Antisocial personality disorder: causes and treatment

  • Jul 26, 2021
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Antisocial personality disorder: causes and treatment

Normally, when a person has difficulty interacting with others or does not show interest in doing so, we tend to say that they are antisocial. In psychology, the word antisocial is used to refer to a mental illness known as antisocial personality disorder that usually appears in adolescence, usually before the age of 15 years. Antisocial behaviors are characterized by indifference towards social and legal norms and violation of the rights of others. It is usually related to alcohol consumption, irresponsibility and impulsiveness. In this Psychology-Online article, we are going to detail what they are the causes and treatment of antisocial personality disorder.

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Index

  1. Causes of antisocial personality disorder
  2. Symptoms of antisocial personality disorder
  3. Treatment of antisocial personality disorder

Causes of antisocial personality disorder.

Today we do not know what causes antisocial personality disorder. Determining the causes of this disorder is complicated, since the personality is built throughout the development of the person and requires taking into account a large number of variables. Some researchers propose the biopsychosocial model, that is, the causes of antisocial personality disorder are probably due to the

interaction of biological, psychological and social factors.

Some of the more or less accepted hypotheses can be grouped into two areas:

Psychosocial factors

Mainly, we talk about ineffective parenting styles. On the one hand, it is suggested that those people who have antisocial personality disorder frequently have hostile parents who interact with them through abuse or mistreatment. Witnessing these parental models from a young age can make that child as an adult repeat those patterns.

On the other hand, there is talk of the other extreme, absent or very permissive parents. These make the child not learn that there are limits and think that she can do whatever she wants at all times, and that when faced with a refusal (something they are not used to), their reaction is inadequate.

Have presented the conduct disorder in childhood, increases the risk of developing antisocial personality disorder.

Other authors hypothesize that these people would not have the capacity to put themselves in the shoes of the another and to see things from different perspectives due to alterations in the rhythm of development cognitive.

Biological factors

Research shows the presence of a genetic component. We speak of failures in frontal and prefrontal activation, areas related to inhibition and processes such as planning, decision-making..., which would explain the characteristic impulsivity of the disorder.

Antisocial Personality Disorder: Causes And Treatment - Causes Of Antisocial Personality Disorder

Symptoms of antisocial personality disorder.

Some of the symptoms of antisocial personality disorder They are:

  • Lying or cheating in order to take advantage of others.
  • Being cynical, disrespectful and cruel.
  • Feeling of superiority and stubbornness.
  • Problems with the law.
  • Using charm to manipulate others for personal gain or pleasure.
  • Violating the rights of others through intimidation.
  • Impulsiveness.
  • Hostility, significant irritability and aggressiveness.
  • Lack of empathy and remorse for hurting others.
  • Do not consider the negative consequences of their behavior.

Symptoms of antisocial behavior include serious and persistent behavior problems, What:

  • Aggression to people and animals.
  • Destruction of property.
  • Stole.
  • Violation of important rules.

Treatment of antisocial personality disorder.

Treating people with antisocial personality disorder is complicated. The person with this disorder does not usually see the need for treatment, being in most cases the family or the courts who decide to start treatment. Therefore, in these cases, the treatment is seen by the person as something imposed, which suggests that they will not be very cooperative.

Psychological treatment

Due to the little collaboration of the person who commented previously, the therapy should raise the patient the advantages of this, what and how it is going to be done, as well as making explicit the need for change and the advantages and disadvantages that the change would imply in its lifetime.

There are several types of therapies:

  • There is evidence of cognitive behavioral therapy along with training in social skills and problem solving, emotional regulation and frustration.
  • The group therapy It has given good results, it allows the person to interact with other people without aggression. The therapy would begin by treating how our behavior influences others and, later, the objective will be to increase the ability to think about others (empathy). This can be worked on with role reversal and the narration of your life story.

In a complementary way, you can work with the person's close environment to improve coping strategies and establish limits on the person's behavior.

Pharmacotherapy

There is no specific drug treatment for antisocial personality disorder. The drugs would be used to combat specific symptoms, such as aggressiveness or mood regulation, but they do not solve the problem, since the behaviors characteristic of this disorder is reinforced day by day in the person's life and acting on a specific symptom is not enough. We can understand medication as a kind of support for a certain moment.

Something that must be taken into account, since it makes treatment difficult, is the consumption of psychoactive substances.

Antisocial Personality Disorder: Causes and Treatment - Antisocial Personality Disorder Treatment

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Antisocial personality disorder: causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

References

Holguín Mendoza, Tomás Efrén, & Palacios Casados, Juan Jorge. (2014). The genetics of antisocial personality disorder: A review of the literature.Mental health, 37(1), 83-91.

Bateman, W., Gunderson, J., Mulder, R. Treatment of personality disorder. Drug Addiction Magazine, 77. 2016

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