PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “SOCIOPATHIC PERSONALITY”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 397 records · Page 22Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

MMPI differences among black, Mexican-American, and white male offenders.

MMPI scores of black, Mexican-American, and white male offenders were compared in order to investigate whether cultural and/or socioeconomomic factors affect this personality inventory. Comparisons were performed on unmatched and matched (education and occupation) groups that utilized all profiles or valid ones only and examined both trait (individual scales) and type (Goldberg indices) differences. Black-white differences on the MA, K, and HY scales appeared to reflect cultural factors, while differences on MF and alcoholism seemed to be accounted for by socieconomic differences among the groups. Cultural factors seemed to be related to differences between Mexican-Americans and white on the L,K,and overcontrolled hostility scales, while socioeconomic factors appeared to explain differences on the Hs scale. Type differences were not apparent except that Mexican-Americans were classified more often as psychiatric, while whites and blacks scored well into the sociopathic range.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Individuals with sociopathic behavior caused by frontal damage fail to respond autonomically to social stimuli.

Following damage to ventromedial frontal cortices, adults with previously normal personalities develop defects in decision-making and planning that are especially revealed in an abnormal social conduct. The defect repeatedly leads to negative personal consequences. The physiopathology of this disorder is an enigma. We propose that the defect is due to an inability to activate somatic states linked to punishment and reward, that were previously experienced in association with specific social situations, and that must be reactivated in connection with anticipated outcomes of response options. During the processing that follows the perception of a social event, the experience of certain anticipated outcomes of response options would be marked by the reactivation of an appropriate somatic state. Failure to reactivate pertinent somatic markers would deprive the individual of an automatic device to signal ultimately deleterious consequences relative to responses that might nevertheless bring immediate reward (or, alternatively, signal ultimately advantageous outcomes relative to responses that might bring immediate pain). As an example, activation of somatic markers would (1) force attention to future negative consequences, permitting conscious suppression of the responses leading to them and deliberate selection of biologically advantageous responses, and (2) trigger non-conscious inhibition of response states by engagement of subcortical neurotransmitter systems linked to appetitive behaviors. An investigation of this theory in patients with frontal damage reveals that their autonomic responses to socially meaningful stimuli are indeed abnormal, suggesting that such stimuli fail to activate somatic states at the most basic level. On the contrary, elementary unconditioned stimuli (e.g. a loud noise) produce normal autonomic responses.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

[Drugs and criminal issues: assessment of research in Quebec].

Although research on the link between drugs and crime is not a major concern for many Quebec researchers, the last five years have been the scene of an increasing number of studies on the subject. These studies can be divided in four groups: 1) criminal policies; 2) studies on prevalence; 3) relation between drugs and crime; 4) intervention and its impact. Results of these studies put additional pressure for adequate treatment of addicts having problems with the law. Social workers in rehabilitation centres have thus noticed an increasing number of addicts who had or were going through problems with the law. Yet a great proportion of addicts having problems with the justice system are not reached by rehabilitation services: it is those people who present the most deteriorated bio-social profile. Is it really worthwhile to intervene with this type of clientele? The answer is yes as long they can be kept in treatment sufficiently long. In any case, the simple judiciarization of a person says nothing of his character (e.g. violent, liar or fraudulent) or of his pathology (e.g. psychopath, sociopath ...). In fact, given the illicit nature of certain drugs, the simple fact of using can lead to criminalization. The challenge in research in this field will consist in better defining factors related to perseverance in treatment and therapeutic ingredients associated to the desired impact.

Crime↗
PubMed1977

The WISC as a measure of personality types.

This present analysis attempted to provide evidence for the utility of the WISCto identify a specific group of individuals. Incarcerated juvenile offenders in the 70/79 IQ range were separated according to race and sex and their differential WISC patterns studied. Results focused on the efficiency of each of Wechsler's hypotheses for the adolescent sociopath. Post-hoc analysis provided tentative additional signs by which to identify juvenile offenders in the 70/79 IQ range. Consistencies between results of the present analysis and previous studies were noted. The clear pattern that emerged strongly supports the potential of the WISC as a measure of personality types.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Homeless persons and health care.

Health care is generally unavailable for the homeless. This heterogeneous group of men and women, including long-term street dwellers, residents of shelters, the chronically mentally ill, the economically debased, and alienated youth, are subject to a broad range of acute and chronic diseases, intensified by unsuitable living conditions, stress, and sociopathic behavior. Trauma, pulmonary tuberculosis, infestations, and peripheral vascular disease are common problems among the homeless; incomplete and fragmentary medical care permits exacerbation of chronic disorders. Outreach programs imaginatively constructed by teams of physicians, nurses, and social workers can effectively reestablish and maintain health services for these disenfranchised persons.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed2004

Platelet MAO and personality--function and dysfunction.

