Old SC - I'm often asked what causes sociopathy - 1

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I'm often asked what causes sociopathy

on 6/4/2016

Posts: 580

The truth is that we don't know. Stout (2005) sums up the research well, explaining that as much as 50% percent of the cause of sociopathy can be attributed to heritability, while the remaining percentage is a confusing and not-yet-understood mixture of environmental factors.

Similarly, Ferguson (2010) conducted a meta-analysis and found that 56% of the variance in Antisocial Personality Disorder, the formal disorder of sociopathy, can be explained through genetic influences.

If, as the research suggests, sociopaths are born with a predisposition to sociopathy, it means that they don't have total control over their behavior. To think that a poor child is born with such a horrific, life-long liability is a terribly sad reality. After all, no child deserves to carry around that kind of baggage.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/insight-is-2020/201304/understanding-the-sociopath-cause-motivation-relationship

by Cricket

on 6/4/2016

Posts: 904

Research says that there's damage to the prefrontal areas of the brain that control for moral judgement and impulsivity.

I can take the magic out of anything. ;D

by hdiver

on 6/4/2016

Posts: 580

damn that sucks, should we be sorry for sociopaths? whoever they may be?

for gods sake we cant mention any of them here? it will start a fucking shit storm

by Cricket

on 6/4/2016

Posts: 904

Neurological damage or atrophy of the prefrontal lobes.

by Astamiss

on 6/4/2016

Posts: 557

Brain chemistry, genetic material, environment.

Nature vs nurture? It's always the question in a mental diagnosis. It might be both or one. It might depend.

by Cricket

on 6/4/2016

Posts: 904

Astamiss stated: source post
Brain chemistry, genetic material, environment.
Nature vs nurture? It's always the question in a mental diagnosis. It might be both or one. It might depend.

Genetic predisposition plus environmental factors that trigger the gene expression for sociopathy.

Psychopathy, on the other hand, is a genetic neurological condition that affects the limbic system.

In general, sociopaths are made and psychopaths are born.

by Cricket

on 6/4/2016

Posts: 904

The two can be co-morbid and have some overlapping symptoms - such as impulsivity. However, stress disorders and personality disorders are two very different things. Personality disorders are not considered "mental illness", as a stress, psychotic, or mood disorder would be. Stress, psychosis, anxiety, and mood suggest transience and trait, while personality suggests a more core fundamental and persistent difference between an individual and the rest of society.

With a mood, stress, or anxiety disorder, the individual is aware that something is wrong or "off". The nature of personality disorder is that the individual feels that the rest of the world is what is wrong or off and should accommodate to them.

PTSD in particular is a very complex disorder with multiple systems affected by the stress and only partial neurological overlap with ASPD. For instance, hippocampus volume is also affected in PTSD. That could potentially interfere with memory retrieval. The way the amygdala and vmPFC connect are altered and startle response is often exaggerated, largely due to the PFC's reduced inability to regulate amygdala response. In the instances of war trauma, there is the additional confounding factor of head trauma.

by Cricket

on 6/4/2016

Posts: 904

Sociopathy:

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

Reduced Prefrontal Gray Matter Volume and Reduced Autonomic Activity in Antisocial Personality Disorder

A Neural Basis for Sociopathy

Psychopathy:

A cognitive neuroscience perspective on psychopathy: Evidence for paralimbic system dysfunction

Psychopathy as a disorder of the moral brain: Fronto-temporo-limbic grey matter reductions demonstrated by voxel-based morphometry

Deficient Fear Conditioning in PsychopathyA Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

by hdiver