Physical And Psychological Symptoms Of A Psychiatric Disorder

When we look at how fragile each one of our lives are, we need to take a minute and realize the different characteristics that form us into who we are today. Studies have shown that there are characteristics within the behavior of an individual that can be linked to the specific behaviors demonstrated by an offender that would classify them as a psychopath. Along with other research that looks into an individual’s genetics to see if that plays a role in defining or making a psychopath. John Allen Muhammad, also known as the D.C. sniper, was labeled as a psychopath when he terrorized D.C. for two weeks, taking thirteen victims and killing ten of them. This paper will go over the behaviors that constitute psychopathy, and the behaviors that

Mental Illness has been prevalent all throughout our history from Isaac Newton to Abraham Lincoln to Sylvia Plath and so on. These illnesses can be as minor as a slight bipolar disorder or as severe as schizophrenia. In recent years, mental illnesses are becoming more prevalent in our criminal justice systems than anywhere else. Mental illness is becoming an association with crime and based on the information that has been found, this paper will attempt to further define the problem of mental illness within our criminal justice system and offer alternatives or insights as to how to possibly help with this problem.

Felson, R. B., Silver, E., & Remster, B. (2012). Mental disorder and offending in prison. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39(2), 125-143.

According to studies led by King’s College researchers, it has been confirmed that “psychopathy is a distinct subgroup of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)” (Gregory et. al n.p) and similarly to psychopathy, the more severe ASPD behavioral patterns are, the symptoms can be referred to as sociopathic or psychopathic. Furthermore, according to Nigel Blackwood, Ma, MD.MRCPsych, “MRI scans...found that psychopaths had structural brain abnormalities in key areas of their ‘social brains’” (Gregory et. al n.p). The areas of the brain, in which are deficient in psychopaths, are important when comprehending an individual emotions’, intentions, and moral

There are some differences between a normal criminal and a criminal that suffers from a mental illness in the criminal justice system. For example one of the many fundamentals to our criminal justice system is the principle that no one can be tried or adjudged to punishment while mentally incompetent. Trials for mentally unstable people have been modified and are run by different guidelines. Unlike a regular convict, most mentally unstable convicts are unable to comprehend or are unable to complete a trial. Once a convict with a mental illness is convicted or awaiting trail their every medical need must be accommodated within the faculty and it's staff. Without the proper medical care a person with mental illness can become

Martens, W. H. (2000). Antisocial and psychopathic Personality Disorders: Causes, Course, and Remission- A Review Artical. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminolgy , 44(4), 406-430.

However, more recently, a study led by King’s College London has claimed that there are differences between the brains of psychopaths and other criminal offenders diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. Dr. Nigel Blackwood who led the research is quoted as saying “We describe those without psychopathy as 'hot-headed' and those with psychopathy as ‘cold-hearted’.” This statement shows a clear distinction between what should be interpreted as a lack of self-control and ability to repress impulses and what should be diagnosed as psychopathy.
The study took MRI scans of 66 men, two thirds of which were offenders who had been diagnosed with antisocial personality whilst the other third were non-offenders considered to not have any personality disorders. Of the 44 offenders, 17 met the diagnosis criteria for psychopathy (ASPD+P) assessed by the guidelines stated in the DSM-IV. Researchers saw that the members of the study diagnosed as psychopaths had notably less grey matter in areas associated with moral behaviour and understanding other peoples’

Malingering. Malingering is the intentional production of false or grossly exaggerated physical or psychological symptoms in order to gain some external incentive (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Defensiveness on the other hand, is defined as serving to defend or protect. When it comes to malingering though, it is hard to have a promising answer in the end. The DSM does supply a list of which you can, more than likely, suspect malingering but it does not give a proper route to positively state if it is actually malingering. Mental illness can come into play but it is not considered a mutually exclusive phenomenon with malingering. For instance, a person can have depression but feels the need to exaggerate it to get out of the criminal

Kocsis, R. N. (2004). Profiling the criminal mind: Does it actually work? Lancet, 364(1), 14-15.

