Psychopath Reward

Well, it's been a while since I posted on here, my football team have lost a few games, there is no sign of my CRB or job start date, and I've nursed a hangover or two. Things will change this week, I need to get back to training for the North Run 10k, update my CV for the job change, and look into the DClinPsy application route to give me a heads up for two years time. Yep, two years time, I like to be prepared. Anyway, today's food for thought is from New Scientist;





http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18653-brain-chemical-is-reward-for-psychopathic-traits.html



I guess I should first give the definition of a psychopath and indeed psychopathy. According to Dr. Robert Hare a psychopath is someone "lacking in conscience and empathy, they take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without guilt or remorse". Psychopathy is now known as Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) or Dissocial Personalty Disorder by the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), and classified as thus; "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood." The symptoms of which are;

-Persistent lying or stealing
- Superficial charm (glibness, insincere charm, associated with Narcissistic tendancies).
- Lack of remorse or empathy
- Inability to keep jobs
- Impulsivity and/or recklessness
- Lack of realistic, long-term goals
- Inability to make or keep friends, or maintain relationships such as marriage
- Poor behavioural controls (irritability, annoyance, impatience, threats, aggression, and verbal abuse; inadequate control of anger and temper)
- Narcissism, elevated self-appraisal or a sense of extreme entitlement
- A persistent agitated or depressed feeling (dysphoria)
- A history of childhood conduct disorder
- Recurring difficulties with the law
- Tendency to violate the boundaries and rights of others
- Substance abuse
- Aggressive, often violent behavior; prone to getting involved in fights
- Inability to tolerate boredom
- Disregard for the safety of self or others
- Persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social rules, obligations, and norms
- Difficulties with authority figures

The DSM fourth edition, defines antisocial personality disorder as;
A) A pervasive pattern of disregard for, and the rights of, others occurring since the age of 15, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:
- failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest;
- deceitfulness, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
- impulsivity or failure to plan ahead;
- irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults;
- Reckless disregard for safety of self or others;
- Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;
- Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.
B) The individual is at least 18 years of age.
C) There is evidence of Conduct disorder with onset before age 15.
D) The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or a manic episode.

Whereas Dissocial Personality Disorder is characterized by at least 3 of the following:
- Callous unconcern for the feelings of others and lack of the capacity for empathy.
- Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules, and obligations.
- Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships.
- Very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence.
- Incapacity to experience guilt and to profit from experience, particularly punishment.
- Markedly prone to blame others or to offer plausible rationalizations for the behavior bringing the subject into conflict.
- Persistent irritability.

(Notice that Conduct Disorders are not taken into account for Dissocial Personality Disorder - thus they are classified as different.)

The article relates to elevated Dopamine levels being a reward for the brain in those with psychopathic tendancies. This elevated level releases pleasure in the individual, and thus they seek out ways to experience this again; to get the things they want through callous and manipulative acts. The study by Buckholtz is of real importance with regards to this theory, with the use of a radioactively labelled amphetamine type of drug that attaches itself to the dopamine producing neurons; this enabled the researchers to determine where and how much dopamine was being produced in each of the participants' brains.

Further information can be found here;

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/100315_psychopath.htm