Antisocial Personality Disorder - article by Good English Article Sites

Antisocial Personality Disorder

We tend to classify people as introverts or extroverts—introverts are the ones who prefer to stay away from the crowd and extroverts are the crowd-seekers. Sometimes introverts get jokingly labeled as “antisocial,” or this term is also casually applied to people who aren’t feeling up to an outing and want to stay at home for a change. In reality, being introverted isn’t the same as being antisocial, and it isn’t antisocial to stay inside on a Friday night every once in a while. Introverts can be very social people, but occasionally they like to withdraw from social interaction and have time to themselves. And there are times when we’re too tired to go out, or not in the mood, not into the people you’ll be hanging out with, or we stay in for whatever reason. These are not instances of true antisociality. Being antisocial actually has less to do with the dichotomy of introversion and extroversion than it seems to.

Antisocial personality disorder is a condition which generally can be described as an indifference to society. People with antisocial personality disorder disregard the thoughts and feelings of the people and ignore the rules. They have little remorse for their actions and they might deceive others for personal gain or for fun. They may act impulsively, aggressively, and irresponsibly and exhibit narcissism. From the outside, a person with antisocial personality disorder can actually appear charming, but this is for the purpose of manipulation and they can be volatile during conflict. They might go through a series of jobs and relationships, repeatedly break the law, and regularly lie and steal. They can become irritable and restless when faced with boredom. In terms of needing constant external stimulation, people with antisocial personality disorder might actually be more extroverted than introverted.

The main biological and environmental factors thought to contribute to antisocial personality disorder are impairments in parts of the brain relating to decision-making, coordination, control, fear, and arousal responses, and experiences like abuse or disorder in the home. The chance of developing antisocial personality disorder increases if an individual’s parent has the disorder. Antisocial personality disorder is often associated with psychopathy, but some argue that the DSM-IV mixes them up, saying that antisocial personality disorder deals primarily with behavior, while psychopathy has more to do with emotions. They exhibit very similar symptoms, but people with psychopathy deliberately seek gratification through their actions and enjoy manipulating others while people with antisocial personality disorder may simply manipulate others.

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