Autism and mental health
Nichola Tyler, Anne Sheeran in Working with Autistic People in the Criminal Justice and Forensic Mental Health Systems, 2022
The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) (Hart et al., 1992) is a rating scale to assess for the presence of psychopathy by probing interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and antisocial aspects. Evidence from a study with young offenders found that those with autism scored significantly higher in the affective component of the PCL-R, which suggests a similar lack of empathy ‘traditionally’ present in those with psychopathy (Hofvander et al., 2019). However, there is a clearer distinction between autism and psychopathy in terms of deficits within subtypes. There is some evidence that autistic people may have difficulties with cognitive empathy but appear to have intact emotional empathy, whereas those with psychopathy are thought to have the opposite; difficulties with emotional empathy but not cognitive empathy (e.g., Grant, 2018). Careful assessment by clinicians experienced in working with autistic people is required where there are questions about severe personality disturbance. The issues of autism and offending are discussed in Chapter 4.
From young victim to perpetrator
Panos Vostanis in Helping Children and Young People Who Experience Trauma, 2021
One construct particularly stands out, across fiction, popular media and law. But what do we really mean by ‘psychopathy’? Some view it as the extreme of antisocial personality disorder, or a ‘chronic disturbance in relations with self, others and the wider environment that result in inability to fulfil social roles’. Psychopathy includes distinct features of shallow emotions, callousness, lack of remorse, self-centredness combined with lack of empathy, and often superficial charm. There is an irony in its Greek origin of ψνχη (psyche = mind or soul) and παθοζ (pathos = suffering, or evoking feelings), as it rather denotes the absence of such emotional components from that individual, in contrast with the responses it provokes from others. Is somebody born with it or do they acquire it over time? Traits could arguably be seen in people who do not necessarily commit crime or violence, but who are simply deeply egocentric and unpopular, although uncovering them can take time. In its severe and ‘active’ forms, a number of factors appear to interplay, by when such patterns are difficult both to predict and to change. The interpersonal and affective criteria of psychopathy, rather than its socially deviant behaviours, appear to distinguish it from the broader and pretty heterogeneous construct of antisocial personality disorder.
Violence Risk Analysis and Deception
Harold V. Hall, Joseph G. Poirier in Detecting Malingering and Deception, 2020
The important role of psychopathic dynamics with violent offenders has been well established in all three generations of research. Psychopathy was found to correlate with the early onset of violent offending and a progression of violent and non-violent acting out through adulthood (Hare, 1991, 1996, 1998a, 1998b; Hare et al., 1990). In studies of criminal offenders with schizophrenia, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) (Hare, 1991; Hare et al., 1990) was used to test the hypothesis that psychopathy predicted violent recidivism (Tengström et al., 2000). As measured by the PCL-R, psychopathy was found to be an important factor in predicting violent recidivism with this group. Other established recidivism risk factors (e.g., prior violent acts, downward social mobility, and substance abuse) did not explain as well, or better, the cohort of violence recidivism. As discussed below, the PCL-R does not help predict violence in non-psychopathic individuals with a history of violence, nor does it adequately explain the role of deception in clearly psychopathic assessees.
Prototypical Validity and Factor Structure of the French Version of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) Model
Published in International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 2023
Denis Delannoy, Xavier Saloppé, David J. Cooke, Thierry H. Pham
Psychopathy is a complex clinical construct defined by a combination of interpersonal, affective, and behavioral characteristics, including egocentricity, manipulativeness, callousness, irresponsibility, relational instability, impulsiveness, lack of empathy, anxiety, remorse or guilt, and poor self-control (Hare, 2003). The most widespread measure of the concept of psychopathy is the Psychopathy Checklist–R (PCL-R). This measure is frequently described as being underpinned by two main factors and four facets (But see Cooke & Michie, 2001; Cooke et al., 2007). Factor 1 encapsulates affective, interpersonal, and narcissistic elements and breaks down into Facet 1, Interpersonal, and Facet 2, Affective. Factor 2 encapsulates the propensity for chronic antisocial behavior and breaks down into Facet 3, Lifestyle, and Facet 4, Antisocial. This measure represents a useful but imperfect approximation of the psychopathy construct (Cooke, 2018). In this regard, behind Hare’s definition of psychopathy (Hare, 2003) lies many cognitive-emotional (Burley et al., 2019; Patrick, 2018) and behavioral specificities (Douglas et al., 2018). It is necessary to pay particular attention to “the constellations of psychopathic personality trait dimensions and richly describe individuals accordingly as opposed to discussing psychopathy in unitary terms” (Sellbom et al., 2022, p. 160).
