Personality Disorders Personality disorders are characterized by inflexible

Personality Disorders Personality disorders are characterized by: • inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning. • usually without depression or delusions. Robert Lee Yates: Spokane Skid Row Killer 1

Personality Disorders • Broken down into Clusters: – Cluster A: Paranoid and Schizoid – Cluster B: Antisocial, Borderline, and Narcissistic – Cluster C: Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive Ted Bundy: Confessed to 30 homicides, including a girl from University of Washington

Cluster A: Paranoid, Schizotypal People with these illnesses from this group of disorders exhibit: • Odd or eccentric behavior • Paranoid with deep distrust of others • Extreme lack of interpersonal relationships • Strange belief systems and attribute unusual meanings to life events and experience. – With this disorder, they do not have a break from reality.

Cluster B: Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic This group of disorders demonstrate dramatic or impulsive behavior. • Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)is the most public because all serial killers have this disorder (but not everyone with this disorder are serial killers). – A disorder in which the person (usually men) exhibits guiltlessness, law-breaking, exploitation of others, irresponsibility, and deceit. – The terms psychopath (remorseless predators who engage in violence to get what they want) and sociopath (less organized, not as good with social norms or behaviors)are part of this group. These used to be considered merely legal terms, but the psychology world has adopted the use of them as a subcategory. Jeffrey Dahmer: Killed and cannibalized men

Antisocial Personality Disorder Characteristics • Failure to conform to social norms or obey the law • Manipulating, lying, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure • Impulsivity • Irritability and aggressiveness, getting into physical fights or perpetrating assaults • Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others • Consistent irresponsibility, inconsistent work behavior, not paying bills • Lack of remorse, showing indifference to the pain of others, or rationalizing, having hurt or mistreated others. • Extremely ego-centric

Understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder ASPD has biological and psychological reasons. In a longitudinal study, two groups of Swedish 13 -year-olds (nonoffenders at the time) were tested for adrenaline reactions in both stressful and nonstressful situations. Those who would later be convicted on a crime as 18 - to 26 - year olds showed relatively low arousal. Jon Venables: at age 10, beat a 2 -year-old to 6 death

Understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder PET scans of 41 murderers revealed reduced activity in the frontal lobes. In a follow-up study, repeat offenders had 11% less frontal lobe activity (Raine et al. , 1999; 2000). They also found that poverty and family instability played a role in triggering ASPD. Nature and nurture interact and together leave their marks on the brain. Murderer Courtesy of Adrian Raine, University of Southern California Normal 7

More Disorders from Cluster B • Borderline- Emotionally volatile and unstable sense of self. Prone to mood swings, excessive self-criticism, extreme judgments of others, and preoccupied with being abandoned. • Histrionic- Attention-seeking, dramatic, lively, and flirtatious. Inappropriately seductive in their interactions with others • Narcissistic- Self-aggrandizing yet overly dependent on the evaluations of others. View themselves as entitled and better than others. Show deficits in empathy and in understanding the feelings of others.

Cluster C: Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive Compulsive This group of disorders are anxiety-related. • Avoidant: inhibited and prone to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and shame. Usually avoid taking any social risks, and often separated themselves. • Dependent: Dependent depends on others for emotional and physical needs. • Obsessive-Compulsive: Obsessive-Compulsive preoccupation of perfection; demands it from everyone.