Attention Personality Disorder

Attention Personality Disorder also referred to psychopathy or sociopathy is a clinical term used for the diagnosis of people with a psychological personality disorder that makes them lack conscience and emotion. They lack the ability to empathize with others making them to have little or no regard for the rights and feelings of others. They also tend to be manipulative and impulsive. Contrary to common belief, people with ADP can be charming and very convincing (Haycock, 2003). People with ADP are usually thought to have poor social skills; however, this is not true. Adolf Hitler, who suffered from ADP, was a very good orator and managed to convince people to go to war and persecute Jews.

An individual’s environment may enhance the level of APD. Individuals brought up by parents with antisocial personality or substance abuse disorders have a higher chance of developing APD.  APD is also associated with people from poor socioeconomic backgrounds. These may include people living in poor conditions, people suffering from substance abuse, the homeless or people with criminal records (Haycock, 2003). As mentioned earlier, intelligent, sociable people may also suffer from APD but may this may go unnoticed as attention personality disorder. Such individuals may commit crimes without being apprehended by the law enforcement agents due to their psychopath nature.

According to some legal experts and mental health professionals, ADP does not qualify to be classified as a mental disorder as this may be seen as abetting unconventional, illegal and unethical behavior. In addition, the diagnosis of ADP does not exempt an individual from prosecution or punishment if he or she commits a crime. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) categorizes in the same way as psychopathy. However some experts disagree with this categorization stating that all psychopaths may have ADP but not all individuals diagnosed with ADP are psychopaths (Haycock, 2003).

References:

Haycock D.A. (2003)  Antisocial Personality Disorder. Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders. Retrieved December 9, 2008 from http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/antisocial-personality-disorder