Antisocial personality disorder is also called sociopathy; this is a disorder that inflicts a condition upon the victim in which he or she cannot differentiate between right and wrongs and lacks the ability to emphasize or understand others. Many sociopaths, who cannot emphasize with people, often show some signs of sociopathy. However, that is a rather extreme case, and many people with sociopathy tend to have traits that are not harmful to other humans unless they may be put in a position of power such as a CEO or a manager. Indeed, people with antisocial personality disorder tend to manipulate peers and subordinates and treat them harshly with an demeanor lacking much regret. People with sociopathy find it hard to show remorse, and many times these people do not understand what remorse is.
Some troubling signs that one may have antisocial personality disorder is the fact that they break the law a lot and do not listen to their parents. This can happen at adolescents, but it is important to be able to differentiate between puberty and sociopathy. If a parent or guardian is unsure of what exactly the child has, he or she should be taken to a psychologist for testing.
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"Sociopathy: Antisocial Personality Disorder".
As said above, there are many signs and symptoms that one may have sociopathy, and a great majority of these signs happen at a young age. Some symptoms are a lack of moral values, dishonesty, disrespect, manipulation, arrogance, lack of guilt, no empathy, panic when something doesn’t happen as planned, risk-taking, poor relationships, and a bad family environment. These symptoms can be spotted by parents if they are trained right and well-versed in what sociopathy is. Unfortunately, most parents do not even understand that their child may have sociopathy and believe that it is just a normal cycle of childhood.
Adults who have antisocial disorders will probably violate the law after they turn into a teenager. Antisocial personality disorder is considered a disorder that lasts a lifetime. However, people can condition themselves to suppress these symptoms and become more outward-going and more empathetic. Many people who may have this disorder may not even know it because they’ve “learned” how to connect with people early on. It’s absolutely imperative for the parent to try and correct the child’s behavior when this behavior starts up. Therapy is a great way of alleviating these symptoms and teaching children to learn how to connect. Community gatherings are great too, as the child gets a sense of belonging from this and can learn to trust people more. If a child is in a bad family relationship, it is also important for other adults to investigate and report incidents or suspected abuse to child service.
There are numerous tests that a psychologist can do in order to gauge whether or not the child has this disorder or how severe it is. Oftentimes, a good psychologist will understand if the child has a disorder by just trying to start up a conversation. It’s important to note that antisocial personality disorder is a rather blanket term, and sociopathy is a better term to use because it is more specific. There are other disorders that cause people to be antisocial, such as autism or Aspergers. Things are not black and white in the neurological world, and oftentimes someone may exhibit some signs of sociopathy and some signs of Aspergers. Still, a qualified, good psychologist will be able to find the issue with the child and decode what he or she has. Antisocial personality disorder is very different from other disorders. Many people are just quiet people and may be mistaken for having sociopathy. Like ADHD diagnoses, one needs to be able to differentiate normal behavior that may “fit” into some of the symptoms of sociopathy versus behavior that confirms sociopathy.
- De Brito, S. A., & Hodgins, S. H. E. I. L. A. G. H. (2009). Antisocial personality disorder. Personality, personality disorder and violence, 42, 133-153.
- Woody, G. E., McLellan, A. T., Luborsky, L., & O’Brien, C. P. (1985). Sociopathy and psychotherapy outcome. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42(11), 1081-1086.
