Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Larry C. Litman , Department of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada:

Over the past few years, there appears to have been a spate of activity within the psychodiagnostic community with regard to broadening certain diagnostic categories via viewing a number of other categories as mere extensions of, and hence falling within the diagnostic sphere of, those particular categories. Consequently, diagnostic constructs such as obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders and bipolar spectrum disorders have been addressed.

The diagnostic construct of psychopathic personality disorder may also be viewed as embracing a spectrum of other disorders within its diagnostic dominion. Hare's [1] construct of psychopathic personality disorder comprises two correlated factors – namely, aggressive narcissism, which correlates with both narcissistic and histrionic personality disorders, and chronically unstable antisocial lifestyle, which correlates strongly with the construct of antisocial personality disorder. Moreover, within Millon's [2] diagnostic system, narcissistic personality disorder is differentiated from antisocial personality disorder only on the basis of the former taking a passive approach and the latter taking an active predatory approach to the exploitation of victims, while the sadistic personality disorder has been posited as essentially a more severe variant of antisocial personality disorder. Additionally, the authoritarian personality syndrome has been linked to both malignant narcissism and the spineless subtype of the sadistic personality disorder [3], the Machiavellian personality to global psychopathy [4], and somatoform disorder along with histrionic personality disorder and possibly borderline personality disorder to the predominant phenotypic manifestation of underlying psychopathic tendencies in females, with antisocial personality disorder deemed as being the predominant male manifestation of these tendencies [5].

Consequently, while all of the above–denoted disorders or syndromes are superficially different from each other, such differences may mask fundamental similarities in their aetiologies, and comprise different but overlapping manifestations of the same underlying diathesis towards psychopathy – or, in other words, psychopathic spectrum disorders.

References

1. Hare

. The Hare psychopathy checklist –revised. Multi-Health Systems, New York 1991.

2. Millon

Davis

R D

. Disorders of personality: DSM-IV and beyond. Wiley, New York 1995.

3. Litman

L C

. Non-DSM-IV personality disorders commonly encountered in forensic psychological practice I. The authoritarian personality syndrome. Research bulletin of the London/St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital. St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital, London 2000; 1: 1–3, no. 1.

4. Litman

L C

. Non-DSM-IV personality disorders commonly encountered in forensic psychological practice II. The Machiavellian Personality. Research Bulletin of the London/ St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital. St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital, London 2000; 1: 3–7, no. 1.

5. Cale

E M

Lilienfeld

S O

. Sex differences in psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. A review and integration. Clinical Psychology Review 2002; 22: 1179–1207.

Psychopathic Spectrum Disorders: Is This a Valid and Useful Construct?

Abstract

References