clinical features

Last reviewed 01/2018

Features commonly described include :-

• impulsivity - actions are carried out for the satisfaction of immediate needs rather than with thought for future consequences
• affectlessness - the inability to make warm and loving relationships with other people
• guiltlessness - some individuals show a remarkable inability to feel guilt or shame, even after committing atrocities. This is not true of all psychopaths, some of whom experience shame
• - inability to learn from punishment - some individuals continue to commit offences despite repeated imprisonment.

In actual physical examination, EEG abnormalities are common:

• study evidence revealed EEG abnormalisties in 50% of violent offenders (1)
• a more recent study revealed attenuated alpha rhythm and theta and delta activities increase in the frontal lobe in violent offenders with antisocial personality disorder (2)

Reference:

• 1. Bach-y-Rita G et al. Episodic dyscontrol: a study of 130 violent patients. Am J Psychiat 1971;127:473-1478.
• 2. Reyes AC, Amado AA. Qualitative and quantitative EEG abnormalities in violent offenders with antisocial personality disorder. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine 2009; 16 (2): 59-63.