Antisocial Personality Disorder Case Study

As research continues to change from emphasizing treatment to focusing on early identification and prevention, one important disorder to examine is Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). Early identification and prevention of Antisocial Personality Disorder has implications in improving our criminal justice system as 70% of those in jail meet the diagnostic criteria for ASPD. However, the early identification of individuals with ASPD is difficult as most of the diagnostic criteria depends on the individual engaging in nefarious activity. Moreover, most of the research conducted has looked at the behaviors of criminals. In examining the functional and anatomical differences present in those with ASPD, it became clear that many of these differences

Impaired scholastic performance could serve as a potential early identifying attribute of ASPD and highlights the need for more research to be conducted on diagnostic criteria in the school aged population. Because DSM regulations prevent ASPD from being diagnosed until the age of 18, two approaches to understanding how ASPD and scholastic performance are related in younger populations can be taken. One is to assess adult psychopathic individuals and look at their scholastic history. Another way to work around the diagnostic barrier is to examine children with conduct disorder, who in 50% of cases go on to have Antisocial Personality Disorder, according to the INSERM Collective Expertise Center. The present literature review will examine the anatomical and functional differences in both ASPD and Conduct Disorder and how they could potentially impair scholastic performance. A diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder is assigned

Consequently, deficits in the processing of either rewards or punishments can be expected to hinder scholastic performance. Studies have demonstrated Antisocial Personality Disorder and Conduct Disorder are both associated with poorer response to rewards and punishment. Utilizing fMRI technology, Gregory et al.(2015) found individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder displayed performed worse on a card sorting task that rewarded correct answers and punished incorrect answers. While competing the task these individuals displayed atypical brain activation in areas associated with reward and punishment processing, such as the superior temporal cortex. Once again, this association holds true for youth with Conduct Disorder. Marini and Stickle (2010) instructed 148 adolescent participants to complete the computerized Balloon Analogue Risk Task to measure reward responsivity. In the Balloon Analogue Risk Task, participants click a button which inflates the balloon a small amount every time the button is pressed. The balloon is set to pop at a certain number of clicks unknown to the participant and every button click distributes points to the participant. The goal of the task is to accumulate the most points possible while stopping before the balloon is popped. When compared to healthy controls adolescents with CD displayed