Antisocial Personality Disorder preoccupied scientists since the early nineteenth century. People who would be diagnosed today, according to the APA Diagnostic and tatistic Manual of Mental Disorders, as having Antisocial Personality Disorder were considered in the early stages of psychiatry and then later by psychology as: sociopaths, psychopaths, lunatics etc. According to the American Psychological Association Manual, the Antisocial Personality Disorder is "a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood." A person who is diagnosed with the disorder must be 18 and must have had presented symptoms of antisocial behavior before the age of 15 as well.
According to Moeller and Daugherty (2001) the symptom of the Antisocial Personality Disorder can be traced as having come to the attention of philosophy in ancient times: "Theophrastus, a student of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, described a….

Antisocial Personality Disorder
As a society our culture is very concerned with norms and social behavior. Antisocial behavior is something that certainly stands out, when exhibited. Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a disease that is only diagnosed in adulthood; however the signs begin in childhood and adolescents. ASPD is characterized by the individual's disregard for other people's feelings and rights (Antisocial Personality Disorder, 2008). This is a disease that affects more people than we think, about 6% of males and 1% of females have ASPD (MHMatters, 2010). ASPD is a severe and dangerous problem and it should be researched further to find potential cure.

Behaviors

People with this disease are very different from the average person. They have a total lack of feelings towards anyone. They are reckless and don't really care about relationships. They may appear to be charming and can build relationships, however to this type of individual the relationship has….

A lack of consistency in punishment may lead the child to believe that punishment is random and it may become unclear which behaviors are acceptable or unacceptable. A childhood of abuse and neglect are a key contributing factor in many cases. Everyone involved in a child's life may be a factor in preventing or promoting the development of antisocial behavior (ayo Foundation, 2006). Consistency in punishment and reward, as well as building the child's self-esteem are all important factors in the development of the disorder.
Complications to Treatment

Persons with antisocial personality disorder are at risk of complications that could limit the effectiveness of treatment. Persons with severe forms of antisocial behavior are at increased risk for drug or alcohol abuse, suicide, homicide or committing serious crimes that may result in imprisonment (ayo Foundation, 2006). There is also an increased chance for comorbidity with other conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder,….

Individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder frequently lack empathy, tend to be manipulative and impulsive. Those traits positively correlate those individuals to commit violent crime such as felony assault.
Even though it is said that Antisocial Personality Disorder is a genetic problem, there are many environmental factors that trigger the onset of this disorder. One of such triggers is disturbed family relations. When any sort of traumatic events take place in the life of a person, this creates a problem in the normal development of the central nervous system that in turn leads to a disturbed pattern of hormone production. Researchers have discovered a number of neurotransmitters that might have a role to play in the development of ASPD in an individual, and one of such hormones is serotonin (lack, 2011).

ASPD can be labeled as a common disorder as around 3 to 30% of the psychiatric out patients come with this problem….

In one scene in the movie he is shown making his daughter a birthday cake, but in the next leaving the house with no regard for his daughter's feelings, thereby demonstrating "lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another" (DSM- IV and DSM IV T: Antisocial Personality Disorder, 2007).
In addition, in order for Antisocial personality Disorder to be diagnosed, "The individual is at least age 18 years"; and "[T]here is evidence of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 years." Further "[T]he occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia or a Manic Episode" ("DSM- IV and DSM IV T: Antisocial Personality Disorder"). Based on the movie Bugsy (1991) and available biographical information on Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel combined, Siegel's behavior meets all of these criteria. First, Siegel's behavior as an adolescent, according to biographies of….

Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120(4), 987-992.
Summary: Diagnosing ADHD in Adolescence

In this article, the researchers looked at adolescent-specific practical problems that are associated with current practice parameters for diagnosing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The specific issues that the researchers found interesting were the use of self-versus informant ratings, diagnostic threshold, and retrospective reporting of childhood symptoms. The purpose was to aid in diagnosing ADHD in adolescence.

The method involved examining 164 adolescents with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD and 119 control subjects with no ADHD diagnosis. The ADHD children were enrolled in a program called the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (PALS), which is a prospective longitudinal study of individuals with childhood ADHD diagnoses. The researchers looked at the data from that study and also parent, teacher, and self-reports of symptoms and impairment.

The results indicated that 70% of the ADHD group, diagnosed as children, continued to meet DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for….

Treatment and therapy for the condition is sought after clinical psychologists, in most cases when they face multiple court charges, diagnose the patient. Treatment of the condition entails the use of behavioral treatments like reward and punishment methods in psychology. A patient with antisocial personality disorder is rewarded for displaying the correct behavior, under the positive reinforcement method. Negative reinforcement entails promise and use negative consequences for any illegal behavior the patient displays.
The best form of treatment for children and adolescents diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder involve the training of parents and guardians to handle them. The parent or guardian is taught how to recognize problems in behavior early that indicate the beginning of problems. They are taught how to use praise and privileges to encourage positive social behaviors, and denial of privileges to discourage antisocial behaviors. The continuous positive and negative reinforcement conditions the individual to uphold positive….