The article’s aim was to identify possible management and identification strategies for Malingering by Proxy using 16 case-reports. Articles from computer databases were reviewed by two evaluators. By comparison of typical characteristics and motives, methods of identification and management were obtained. Generally physical examinations, history reports, neurophysiological testing and collateral information including videotapes were used for identification. These should be thorough as false accusations can threaten the professional-patient relationship. For management, long-term follows ups involving the discontinuation of unnecessary medications, safety assessments of the proxy and access to psychological care and child protective services,

The defense, Not Guilty by Reasoning of Insanity (NGRI), has been a controversial topic because of the way “insane” is determined. A normal, mentally competent person is able to distinguish between right and wrong because they know consequences and can be remorseful, whereas an “insane” person, a psychopath, is incapable of feeling these things. This brings up the question of how insane criminals should be sentenced compared to a mentally competent one. In the scientific realm, psychiatrists use tests, like the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, to determine the likeliness of recidivism of a psychopath (Kiehl & Buckholtz). MRI’s can test a psychopath’s brain and show the different characteristics of the prefrontal cortex that alters their emotions and causes the behavioral changes (Sapolski). There are limitations to these examinations and therefore in court, this biological and psychological evidence does not stand as concrete, so some challenge the validity of the insanity plea and is thought as a way to get away with a crime. The judicial system needs to alter the way insanity is defined to fit certain psychological and biological parameters in order to provide a definite ruling.

Introduction The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the constructs of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. The aim is to highlight whether the terms psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder reflect the same construct or whether they differ. Furthermore, recommendations for treatment of criminal behavior will be explored. For the purposes of this evaluation some definitions need to be highlighted: Criminal offence is an act that breaks a law, which relates how to behave in society. The harm caused by the act is seen to be against society as a whole, not just a specific person. Sometimes it refers to the specific law that was broken (Herring, 2009). Crime is the breach of rules or law for which some authority

The concept of psychopathy originated in the 1800s to describe individuals that consistently failed to conform to societal norms and exhibited antisocial behavior that did not fit the concept of mental illness of the time period. While, psychopathy was a common term used to describe individuals suffering from this disorder other descriptions were coined such as “Pinel’s term “manie sans delvie” meaning mania without delirium in the 1700s, to describe patents whose ‘affective faculties were disordered’” or Pritchard’s term “moral insanity” (Ogloff 520). In the 1930’s Partridge argued that psychopathy was a social rather than a mental disorder and proposed that the concept of sociopathy be introduced as a more accurate description. The American Psychological Association adopted Partridge’s term for their Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel in 1952. However, in 1968 the American Psychological Association changed the diagnostic label from sociopath to “personality disorder, antisocial” for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel – II that continued through to the DSM - III in 1980 and the DSM - III-R in 1987 and the DSM - IV in 1994. Today the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel categorizes antisocial personality disorder as a personality disorder and it is named as such. Unfortunately, not much research has been conducted

Boccaccini, Murrie and Duncan (2006)) research examine how the use of the PAI can assist in detecting malingering in forensic cases. It is reported that at least 15% of all forensic cases are found to be malingering, which is why there is a heavy reliance on psychological testing and psychometric tools such as the PAI (Boccaccini, Murrie & Duncan, 2006). According to Boccaccini, Murrie and Duncan (2006) the PAI is “multiscale measure of personality patterns that offers several potentially useful scales and composite indices for identify the over-reporting of psychopathology”, in comparison to the SIRS and the MMPI-2 it is also easier to implement (cost and time effective). The personality measures of the PAI include the Malingering Index (MAL) which consists of eight characteristics that are often associated to individuals attempting to fake mental disorders, the Rogers Discriminant Function (RDF) which is a weighted combination of all of the 20 scale scores that is specifically designed to detect malingering and the Negative Impression Scale (NIM), which are items that are rarely

Psychopaths can seem just like you or me, but when you are not around them this is when their mental disorder kicks in. Psychopaths that have been put in jail committed three times as many crimes per year then non-psychopaths. 97% of convicted psychopathic criminals cause at least one violent crime compared to 74% of non-psychopaths. Psychopaths are shown to be more violence throughout their entire life compared to a regular people. Psychopaths tend to have a greater chance of failing on parole and mandatory supervision and have a faster rate of failing then non-psychopaths. Psychopathy predicts recidivism on conditional release as well as or better than do actuarial risk instruments. Psychopaths recidivate at a rate of three to four times higher than that of non-psychopaths.