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Himanka Wickramaratne. Soci 13314Gd. Rory Sommers. Psychopathology

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Himanka Wickramaratne
SOCI 13314GD
Rory Sommers
Psychopathology of Vince Li

The death of greyhound passenger Tim Mclean was caused by the untreated mental illnesses (antisocial personality disorder and Schizophrenia) of Vince Li. The actions of Vince Li can be described by using a branch of psychology called psychopathology. Psychopathology is the study of mental illnesses in individuals. It uses scientific reasoning to help understand how a person’s thoughts and emotions incorporate with their behaviour patterns. In the case of Vince Li, he had two mental illnesses called antisocial personality disorder and Schizophrenia that made him make a tragic choice in August 2008. Antisocial personality disorder addresses …show more content…

Family history of Antisocial personality disorder can increase the risk of the newborns being affected with the mental illness. For the environmental factors, if a child has been abused or neglected through childhood the child would have a risk of having antisocial personality disorder through to adulthood (Tuvblad and Beaver, 2014). As adulthood approaches, any jailtime, alcohol abuse or severe depression increase the risk of having antisocial personality disorder to a much higher extent. Research has been done to show that Antisocial personality disorder needs a much larger sensory input for normal brain function. Patients with antisocial personality disorder are known to have decreased pulse rates, and show less activity in the brain (Tuvblad and Beaver, 2014). The various studies of the brain suggest that the irregular brain function is a cause of antisocial behavior. The science behind the brain of a patient with antisocial personality disorder are the neurotransmitters called serotonin that is directly related with mood and social behaviour while dopamine is correlated with impulsive/aggressive behaviour (Baker, Bezdjian, and Raine, 2008). The temporal lobes and the prefrontal cortex aid in controlling the mood and the behavior of an individual. The poorly controlled brain behavior stems show an abnormal amount of serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain

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