Antisocial personality disorder symptoms
Antisocial personality disorder symptoms
Suspect someone you know is a Psychopath?
Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), more commonly referred to as ‘Psychopathy,’ is a behavioural disorder that significantly impacts an individual's behaviour, relationships, and overall functioning. People with ASPD exhibit patterns of manipulation, deceit, and disregard for the rights and feelings of others, often becoming leaders through manipulation and / or coercion and being able to focus under extreme pressure.
Symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder
ASPD is characterised by a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the symptoms of ASPD include:
Deceitfulness - Repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure.
Impulsivity - Making decisions on a whim without considering the consequences.
Irritability and Aggressiveness - Frequent physical fights or aggressive outbursts.
Reckless Disregard for Safety - Engaging in dangerous activities with little regard for personal or others' safety.
Consistent Irresponsibility - Inability to sustain consistent work behaviour or honour financial obligations.
Lack of Remorse - Indifference or rationalisation of having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.
Exploitation - People with psychopathy are highly likely to exploit others for their own gain without any feelings of remorse towards them.
For a diagnosis of ASPD, these behaviours must be present from the age of 15 and must persist into adulthood.
Notable Individuals Exhibiting ASPD Traits
Ted Bundy: The infamous serial killer exhibited classic ASPD traits, such as charm, deceitfulness, and lack of remorse. His ability to manipulate and his repeated criminal behaviour are indicative of severe antisocial tendencies.
Charles Manson: The leader of the Manson Family cult showed extreme aggression, manipulation, and a complete disregard for human life, traits aligning with ASPD.
Lucy Letby: The British serial killer who used her position as a neo natal nurse in the Royal Countess of Chester hospital to murder seven babies and attempt to murder a further six. She has shown no remorse for her crimes and maintains that she is innocent, despite being found guilty on these counts by jury following a ten-month Crown Court trial in 2023.
Statistics between men and women, the general population VS the prison population.
Prevalence: ASPD is more commonly diagnosed in men than in women. Estimates suggest that around 3% of men and 1% of women in the general population meet the criteria for ASPD.
Prison Populations
In prison settings, the prevalence of ASPD can be even higher. Research suggests that 30-50% of male inmates and 20-25% of female inmates exhibit traits consistent with ASPD. The disorder is associated with higher rates of recidivism and violent behaviour in prison populations.
Read ‘Left for Dead,’ the best-selling British crime novel.
The link between Psychopathy and Narcissism in domestic abuse
Studies have shown that individuals with high levels of psychopathy and narcissism are more likely to engage in domestic abuse. They are often more physically, emotionally, and psychologically abusive, with those scoring highly for ASPD and NPD likely to have multiple abusive and dysfunctional relationships.
Behavioural Manifestations
Men - Men with ASPD are more likely to engage in overtly aggressive and criminal behaviour. They are often involved in physical violence, theft, and substance abuse. Their antisocial behaviours are more visible and frequently result in legal consequences. They may display more outwardly aggressive and controlling behaviours. They often struggle with anger management and may have a higher propensity for engaging in risk-taking activities.
Women - Women with ASPD tend to exhibit more subtle forms of manipulation and deceit. Their antisocial behaviours may manifest as relational aggression, such as spreading rumours or emotional manipulation. Women with ASPD are also more likely to have co-occurring disorders, such as borderline personality disorder or anxiety disorders. They might exhibit more internalising symptoms, such as chronic feelings of emptiness or unstable self-image. Their manipulative behaviours can be more covert, and they may use their charm and social skills to deceive others.
But is psychopathy always a bad thing?
Like it or not, the world needs psychopaths. They make the best surgeons. Chefs and Lawyers. The trait of a psychopath is a lack of empathy, leadership, working under extreme pressure and being able to keep one's cool.
Other notable professions are police officers, CEOs, salespeople, and journalists.
Are you a psychopath?
How to Write a Psychopath
How to write a psychopath in your book, and why you should.
