Biological Dimensions Within The Multipath Model Essay

Disruptive Behavior Disorders. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) form a cluster of childhood disorders considered to be “disruptive behavior disorders” (American Psychiatric Association, 2004). Although most violent adolescents have more than one mental disorder and they may have internalizing disorders, for example depression or substance abuse, there appear to be increasingly higher rates of physical aggression found in these adolescents who experience disruptive behavior disorders than for those with other mental disorders. The fact that violent juvenile offenders are more likely to have these diagnoses is not surprising, because impulsive and/or aggressive behaviors are part of their diagnostic criteria. Additionally, there is relatively high co-morbidity with substance abuse disorders, which are also associated with juvenile violence (Moeller, 2001). Individuals with conduct disorder have the following features but this list is not inclusive for example they may have little empathy and little concern for the feelings, wishes, and wellbeing of others, respond with aggression, may be callous and lack appropriate feelings of guilt re remorse, self-esteem may be low despite a projected

From neurobiological point of view, Impulsive aggression is seen as a consequence of a failure in the regulation of negative emotions, such as anger, for example. This thinking of Disinhibition and hostility was found and documented by Grafman et al. (1996) in TBI patients with frontal lobe damage involving subcortical limbic structures. According to Davidson et al (2000), threatening environmental stimuli are transmitted to the amygdala, which makes projections to the basal ganglia, where they are integrated with information of the social context that comes from the orbitofrontal cortex. Appropriate behavioral responses can, therefore, be initiated through projections toward other cortical regions, hypothalamus or brain stem. Consequently, the orbitofrontal cortex and adjacent areas such as the dorsolateral prefrontal

Emotional Development: Child has mixed emotions, but is very attached to their parents and get stressed and unset when they met strangers.

Today, as many as 3.5% of children in the United States are being diagnosed with Conduct Disorders some as early as age three (Perou, et al., 2013). Research has shown that CD is a behavior that predicts Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms at age six (Harvey and Metcalfe, 2013).

The findings on the website show how female offenders have been perceived as less violent offender compared to males (NCJRS). Although, in the past females were perceived to commit minor offenses, but there has been a rise in females committing violent offense (NCJRS). There has also been a rise in the percentage of female offender overall, which younger girls represent a larger proportion of juvenile arrest (NCJRS). The reason for this could be many younger girls are experiencing trauma, abuse, violence, and poverty issues at home. For example, if a younger female leaves in a home and all she sees is her mother and father fight, which could lead her to think that it’s okay. She also gets beaten by her father and her mother never say anything so she might think it’s a way of life. This cause for whenever this younger female gets into a confrontation at school, she automatically leads to violence. The reason why is that’s all she seen growing up. The victimization that the female offender go through cause them to have different needs compared to male offenders. The findings on NCJRS states how due to the different victimization females go through they are more likely to be addicted to drugs and have mental

This study looked into the morphometric differences and structural aberrations of young boys diagnosed with early-onset conduct disorder in order to determine whether the abnormalities present in early years were similar to those identified in adults with antisocial personality disorder through neuroimaging technologies. This study hypothesized that boys with conduct disorder would demonstrate neurological abnormalities in structures associated with social and emotional functioning in comparison to mentally healthy boys. Using adolescent males aged from 12 to 17 (n=46), a control group of healthy boys and an experimental group made up of boys previously diagnosed with conduct disorder were neurologically investigated by acquiring magnetic resonance images to quantify the gray matter of their brains. Each image was comparatively measured in accordance with age and IQ matched controls in order to obtain accuracy of the analyses. Results identified conduct disorder symptomology as holding an inverse relationship in the gray matter volumes of frontoparietal and temporal cortices and other limbic structures. This demonstrates significant deficits in arousal sensations for fear in children, which is often used as a predictor for development of antisocial behaviors. Although it is difficult to reliably determine the prognosis for children with conduct disorders, the

Researchers attribute part of the reason those with conduct disorder can’t cope with adversity and get caught and stay in high sensation seeking and impulsivity is because their brain has “deficits in prefrontal executive function and to rapid maturation of the subcortical motivation system” (Romer, 2010).This causes a disability in thinking clearly and rationally about decisions. Fortunately, multisystem therapy (MST) has been proven to effectively treat CD with the exception that effectivity correlates with socioeconomic status. “Reviews of parent training interventions for treatment of conduct problems suggest that economic disadvantage…moderates treatment response, with youth who are not disadvantaged benefitting more from treatment” (Lundahl, Risser, & Lovejoy, 2006). Thus, it is important to treat, not only the children or adolescents with CD, but the parents too. Conduct disorder can represent the effects of combining economic disadvantage and internalizing the belief that one can have different means to reach their goals. Hence, this may be the reason why people exhibiting CD steal clothes or break into a store to steal cash. However, while there is hope at effectively treating those with CD, it is important to remember that

Evidence indicates that genetic factors may play a role in development of disruptive behavior disorders (Hansell & Damour, 2005). A biological structure of an infant’s brain has preposition genes and chemical responses to develop into an adult (Perry, 2002). Disorders in lifespan development are not biologically set to occur (Dombeck, 2010). Issues’ dealing with environment, education, and way of life has made changes in developments, childhood behavior keeps a child on a continuum between normal and abnormal behavior (Hansell & Damour, 2005). Several disorders currently exist in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV-TR) because studies on children, adolescent, and young adult disorders evolved from DSM-II (Hansell & Damour, 2005).

