incorporate misconduct during childhood. Some of the treatment after analysis of the affected people includes therapy which in most cases is recommended by the judiciary since the individuals never seek medical attention on their own. Unlike other criminals, persons who are identified as antisocial are never subjected to physical torture for purposes of requiring them to confess because they are used to pain hence physical torture never helps in any way. In any case, they are talked through their habit and are served to identify the reasons that subject them to other people’s pain and violations of their rights. Other conditions that antisocial individuals have like depression are treated using antidepressants.
Conclusion
The antisocial disorder is common in persons who have had to undergo a painful childhood that subjected them to abuse and pain. They, therefore, react to their experiences by manipulating and violating the right of other innocent people. A dysfunctional home and poor parental care play a significant role in shaping the characters and thoughts of the antisocial individuals. The habits begin at an early age which develops into adulthood. The people end up in criminal activities like murder, burglary, and kidnappings. Diagnosis of the condition depends on the series of childhood misconduct observed in the individuals and the indulgence in crime. The treatment for this condition is not specified, but therapy and talk sessions are highly recommended. Moreover, the other conditions like depression and substance abuse that can accompany the disorder can be treated.
References
Lynn, R., & Cheng, H. (2002). Racial and ethnic differences in psychopathic personality. Personality and Individual Differences , 32 (2), 273-316. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869 (01)00029-0
Prodigy, M. (2014). Criminal Minds - Natural Born Killer . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdYmnRCr4rQ
Schacter, D.L., Gilbert, D. T., Wegner, D. M., & Nock, M.K. (2015). Introducing psychology. New York: Worth Publishers