American Psycho
Psychopaths are incredibly fun to read in books and watch on the big screen and have been popularised by some very infamous and somewhat controversial films and books, from American Psycho written by Bret Easton Ellis, Hannibal Lecter by Thomas Harris and even James Bond by Ian Fleming.
But why is it that these characters have captured both love and fear in our hearts? What is it about them that makes us want to know more? Is it their propensity to violence? Their ability to be cunning and manipulative without feeling any remorse? Is it their self-confidence and being able to think under pressure? Whatever the reason, our hearts have a soft place in them for psychopaths in literature.
In this blog, I am going to tell you how to create your very own in your fiction, and it will maybe help you spot these same traits in other characters you enjoy.
Hannibal Lecter
Traits of a psychopath –
Most Psychopaths are male, with them making up approx. 1% of the population, and are estimated to make up 50 – 80% of the prison population. Women that show high traits of Psychopathy are more likely to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, which along with Psychopathy, is a ‘Cluster B’ personality disorder along with Narcissism and Histrionic Personality Disorder as outlined in the Diagnostical and Statistical Manual Version 5 (DSM – 5 for short) of the American Psychiatric Association.
Psychopathy lends itself to having many different traits, all of which are useful in certain situations, and can even benefit those in certain careers (below). Most people can dial these traits down as and when they need them, but a psychopath can’t and would always have these traits on the high setting in their brains.
These are low empathy, impulsivity, calm under pressure, manipulative, charming, ruthlessness and emotionally detached and show a lack of remorse for their actions.
James Bond
This list can make for some fantastic characters and even make for some fantastic story arcs. Maybe a character is charming and loving, and then later down the line, we see that it was all manipulation to convince someone to give up their life savings, and then abandon them. Tinder Swindler, anyone?
Or maybe we have a character that is a military soldier, a warrior, who is ruthless and can cut through the enemy without a shred of remorse? A police officer who will do anything to crack the case, or a surgeon who has the steadiest hand to make that vital, life-saving cut with everything on the line?
Psychopaths make for excellent characters. They make incredibly fun heroes to write about, and add a lot more depth to the ‘bad guy.’ We can look into their childhood, in that a psychopathic person would have normally come from some kind of abusive childhood, and uses psychopathy as a way to navigate the world based off of that. It gives the character more back story. More depth.
Professor Kevin Dutton
According to psychologist Professor Kevin Dutton, most psychopaths are split into two categories. Those with high traits and a low propensity to commit violence, and those with high psychopathic traits and a higher propensity to violence.
Those that are of lower violent tendencies are more likely to be characterised by high-pressure positions, such as politicians, CEOs, police officers, lawyers and high-end athletes. These could make for some great characters and some side characters, and maybe even a villain or two in there? Maybe the villain is a top businessman of a rival company that is trying to sabotage the hero’s chances at getting their foot on the corporate ladder? Or even a detective that drinks too much and is emotionally vacant when around other people, but is ruthless and driven to catch the bad guy?
Jack Torrance - The Shining
The psychopaths that are high in psychopathic traits with a higher level of predisposition to violence would be our classical villains such as serial killers, a criminal mob boss and even a soldier that has gone rogue.
Psychopaths make for great foreshadowing opportunities too, as they can be very manipulative. In your story, you can have the psychopath dropping hints and leaving clues for the rest of the characters to find, and then when the big reveal comes later in the book, the reader can connect the dots and have the ‘Oh my god!’ moment that we all love to create when they figure it all out.
Lorna - By Jay Darkmoore
In my dark romance ‘Lorna,’ the main character in the story ‘Christian’ is a psychopath, and he will stop at nothing to not only win the heart of Lorna, his new infatuation but also kill and destroy the lives of anyone that dares stand in his way.
Order it here on kindle unlimited today.
Psychopaths are so much fun to write and can offer a lot of depth to your characters and the story. Even just highlighting certain traits outlined above and giving them to your characters can make a lot of difference to your writing.
Have fun with it and thank you for reading.
But what about other writing ideas? What about being able to break through writer’s block?