The study's most significant limitation was that it did not contain female or minority subjects. The lack of female subjects was due to the ambiguous expression of the MAOA genotype in females, but the failure to include minorities was based on the fact that prior research had focused on Caucasian samples. Future research needs to be more inclusive.
Conclusion

Several studies have attempted to examine the causes of antisocial personality disorder. As the above three cases highlight, it is relatively simple to determine factors that are linked to antisocial behavior, but much more difficult to label any of those factors as a cause of antisocial disorder. To truly determine causation, one would need to conduct a truly random study using child subjects, and, given the nature of those lifestyle factors believed to impact the development of antisocial personality disorder, subject those children to significant trauma. Obviously, such an experiment would be….

antisocial personality disorder (APD) as displayed by serial killer Belle Gunness. The essay discusses her behaviors with reference to the DSM IV criteria and reviews theoretical perspectives on APD.
Belle Gunness, who immigrated to the U.S. In 1881, was born Brynhild Paulsdatter Strseth in November 1859 in Selbu, Norway. Following her immigration, a series of suspicious fires and deaths resulting in insurance awards ensued. Shortly after marrying Mads Sorenson in 1884, the couple's store and home mysteriously burned down, with them claiming the insurance money for both. Sorenson died soon after of heart failure on the very day that his two life insurance policies overlapped, and Belle received about $8,000 from his life insurance. Even though his family demanded an inquiry, no charges were filed, nor were the couple's two children accounted for. They were believed to have been poisoned in infancy for the insurance money as well (A+E Networks,….

Three DisordersOCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)This is a mental health disorder that affects people of all ages and walks of life, and occurs when a person gets caught in a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that trigger intensely distressing feelings. Compulsions are behaviors an individual engages in to attempt to get rid of the obsessions and/or decrease his or her distress (Torres et al., 2006).SchizophreniaThis is a serious mental illness that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality, which can be distressing for them and for their family and friends. They may hear voices or see things that are not really there (Torres et al., 2006).Personality DisorderThere are several different types of personality disorders. In general, they involve enduring patterns of behavior, cognition, and inner experience, exhibited across many contexts and….

Antisocial ehavior in Females with Comorbid Diagnoses of ADHD
Detention centers and residential treatment facilities are replete with male and female youth that have been in and out of the juvenile justice system for many years. Although the majority of the populations in these facilities are male, the number of female juvenile offenders is continually increasing. Many of the children in these facilities have a history of behavioral difficulties that may or may not have been diagnosed during much of their childhood.

Antisocial behaviors are acts that violate social rules and the basic rights of others. They include conduct intended to injure people or damage property, illegal behavior, and defiance of generally accepted rules and authority, such as truancy from school. "These antisocial behaviors exist along a severity continuum (Clark, et al., 2002). When childhood antisocial behaviors exceed certain defined thresholds -- the diagnostic criteria specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual….

personality" and personalities. Everyone has a personality, their own unique collection of traits and characteristics. The facets of a person's personality may be partly inherited and partly the result of the person's life experiences. In the personality disorder, the person has inflexible traits and patterns of behavior not typical of most people and that cause the person to function poorly in life. Up to 13% of people may have some kind of personality disorder.
"Odd" Personality Disorders: are characterized by odd or eccentric behavior that can include a high degree of suspiciousness or social withdrawal.

Paranoid personality disorder: is characterized by high levels of distrust regarding other people. Believing that others have it in for them, they avoid close relationships. They find proof that their suspicions are justified in the actions of others, which they perceive as either threatening or putting them down in some way. They are highly critical of….

Media in the Development of Antisocial Personality Disorder vs. the Effect of Media in the Development of Prosocial Behavior
Some researchers contend that media has a negative impact on individuals and can be instrumental in the development of antisocial personality disorder (obertson, McAnally, Hancox, 2013), while other researchers contend that media can actually have a positive effect on individuals and support prosocial behavior (Greitemeyer, 2011; Greitemeyer, Oswald, 2011). This paper will discuss the two competing viewpoints regarding the effects of media on the mental disorder of antisocial personality disorder (APD) and then discuss why I support the view that media is inherently antisocial and thus has a negative effect on the development of APD. The paper will conclude with an experimental research idea containing a reason for the study and the issue that will be resolved by the experiment.

Position

Media does have a negative impact on personality development that can lead….

..in their view, rather than promoting wholeness and recovery, the experience recreated the secrecy of abuse and fed the stigma associated with each of the three issues."
In the hopes of a more well-organized approach to providing these key services to women, the WELL project instituted a mechanism for promoting strategy and collaboration changes at the state, regional, and local levels. The WELL project also recommended an open dialogue between agencies as to better systems to put in place, and suggested giving individuals within each area of service "freedom to make change at any given moment" when a better approach can be taken by a trained professional healthcare provider.

Predominantly Female Caseloads: Identifying Organizational Correlates in Private Substance Abuse Treatment Centers, a piece in the Journal of Behavioral Health Services & esearch (Tinney, et al., 2004), speaks to the issue of the need for healthcare providers to be meeting "distinctive treatment needs"….

hile Dr. Asperger called the condition "autistic psychopathy" and described it as a personality disorder primarily marked by social isolation, today Asperger's Syndrome is identified as a brain, communication, or neurological disorder like autism, not a personality disorder like, for example, antisocial personality disorder ("Asperger's Syndrome fact sheet," 2008, NINDS).
Like autism, Asperger's Syndrome is characterized by repetitive routines, rituals, and movements, poor social skills, and odd ways of communicating that do not take into consideration the other person's feelings and needs. The distinguishing feature of Asperger's, in contrast to classical autism, is that the individuals all have normal IQ but show "limited interests or an unusual preoccupation with a particular subject to the exclusion of other activities" ("Asperger's Syndrome fact sheet," 2008, NINDS). Unlike autistic individuals who show little interest in others, Asperger children may seek out companionship, but may drive other people away because of their refusal to….

Serial killers are a topic that has fascinated people, beginning before the term was even coined.  They have been romanticized in pop culture, but their crimes seem to be rooted in a personality disorder that keeps them from empathizing with others.  They kill in a variety of ways and, when left unchecked, the number of people that they can kill can get into the 100s. 

Some subtopics to consider when writing about serial killers for your essay topic are:

1. The role of Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) in serial murders.
2. Psychopath or sociopath?  Where on the spectrum of personality....
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