Research on the association between platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity and personality traits, such as sensation seeking and impulsiveness, is reviewed with an emphasis on early history and current situation. The effects of MAO-inhibiting compounds in cigarette smoke for the interpretation of this association are discussed and recent results confirming a true association between platelet MAO activity and personality and vulnerability, for e.g. type 2 alcoholism are presented. From a clinical point of view, the link between platelet MAO activity, which is highly genetically regulated and is stable in the individual, and personality traits, has had its greatest impact on the understanding of the nature of constitutional factors making individuals vulnerable, for e.g. substance abuse and other forms of sociopathic behaviour. The molecular mechanisms underlying the association between platelet MAO and behaviour are discussed and evidence that common transcriptional factors, e.g. within the AP-2 family, regulating both the expression of platelet MAO and components of the central monoaminergic systems, such as synthesising enzymes, receptors and transporters, are presented. A hypothesis is put forward, that such common transcription factors may not directly regulate platelet MAO expression, but rather mitochondrial density, or outer mitochondrial membrane surface.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[French translation of Schalling-Sifneos Personality Scale Revised and Beth Israel Questionnaire, 2 evaluation tools of alexithymia].

The concept of alexithymia was first proposed in the 1960's by Sifneos and Nemiah to describe personality traits originally found in psychosomatic patients but which have since been found in other types of patients (alcoholics, drug addicts, traumatic stress disorder patients, sociopaths) as well as in the general population. Etymologically, alexithymia signifies: incapacity to speak one's emotions (from the Greek: a, lack; lexis, word; thymos, sentiments). Alexithymia is not the impossibility of feeling one's emotions, but rather the impossibility of associating them with corresponding mental representations and thus verbalizing them. Such patients tend to act out, to speak circumstantially, and to have difficulty in relationships. A neurophysiological substratum, the absence of connexions between the limbic system and the neo-cortical regions, has been suggested by Sifneos, who has distinguished primary and secondary alexithymia. A "biological" deficit seems to be responsible for primary alexithymia, such as in found in split-brain patients or aprosodias in patients with right hemispheric strokes. Secondary alexithymia, on the other hand, seems to be due to psychodynamic factors such as massive utilisation of defense mechanisms like denial, repression and regression. Appropriate psychotherapy for such patients is debatable, but it seems that in most cases the analytical approach should be replaced by more directive therapies, including relaxation and bio-feedback, to help patients learn to stimulate, master, and verbalize their emotions. The Beth Israel Questionnaire (BIQ) is a rating scale evaluating such traits that is filled out by the rater based on a clinical interview.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1975

Hysteria and parental psychiatric illness.

A two-generation study of 46 families of convicted women felons showed that the daughters of sociopathic fathers had a significantly higher prevalence of hysteria than did the daughters of other fathers. The differences were significant both for daughters with hysteria plus sociopathy and for daughters with hysteria without sociopathy. The association was independent of assortative mating between sociopathic men and women with hysteria or sociopathy.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1992

Absence of paternal sociopathy in the etiology of severe alcoholism: is there a type III alcoholism?

Twenty-nine pairs of alcoholic siblings who were part of a large scale family study were assessed for presence of clinical characteristics that might distinguish these individuals and their families from those typically ascertained through random selection. It was expected that ascertainment of families through two alcoholic brothers would increase the likelihood of finding families showing evidence of greater clinical severity. Ascertainment through a pair of alcoholic siblings reduces the likelihood of sporadic cases and increases the likelihood that the transmission of the subtype of alcoholism seen is a result of a major genetic effect. Presence of a third major type of alcoholism with features distinct from Cloninger's Type II alcoholism was revealed. Further, it would appear that the form seen in this series of families is more severe and does not require the presence of a sociopathic father, as does the Type II alcoholic.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Juvenile delinquency, adult criminality, and adult psychiatric treatment: an epidemiological study.

This report explores some associations among juvenile-delinquency, subsequent criminality, and subsequent psychiatric treatment. A sample of 255 males known to the juvenile court 25 years prior to the study is examined in terms of subsequent documented psychiatric treatment and/or criminal activity. Of the 255 former delinquents, 6% were known later to both criminal justice and psychiatric systems, 6% to psychiatric systems only, 28% to the criminal justice system only, and 60% to neither. Delinquents with later psychiatric histories were twice as likely to be known to the criminal justice system than were those without psychiatric histories. Those with adult psychiatric histories were also significantly younger at the time of their first delinquent offense and committed more juvenile offenses than the nonpsychiatric group. Only 2 of the 16 individuals later known to both systems were diagnosed sociopathic. The findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Relationship of nailbiting to sociopathy.

The incidence of nailbiting in 62 sociopath subjects was compared with that in 62 nonsociopath matched controls utilizing the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire. Results indicated that the incidence of nailbiting in primary sociopaths (48 per cent) was significantly greater (p less than .01) than the incidence of nailbiting in the control group (24 per cent). Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the significance of nailbiting in sociopaths, particularly the relationship of nailbiting and anxiety in primary sociopathy.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗
PubMed1984

Young and old alcoholics: some personality differences.

Ninety-one alcoholic males aged 20-65 completed the MMPI. Their T scores on 10 clinical scales and 3 other indices were correlated with age. Seven of 13 correlations were statistically significant. There was a significant negative correlation between age and psychopathic deviance, paranoia, schizophrenia, and mania, and there was a significant positive correlation between age and hypochondriasis. Goldberg's indices showed that younger alcoholics' profiles resembled those of a sociopathic population as opposed to a psychiatric population and tended toward psychoticism rather than neuroticism. Results can assist practitioners in understanding and planning for a young clientele.

Adult↗