Psychopathy subdomains in violent offenders with and without a psychotic disorder
Published in Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 2023
Christina Bell, Natalia Tesli, Tiril P. Gurholt, Jaroslav Rokicki, Gabriela Hjell, Thomas Fischer-Vieler, Ingrid Melle, Ingrid Agartz, Ole A. Andreassen, Petter Andreas Ringen, Kirsten Rasmussen, Hilde Dahl, Christine Friestad, Unn K. Haukvik
Psychopathy was evaluated with PCL-R, a 20-item scale for assessing psychopathy in research, clinical, and forensic settings. It uses a semi-structured interview, file, and collateral information to measure personality traits and behaviors related to a widely understood conception of psychopathy [19]. The items are rated on a three-point Likert scale (0 = not present, 1 = present to some degree, 2 = present), with a maximum score of 40 points. A PCL-R total score of 30 has been used as a cutoff in North America, while 25 is typically used in Europe [19]. The current study used the four-facet model described by Robert Hare in the PCL-R 2nd edition manual [19]: Facet 1 – Interpersonal (PCL items 1, 2, 4, and 5); Facet 2 – Affective (items 6, 7, 8, and 16); Facet 3 – Lifestyle (items 3, 9, and 13–15); and Facet 4 Antisocial (items 10, 12, and 18–20) as shown in Figure 1. Two of the 20 items are left out because they do not apply specifically to any of the four facets. That is items 11 (promiscuous sexual behaviour) and 17 (many short-term marital relationships).
Is Virtually Everything Possible? The Relevance of Ethics and Human Rights for Introducing Extended Reality in Forensic Psychiatry
Published in AJOB Neuroscience, 2022
Sjors Ligthart, Gerben Meynen, Nikola Biller-Andorno, Tijs Kooijmans, Philipp Kellmeyer
Moral agency, in our interpretation, is a person’s capacity to act and to perform moral judgements in accordance with certain norms, such as internal moral sentiments, convictions or beliefs, but also external norms such as codes of conduct, rules or laws. Whereas the early concepts of moral agency propagated a rather dichotomous view—either an entity (usually a natural person) has the capacity for moral agency or not—more recent and nuanced accounts acknowledge the graded nature of agency (Mackenzie and Stoljar 2000; Skalko and Cherry 2016). Deficiencies in moral agency tend to be central to historical (and contemporary) models of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder—a common finding in forensic patients. Indeed, in the most widely used psychological assessment tool for psychopathy, the Psychopathy Checklist (now in revised form) (Hare, Hart, and Harpur 1991), dimensions such as “lack of remorse or guilt” or “callous/lack of empathy” are directly linked to moral affects, i.e. the finding that behavior such as violence, deception, or other delinquencies in psychopaths often do not go along with feelings of remorse or guilt. Here, we use a broad conception of moral agency, including capacities that enable one to control tendencies for violence and other harmful and illegal behavior. It therefore encompasses relevant cognitive and emotional capacities as well as the ability to guide and regulate one's impulses (which is also reflected in literature on moral enhancement (Savulescu and Persson 2012).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- Disinhibition
- Empathy
- International Classification of Diseases
- Anti-Social Behaviour
- REMorse
- Egotism
- Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- International Classification of Diseases
- Psychiatry
- Psychology