Antisocial Personality Disorder

ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER

Antisocial personality disorder is a disorder with a misleading name. Its name may lead one to believe that people with the disorder stay away from social interaction. That is anything but true. People with this disorder are very sociable. The thing that makes them antisocial is they way they do not adapt to normal social standards or behavior. People with antisocial personality disorder may come across as very friendly people, the intentions behind the friendly facade is what makes this disorder a problem. They very often violate the rights of others. They are purposely charmingly manipulative in order to gain the trust and affection of others; they then use the trust and affection for deceitful purposes. They are skilled at faking sincerity. They experience true love and affection close to never. They rarely even feel guilty about these wrongdoings. They lack the conscience that a socially normal person would have. They have no compassion towards others and are only out to please themselves in anyway they can, no matter who they have to hurt to get there. People with antisocial personality disorder are very shameless and in search of instant gratification. They are very irresponsible and very impulsive. They can tolerate very minimal frustration and many times this leads to being dangerous.

Antisocial personality disorder occurs mostly among males. It is a very common disorder. About 3 percent of Americans will suffer from it. It begins occurring in the childhood years. It is a very common disorder among criminals, rapists, child abusers, drug dealers, politicians, and other such people where no conscience is needed. About 40 percent of criminals tested, meet the criteria for antisocial personality disorder. Although, many criminals have the disorder, many everyday people do as well. They just keep it within the boundaries of the law. 2 They live for the moment and get bored very quickly. They have a constant need and desire for change. They typically get easily frustrated and don’t like to be in confined social situations where they are not in complete control. This is why many people with this personality disorder have a history of divorce and job instability. Since people with this disorder have no conscience or remorse for their actions, they are free to do anything that pleases them with out the burden of guilt. They are basically emotionless and are out for only themselves.

The exact cause of antisocial personality disorder is unknown. To some degree it is believed to be hereditary. A child’s growing environment may also have something to do with it also. The personality disorder may be learned if a child is being raised by someone with it. If a child sees their parent, who they look up to being dishonest, callous, and deceitful, they are going to grow up doing the same and not seeing anything wrong with their social interactions. People who were sporadically and inappropriately punished as children are more likely to have antisocial personality disorder.