Antisocial Personality Disorder Case Study

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is a mental disorder that affects 7.6 million U.S. adults overall, and account for approximately 61% of male and 31% of the female prison populations. These individuals possess severe impairments in personality functioning and exhibit many pathological traits (APA). ASPD is even used interchangeably with psychopathy as the American Psychiatric Association’s “...Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) does not formally recognize psychopathy, but uses instead the largely subsuming diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder…”(Kiehl & Hoffman). In order to determine if rehabilitation of these individuals is possible, this problem must be examined scientifically to determine how ASPD

Violent juvenile offenders are likely to develop ASPD later in life, but it’s not something that simply appears once the individual enters adulthood, “psychopathy does not show up unannounced at the door of adulthood. There are always early signs of it…” (Kiehl & Hoffman). By recognizing these symptoms and taking early action, ASPD development and criminal recidivism can be decreased dramatically. However, in order to make this a reality, a specific treatment plan must be put in place to address the developing symptoms “...early enough, intense enough, and long enough”. Fortunately, such a program called MJTC was tested using “decompression therapy” to address violent juvenile offenders who show early signs of ASPD. The program required one on one therapy that focused on rebuilding social connections and moral values for several hours a day for several months at a time. Despite, or perhaps due to, the rigor of the program, the early numbers showed that only 10% of the treatment group became repeat offenders, while the control group showed 70% recidivism (Kiehl & Hoffman). The results of the early MJTC testing proved that “decompression therapy” was twice as effective as the traditional therapy where 20% became repeat offenders.

In fact, there is no conclusive evidence for treatment in adults, “Both psychological and pharmacological interventions for people with antisocial personality disorder...direct evidence on the treatment of this population is scarce…” (“INTERVENTIONS”). Now while this doesn’t mean that future studies might not reveal a more effective method, the only known treatment for adult cases of ASPD are ineffective unless the individual is willing to admit that there is a problem and willing to participate in their own treatment. However, this sort of cooperation and admission is very unlikely in criminal cases of ASPD, “Most talking therapies, at least, are aimed at patients who know, at one level or another, that they need help. Psychotherapy normally requires patients to participate actively in their own recovery. But psychopaths are not distressed…” (Kiehl & Hoffman). Adult criminals and psychopath with ASPD are essentially immune to these forms of treatment. While they may participate willingly in the treatment, they never really gain anything beneficial or are psychologically stimulated by the experience; they are simply ‘going through the motions’. This also raises the question of whether or not the MJTC treatment that was so effective in juveniles