Article: "Questions and Conclusions on the Topic of Antisocial Personality Disorder" by Devin Joseph Meaney

Questions and Conclusions on the Topic of Antisocial Personality Disorder

Article by Devin Joseph Meaney

When talking about psychopaths and sociopaths, one might assume that we are talking only about murderers, rapists and dramatic con-men who swindle hard working people out of their life savings. In truth, antisocials are also writers, doctors, lawyers and other functioning members of society who may not even have a criminal record. Lower functioning antisocials might seem volatile. As once mentioned by Doctor Sam Vaknin, these individuals seem like bombs getting ready to detonate. Other higher functioning forms may seem like genuinely nice individuals, but in truth they usually are not the slightest bit kind. Even though antisocials get a bad rap, I cannot pretend to not have issue with the fact once diagnosed with this disorder, most antisocials are treated like potential witches in the midst of the Salem trials. It is true that most antisocials are not exactly the purest definition of "good humans," but are they all sadistic baby eating monsters? I don't think so. One person suffering with schizophrenia might hear the voices of angels. Another might hear Satan in his darkest form. I think antisocials are the same in the sense that each one is their own person, not chained to a specific predefined bullet-list. Sure, the people riddled with the malignant forms of the disorder may exhibit extreme sadism and misanthropy, but what about the guy that just wishes to shun responsibility, smoke weed and watch extreme horror flicks, or maybe get lost in some violent video games? I am no doctor, and until I have a plethora of my own degrees I will trust the words of people like Sam Vaknin, James Fallon and Robert Hare. I guess what I am wondering over all is this: Is it possible to be an antisocial and still be a genuinely good person? I once read an article titled "The Good Sociopath," and in that article it stated that with a sense of altruism and a genuine understanding of empathy an antisocial could sometimes become a wonderful person, even when plagued with their mental afflictions... is this true? I surely hope so.