Antisocial Personality Disorder vs. Psychopathy - Close But Not The Same

Antisocial falls into the cluster B personalities. There are 3 clusters, Cluster A are the personality types that are odd or eccentric. Cluster B are dramatic, emotional or erratic and Cluster C are anxious or fearful.

Antisocial personality disorder is not the same as psychopathy. Psychopathy has become a very popular term lately. It's based on a construct developed by Harvey Cleckley and Robert Hare. The construct has mostly been used in criminal forensic populations to predict future violence and future offending.

Most people with psychopathy are antisocial, but research shows that only a third of the people with antisocial personality disorder meet the criteria for psychopathy. One key difference is based on a subfactor of the Hare Psychopathy checklist. And that is a parasitic lifestyle of using others. Other aspects of psychopathy that don't line up that well with antisocial is having glib, superficial charm, being very good at manipulating others and being eccentric.

With antisocial personality, there is a heavy emphasis on behavior that doesn't conform to societal norms with the additional attitude of being indifferent to the needs of others.

But psychopathy takes the interpersonal exploitation to a higher level. It's got more of a calculating, predatory nature to it. The behavior that stems from psychopathy may or may not come to the attention of the legal authorities.

References
Abdalla-Filho E, Völlm B. Does every psychopath have an antisocial personality disorder?. Braz J Psychiatry. 2020;42(3):241-242. doi:10.1590/1516-4446-2019-0762

Looking for a therapist?

Disclaimer: All of the information on this channel is for educational purposes and not intended to be specific/personal medical advice from me to you. Watching the videos or getting answers to comments/question, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. If you have your own doctor, perhaps these videos can help prepare you for your discussion with your doctor.

[clascaulfieldjr]

A good way to remember the 3 clusters are the Weird the Wild and the Worried

[Dan-udhz]

“If all you had ever felt toward another person were the cold wish to “win, ” how would you understand the meaning of love, of friendship, of caring? You would not understand. You would simply go on dominating, and denying, and feeling superior. Perhaps you would experience a little emptiness sometimes, a remote sense of dissatisfaction, but that is all.”
― Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door

"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him."
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[anthonymcdougal]

As someone with aspd, I will say not everything she says is going to fit into every aspd persons life. I do not harm people physically, never even think about it. Although I do manipulate, normally not even on
purpose and when I realize, I just drop them from my life. It’s truly not easy dealing with life this way but certainly we can find ways to cope with things better and be more self aware. Anyone suffering, never give up on yourself. Research a lot!

[GreenLepidolite]

There are many psychopaths and people with ASPD that learn to blend into society much better than these definitions would imply. I think the definition focuses too much on criminal behavior. Many have impressive careers, such as surgeons and CEOs. Some have average jobs and their disorder only becomes apparent to those closest to them.

[ddee]

Sometimes I think the mainstream definition of empathy is presumptuous- perspective-taking- and easily clouded by emotions such as fear, envy, insecurity, doubt, anger, entitlement, and resistance to criticism.

I think a lot of issues arise from early labeling as being "good" or "bad." So many people call themselves "good" just for following social etiquette.

[clouddemosonline]

One time my father swerved onto the lawn and ran over my bike. Instead of being sorry he told me "i am not getting you another one". And my parents were not poor by any measure. They just don't care when they say and do things that hurt me.

[wishtopublish]

Not going to lie - I aspire to be a professional like you someday, who can educate people for the betterment of the world. Thank you so much for your content!

[intentionallyqueen.]

I like the new setting. Doc you're a excellent educator.

[jazz]

My father always said he was proud that people said he has no heart. I told that to many psychologists and psychiatrists and all they did was stare at me with a blank face. What a horrible experience.