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), opposition defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) are three distinct disorders based upon their respective diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5. If ODD and CD were mild forms of ASPD, then there would need to be causal relationship between the childhood manifestations of ODD and CD and the adult manifestation of ASPD. There is evidence of comorbidity between ODD and CD, and also evidence to suggest that children diagnosed with these disorders may go on to develop ASPD later in life; however, correlation does not equal causation. The three disorders have subtle but important differences in their associated behaviors, underlying causes, treatment outcomes, and neurological signs.

Consistent observations that a small percentage of offenders are responsible for a preponderance of serious crime (Hamparin et al., 1978; Moffitt et al., 1989; Wolfgang, 1972) suggest that particular forces produce antisocial behavior in particular individuals. Further, much research shows that violent criminals have an early history of crime and aggression (Loeber and Dishion, 1983; Moffitt et al., 1989). The possibility that biological conditions may play a role in the development of antisocial and criminal behavior is accentuated by these reports and has spurred a search for biological markers in "vulnerable" subgroups (Mednick et al., 1987).

Due to its primary role in processing memory and emotional reactions, over the last decade and a half psychologists have been linking the amygdala to psychopathy. It is involved in aversive conditioning and instrumental learning and is thus involved in all the processes that, when impaired, produce the same functional impairments displayed by psychopaths. Two famous studies conducted by Tiihonen and Kiehl respectively have confirmed this. Tiihonen used a volumetric MRI to test and confirm the positive correlation between low amygdaloid volume and a high degree of psychopathy in violent criminals (measured by the Hare checklist-revised) while Kiehl used a functional MRI to prove reduced amygdala response during an emotional memory task in individuals who scored high on the Hare checklist-revised. However, both these studies along with numerous others were conducted using violent offenders as subjects rather than individuals with psychopathy. Although many psychopaths do exhibit violent tendencies, not all violent offenders are necessarily psychopaths. A study conducted by Raine is one of the few that did focus only on individuals exhibiting psychopathy. In his study Raine was able to show reduced prefrontal grey matter in his test subjects. Unfortunately though, he was unable to differentiate between grey matter in different regions of the prefrontal cortex. It is however clear that there is one region of the frontal cortex that could be

The idea of the multipath model is a way for mental health professionals to take in the key point information of their analysis of the situation. My analysis of the multipath model is that it’s ingenious because it acts as blue print on finding the specific underlying issues that point to mental health disorder. According to (Sue et al. 2014, p.30) the multipath model is “a model of models that provides an organizational framework for understanding the numerous causes of mental disorders, the complexity of their interacting components, and the need to view disorders from a holistic framework.” The multipath model is important for mental health professionals because it allows a way for them to place individuals within a certain criteria. If we take in to consideration the countless number of mental illnesses that plague society, the multipath model can help us better understand what mental illness individuals are suffering. The multipath model is a excellent stating point to trying to finding an diagnosis. . According to (Sue et al. 2014, p.30) the multipath model is “integrative and interactive. It acknowledges that factors may combine in complex and reciprocal ways so that people exposed to the same factors may not develop the same disorder and that different individuals exposed to different factors may develop similar mental disorders.” As we realize how the multipath model works mental health professionals can better assess the situation and come up with a diagnosis that

Barriga, Morrison, Liau, and Gibbs (2001) conducted a study to determine if there was a significant difference between genders regarding antisocial behavior. The researchers recruited 88 males and 105 adolescents, ranging from ages 16-19 from a large Midwestern university. The participants were given numerous test batteries to determine their internalizing and externalizing aggregate scales. A correlation analysis was then performed to portray the relationship between behavioral and moral cognitive variables. The study found males are prone to have a higher risk for antisocial behaviors due to lower mature moral judgement, more self-relevance, and higher self-serving cognitive distortion, possibly playing a role in their cognitive processes.

Harding and Meldon-Smith (1999) and Sharman, Cross and Vennis (2007) provide milestones for children’s emotional development. When comparing these milestones to C’s development, it can be seen that C has only managed to reach about half of the milestones for her age in emotional development and all but a few of those for cognitive development. With regards to emotional development, C displayed a tendency to sulk rather than have an outburst (see appendix 2) and throughout time sampling observation (see appendix 1) was often seen to be watching what was going on around her. However, she failed to show an ability to control her emotions, and did not appear to be developing concepts such as forgiveness and fairness. C also appeared to have failed to reach one particular milestone for

Behavioral neuroscience or biological psychology employs the principles of brain pathology to the study of human behavior through genetic, physiological, and developmental operations, as well as, the brain’s capacity to change with experience. Since the second world war, crime was largely attributed to mostly economic, political, and social factors, along with what psychologists termed at the time, the “weak character” of mental disturbance, and brain biology was rarely considered. However, new advances in neuroscience and technology have allowed a number of studies that link brain development, impairment, and injury to criminal violence. This emerging field of psychology explores the brain at a microscopic level, focusing studies on the roles that the brain’s neurons, circuitry, neurotransmitters, and basic biological processes play in defining and molding all human behavior.