By Muneeba Shahid
B.Sc. Hons. Psychology
Government College University (GCU), Lahore.
What is anti-social personality disorder? Before we answer this we must be maturely cognizant of what alone personality is.
The word personality has been derived from Latin language, the Latin word ‘persona’, which means a mask used by theater artists to play a certain character or role. Personality is a fusion of both extrinsic and intrinsic qualities of an individual which helps in predicting their behavior and response to certain situations. Personality can also be said as a set pattern of an individual’s thoughts, emotions, feelings and behaviors. Whenever any unusual changes appear in any of these traits then it is considered to be a disorder in a person’s personality.
Anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) is a psychological state in which a person is considered to be social deviant, who do not abide by social laws, norms and behaviors and act in opposition to cultural values and rituals. People suffering from ASPD do not bother about the rights, feelings and emotions of others and become a cause of social turbulence. They show no respect to others and can also cause physical, emotional and monetary harm to the general population and that too intentionally. Their conscience is so dead that they do not bother about anyone and sometimes not even their own selves followed by no amount of compunction or self-reproach.
People with ASPD often are involved in drug abuse, worsening their psychological conditions and become so deviant that they also turn up to be criminals and fugitives of law. Such persons lack in fulfilling their social responsibilities and are not capable of living healthy relationships.
The symptoms of ASPD are as follows:
- They keep on lying for manipulating and exploiting others.
- Are aggressive most of the time.
- Do not show any respect toward others.
- Cannot differentiate between right and wrong.
- Violate laws, social and cultural norms.
- Can cause physical harm to others and easily get involved in fist fights.
- No amount of self-reproach.
- Always blame others and never accept the responsibility of their actions and of the consequences of such actions.
- Abusive relationships and financial failures.
- Drug abuse.
- Feeling of superiority and arrogance, considering themselves most educated on any issue.
- Believe that they are always right.
- Shows no amount of empathy or sympathy towards others.
- Indulgence in risky and dangerous things without taking in account their own and other’s safety.
Furthermore, a differential test may be done in order to know if it exactly is ASPD or other personality disorders. ASPD has overlapping symptoms with borderline personality disorder which is related to mood issues, narcissistic personality disorder which depicts self-importance and arrogance, and substance abuse disorder which involves excessive use of alcohol and other drugs.
Once you get to know through the symptoms that the disorder is ASPD, the next step is to find out the causes and progress towards the treatments. As evident, personality is a combination of emotions, behavior and thought processes, which is unique for everyone. ASPD can occur due to biological, social and environmental factors.
Some people inherit ASPD from their parents through their genes while the others get it due to disturbed childhood and unstable family situations. In brain’s development years some brain functioning may cause some changes in the structure of brain that leads to ASPD. Some cases have childhood abuse and chaotic family histories.
People with anti-social personality disorder show complications with spouse and other family relationships show homicidal and suicidal behaviors have financial instability and sometimes also homelessness and at times results in premature death due to aggression and violent behaviors.
Anti-social personality disorder has no exact treatment but can be managed through medications like anti-depressants, mood stabilizers and antipsychotics.
In some cases along with medication, psychotherapy also proves to be helpful. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps to mold the thinking patterns a bit and make them realize how their behaviors affect others around them. People with ASPD are on extreme of this disorder between 24 to 44 years, and tend to get stable after 45 years.
There is no specific way to get ASPD cured fully because it has roots deep down in a person’s childhood and genetics. However, one must seek help from practitioners and clinical psychologists when symptoms like extreme aggression, severe mood changes, violent and self-harm episodes and suicidal thoughts start to appear.