[trashcan]

This 100% sounds like my dad. He was a teenage delinquent who grew up to become extremely financially abusive to me, my mom, and my brother. He committed so much fraud against us, he should’ve gone to prison, but my mom didn’t press charges (don’t know why she thought that was a good idea, she just didn’t want to “ruin someone’s life” even tho he clearly deserved it). He was also very emotionally and sometimes physically abusive to my mom. He also emotionally abused my brother. He never abused me other than financially, but he did neglect me whenever my mom wasn’t around. I think he didn’t abuse me simply because I’m his biological child, my brother has a different dad and my brother also stood up to him when he was abusing my mom. He also used me as a pawn in his schemes, saying things to me like “tell mom that this thing I bought was from work” and “don’t tell mom I stole this”, I sometimes feel guilt for going along with it but I didn’t know any better, I was a very obedient young child. And despite all of this, he has never shown any remorse. Never apologized for anything and always tries to dance around the facts behind what he did. He’s also a massive charmer, he knows how to appear like just a goofy, funny, and even sweet guy. I do hold a grudge against my mom for not pressing charges because now he’s making 6 figures a year, has a new wife and step child, and is living a picture perfect life when he does not deserve it. Let me tell you, when we found out about all of the financial abuse when I was 13 and my mom filed for divorce, hearing that my dad stole my $20k college fund when I spent my whole childhood wanting to go to medical school broke my heart.

[boebender]

I’m from Florida originally and live in Atlanta, GA. I can sense your southern upbringing. Grandmothers were libraries. Mine always said, “If someone always lies, they’ll steal, and if they’ll steal, they’ll kill.” That lesson has stayed with me all my life. Watch out for folks who always lie. It shows a disregard for others and I likely doesn’t end there. Thank you for your informative and inspirational videos.

[gurudra]

The mind is a loyal servant but also the most dangerous enemy🙏

[TeamCat]

Thank you for explaining the 3 clusters. We hear so much about the cluster B types, but this is the first time I’ve heard a description of the other two: A & C.

[farizma]

5:04 so true I really feel it's other person's problem that they're sensitive, they get hurt, they can't handle & accept the truth, they're weak.

[northofyou]

Dr. Marks, your videos are so clear and so informative. No extra fluff, just really important detail, with a very organized presentation. Thank you!

[nodozhit]

Thank you for providing those exemptions!
I've made mistakes and bad decisions and I may even disassociate myself from people and options- but I have never been cruel or abusive to others.

[nunya]

This is very interesting. But I do feel uncomfortable with how often law-abiding-ness is used as a measure for mental health... you bring it up many times in this video (and others)... I think I understand what the medical community is getting at but I think they need to clarify and justify why laws make for a neutral measure of mental health... I say this because many laws change or were designed to target very specific populations or are only enforced in certain communities (ex: graffiti laws, marijuana laws, loitering laws, assault laws). We know that racism and other forms of oppression are systemic and institutional-- it's hard to believe that laws that are influenced by bias could be an accurate measure of whether or not someone has a mental illness.

And, whose culture is being used to determine what is normal or ideal? What does the medical community do to make sure marginalized communities aren't being harmed? Regarding these issues it would be nice to expanded on them and clarify what is meant and to discuss the limitations of these measures. It's a difficult subject but we know that psychiatry (like any other field) doesn't have a "clean history" in the way different groups have been served.

I am a person of color and i have certainly benefited from therapy and psychiatry but I did have troubling experiences with a therapist... when i'd talk about microaggressions and institutional racism at the workplace he would respond like it was all in my head... like it was my imagination that he needed to treat??! so it felt like i had to educate him that racism exists and that it's usually subtle and repeated.. so frustrating to be doubted by your own therapist.

[NINTENDOfan]

Your definition of a scammer had me intrigued, because in a lot of games there is a mechanic known as "lifesteal" where you do get health back from hurting others, and I always find this mechanic the most satisfying.

[byrdma]

Dr. Marks, I love your videos. They are great. I love your teaching style: to the point, factual and an easy listen. Keep up the good work.

[uluzistherealest]

Ok you are great. I got my eyes on a paper from my childhood that I believe diagnosed me with this, I guess because I was a fighter, but I was fighting bullies for the most part. I never let a bully leave my presence without trying to push his nose into the next universe, self defense is a major belief of mine. I don't think I have any of the other problems you named. I've always tried to what I call "cure myself", your videos are taking me to new places. I have never been to a doctor about all of my problems, these videos are so helpful to me so keep them coming.