Understanding Antisocial Personality Disorder

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Antisocial personality disorder is a mental health condition that is long-term and affects someone's ways of perceiving situations, thinking and relating to others. It can become very destructive without the right treatment. This disorder is typically characterized by someone not regarding right and wrong. The person typically has no regard for the wishes, rights and feelings of others. These behaviors can make it hard for a person to tackle typical result responsibilities and handle things like work, school and family.

A personal development plan can be highly beneficial for someone with this disorder. You can use this plan to target specific symptoms that are making it hard to function, as well as your condition as a whole.

What Are the Causes of Antisocial Personality Disorder?

Experts have yet to identify a single cause of this disorder, but it is believed that how you interact with a number of factors can play a role. These factors include:

  • Environment: How you grow up and major events might increase your risk of this disorder
  • Genetics: Inherited traits and having a close family member with the disorder might increase the risk

There are several risk factors that might also play a role and these include:

  • Childhood conduct disorder diagnosis
  • Being abused as a child
  • Traumatic divorce of your parents during your childhood
  • History of seeing others abused
  • Chaotic family life during childhood

Looking at the Symptoms of this Disorder

There are a number of symptoms that you can experience with this disorder. Some people start experiencing symptoms during childhood, but it is usually not until someone is in their 20s and 30s, that their symptoms are fully evident. The potential symptoms of this disorder can include:

  • Disregard for wrong and right
  • Manipulating others for pleasure or personal gain
  • Having trouble with the law
  • Child neglect or abuse
  • Lack of empathy and remorse
  • Abusive or poor relationships
  • Not learning when you experience negative consequences to your behavior
  • Exploiting others with persistent deceit or lying
  • Intense sense of superiority, egocentrism and exhibitionism
  • Using dishonesty, intimidating and misrepresentation to violate other's rights
  • Hostility, agitation, aggression, significant irritability, impulsiveness or violence
  • Dangerous or risky behaviors
  • Irresponsible work behavior

How a Healthcare Professional Works to Diagnose this Disorder

Your healthcare provider will use the DSM-5 as a means to get the criteria to use this disorder. There are a number of diagnostic tools that your provider might use to make the diagnosis, including:

  • A physical examination to rule out possible physical causes of your symptoms
  • Lab testing to rule out other conditions
  • A psychological examination to determine your state of mental health
  • Closely exploring your symptoms and learning more about the intensity and frequency of each
  • Personality testing
  • Tests to pinpoint the exact personality disorder that you are experiencing

Learning About the Available Treatment Options

There is a not a medication on the market that is used specifically to treat this disorder. However, your doctor might prescribe one or more psychiatric drugs to help with certain symptoms that can occur with this disorder, such as aggression. Your doctor, if he or she prescribes medication, will prescribe a drug that falls into the categories of antidepressant, antipsychotic or mood-stabilizing, depending on your needs.
Talk therapy can be beneficial for some people, but it might not help those with the most severe symptoms. This therapy helps you to identify destructive behaviors and ways to cope with them. This type of therapy might occur one-on-one, in a group with others with the disorder or in a group with your friends and family.

If you experience multiple symptoms on a regular basis, create a personal development plan for each symptom. This will make is easier to determine the coping techniques that are most beneficial to you. It will also help you to see which treatments are most effective for each of your symptoms. Share your plan with your doctor so that he or she can help to ensure that it is complete and being executed properly.

Antisocial personality disorder is not curable, but with the right combination of treatments, it is something that you can manage. When you have a solid personal development plan in place and you are working closely with your doctor, you can find relief from your symptoms and function at a level that allows you to have personal relationships, as well as do well in a work and a school environment. Make sure that you stick to your treatment regimen and quickly bring up any concerns to your doctor to stay on track.

References:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-personality-disorder/basics/definition/con-20027920

http://www.recovery-inc.org/types-of-personality-disorders/
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