Antisocial Personality Disorder Group Research Articles

Impulsive and compulsive reading comprehension in the prison population

BackgroundDevelopmental dyslexia is characterized by reading and writing deficits that persist into adulthood. Dyslexia is strongly associated with academic underachievement, as well as impulsive, compulsive, and criminal behaviors.The aims of this study were to investigate impulsive or compulsive reading comprehension, analyzing the differences in reading errors between two distinct groups —one with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and another with Obsessive–Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) and examine their correlation with criminal behavior within a prison population.MethodsWe gathered data from 194 participants: 81 with ASPD and 113 with OCPD from a prison center. Participants took part in interviews to gather data on demographic, criminal, and behavioral data. Additionally, the participants underwent various assessments, including the International Examination for Personality Disorders; Symptom Inventory, and Battery for the Assessment of Reading Processes in Secondary and High School – Revised.ResultsOur analysis revealed differences in reading skills between the ASPD and OCPD groups. Specifically, the OCPD group showed poorer performance on lexical selection, semantic categorization, grammar structures, grammatical judgements, and expository comprehension when compared with the ASPD group. Conversely, the OCPD group obtained higher scores on narrative comprehension relative to the ASPD group.ConclusionsThe OCPD group showed slow lexical-phonological coding and phonological activation.

QT and P-Wave Dispersion of Patients with Antisocial Personality Disorder

Background: The purpose was to examine the electrocardiographic arrhythmia risk determinants of the QT and P-wave dispersions of the patients who have Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) by comparing them with the healthy control group.
 Method: A total of 52 patients who were diagnosed with ASPD according to DSM-5 Criteria and a healthy control group that consisted of 54 people were included in the study. Twelve lead Electrocardiograms (ECGs) were obtained from all participants in the supine position and at rest, and P-wave dispersion and QT dispersion were also calculated. The participants were administered the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Buss-Durke Aggression Scale (BDAS), Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11), and sociodemographic clinical data form. The SPSS version 22 package program was used for statistical analyses.
 Results: The mean age of the ASPD group and control group were no statistically significant differences between them (p=0.092). QT max (p=0.016), QTd (p

Oxytocin effects on amygdala reactivity to angry faces in males and females with antisocial personality disorder

The amygdala is a key region in current neurocircuitry models of reactive aggression as it is crucially involved in detecting social threat and provocation. An increased amygdala reactivity to angry faces has been reported in aggression-prone individuals and the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) could dampen anger-related amygdala reactivity in a number of mental disorders. One example is the antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) which has so far only been studied in limited numbers. To address the question whether OT can normalize amygdala hyperreactivity to emotional faces, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment with 20 men and 18 women with ASPD and 20 male and 20 female healthy control (HC) participants in a double-blind, randomized, placebo (PLC)-controlled within-subject design. Participants were exposed to an emotion classification task (fearful, angry, and happy faces) after receiving an intranasal dose (24 IU) of synthetic OT or PLC. We found OT to attenuate right amygdala hyperactivity to angry faces in participants with ASPD to such an extent that the intensity of amygdala activity in the ASPD group in the OT condition decreased to the level of amygdala activity in the PLC condition in the HC group. There was also a trend that OT effects were generally larger in women than in men. These findings suggest that OT differentially modulates the amygdala following social threatening or provoking cues in dependence of psychopathology (ASPD vs. HC) and sex (male vs. female). Particularly female ASPD patients could benefit from OT in the treatment of reactive aggression.

The Relationship Between Suicidal Behavior and Metacognitive Characteristics in Male Patients with Antisocial Personality Disorder

Objective: Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a mental disorder with impaired psychosocial functioning and carries a high risk for suicide. Previous studies have investigated the role of metacognitive considerations in individual behavioral differences and provided ample evidence of significant relationships between emotional processes, cognition, metacognitive beliefs, and behavior. A close relationship between metacognitive functions and personality disorders was suggested. This study investigated the relationship between the metacognitive characteristics of male patients with ASPD and suicidal behavior. Method: We included seventy-four patients diagnosed with ASPD according to DSM-5 criteria, who applied to Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine Balcalı Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, as the patient group and 74 healthy volunteers as the control group. Sociodemographic data form, Metacognition Questionnaire (MCQ), Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale (BSIS), Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire (SBQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were administered to the participants. Results: The control and ASPD groups were similar in terms of age, years of education, educational and marital status, and place of residence (p>0.05 for each). The MCQ and its subscales, BSIS, SBQ, BDI, and BAI scale scores, were significantly higher in the patient group (p<0.05 for each). Patients who have previously attempted suicide have significantly higher MCQ- uncontrollability and danger (p=0.028), MCQ- need to control thoughts subscales (p=0.016), and BSIS, SBS, BDI, BAI (p<0.001 for each) mean scores than those who have not attempted suicide. There was a positive correlation between SBQ and MCQ-cognitive confidence (p=0.04) and MCQ- need to control thoughts (p=0.01) subscales in the patient group. Conclusions: Metacognitive beliefs may be associated with the severity of suicidal behavior, depression, and anxiety symptoms in male patients with ASPD. The negative metacognitive functions, especially beliefs about the need to control thoughts, may help determine the risk of suicide in individuals with ASPD, and metacognitive therapy methods may be beneficial for those patients.

Temporal instability in brain activation: a novel paradigm for evaluating the maintenance of attention among substance dependent patients.

Prior studies have demonstrated statistically significant but subtle differences in brain function between patients with a history of substance dependence (SD) and control groups. The goal of the present study was to show that variability in brain activation over the trials of a cognitive task is more useful for revealing the putative impact of SD than analyses focusing on the amplitude of activation averaged over trials. The study also tested the additional contribution of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)-a prevalent comorbidity that promotes both an early onset and more severe course of SD. Two hundred eleven adults performed two selective attention tasks while P300 event-related electroencephalographic potentials were recorded. They were assigned to one of 3 mutually exclusive groups: no lifetime history of SD or ASPD (n = 67), a SD history but no ASPD (n = 68), or both SD and ASPD (n = 76). The major finding was a statistically significant elevation of P300 amplitude inter-trial variability (ITV) in the SD plus ASPD group in comparison to the group with neither attribute. The elevation was detected during both selective attention tasks and most prominent at electrodes sites located over the frontal brain. There were no group differences in P300 amplitude averaged over trials. We conclude from these findings that the ITV of P300 amplitude is an efficient and sensitive biomarker of the maintenance of attention. It is valuable for revealing group differences associated with substance dependence and ASPD. It may ultimately be valuable for detecting improvements resulting from psychostimulant treatment or other interventions, including cognitive remediation.

Association between childhood trauma, parental bonding and antisocial personality disorder in adulthood: A machine learning approach

Childhood trauma (CT) and parental bonding (PB) have been correlated with later antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Aiming to better understand this complex interaction we analyzed the data from a cross-sectional study that evaluated 346 male inpatient cocaine users, using both traditional statistical analysis and machine learning (ML) approaches. Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) were applied. We found a markedly higher prevalence of mental illness in the ASPD group. The ML method and the traditional analysis showed that emotional and physical abuse were the factors with the strongest relationship with ASPD. Also, there were discrepancies between the findings of both methods regarding physical neglect and paternal care. Although this study does not allow definitive answers in this matter, we do propose that these two methods can aid in better comprehending how multiple variables interact with each other in the development of psychological disorders.

Pituitary volume in people with chronic schizophrenia: Clarifying the roles of serious violence and childhood maltreatment

Aberrations in stress-linked hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function have been independently associated with schizophrenia, antisocial behaviour and childhood maltreatment. In this study, we examined pituitary volume (PV) in relation to childhood maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect) in men (i) with schizophrenia and a history of serious violence (n = 13), (ii) with schizophrenia but without a history of serious violence (n = 15), (iii) with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and a history of serious violence (n = 13), and (iv) healthy participants without a history of violence (n = 15). All participants underwent whole-brain magnetic resonance imaging. Experiences of childhood maltreatment were rated based on interviews (for all), and case history and clinical/forensic records (for patients only). There was a trend for smaller PV, on average, in schizophrenia patients (regardless of a history of violence), compared to the healthy group and the ASPD group; other group differences in PV were non-significant. Sexual abuse ratings correlated negatively with PVs in ASPD participants, but no significant association between childhood maltreatment and PV was found in schizophrenia participants. Our findings are consistent with previous evidence of smaller-than-normal PV in chronic schizophrenia patients, and suggest that illness-related influences may mask the possible sexual abuse-smaller PV association, seen here in ASPD, in this population.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex affects emotional processing: accounting for individual differences in antisocial behavior

The study was designed to investigate the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on emotional recognition among individuals differentiated on antisocial personality disorder (APD) symptoms. Participants (N = 93) received continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) under four conditions: real or sham cTBS over the left and right DLPFC. After stimulation, participants performed a dynamic face recognition task depicting fearful, happy, sad, and painful expressions. Left and right DLPFC stimulation were followed by improved accuracy of happy and painful emotions compared to sham conditions. Participants receiving left stimulation were also better able to recognize sad expressions compared to the left sham condition. A three-way interaction between type of stimulation, emotion recognition, and APD groups suggested that the identified TMS effects on emotion recognition were only significant for individuals at elevated risk for APD symptoms. Findings suggest that DLPFC stimulation can lead to benefits in emotion recognition among individuals high on APD symptoms.

Do adult males with antisocial personality disorder (with and without co-morbid psychopathy) have deficits in emotion processing and empathy? A systematic review

Abstract Background A lack of concern for the feelings, needs or suffering of others and lack of remorse after hurting or mistreating others are key characteristics of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), otherwise identified as dissocial personality disorder (DPD) and suggest that impaired emotion processing and empathy may contribute to antisocial behaviour. Whilst psychopathy is more commonly associated with an absence of empathy and emotional affect, the nature of emotion processing and empathy deficits specific to adult male ASPD populations with and without co-morbid psychopathy has not been systematically reviewed. Aim To determine the nature of emotion processing and empathy deficits specific to adult male ASPD populations with and without co-morbid psychopathy. Method We conducted a literature search across seven electronic databases and a range of grey literature sites, hand-searched reference lists of relevant papers and contacted fourteen authors of published studies related to this topic. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied and quality assessments undertaken on eligible studies. Results Searches located 10,217 records and 205 were eligible for full assessment. 22 studies were identified as suitable for inclusion in this review and 19 reported evidence of emotion processing deficits in ASPD/DPD groups with and without co-morbid psychopathy. Conclusion This review found no evidence of empathy deficits in ASPD/DPD groups with or without co-morbid psychopathy and only limited evidence of diminished startle reactivity in those with ASPD alone. In contrast, ASPD groups with co-morbid psychopathy were found to exhibit aberrant patterns of affective reactivity and difficulty when processing negative/aversive stimuli which lends support to the notion that these groups may be differentiated in terms of emotional dysfunction. However, as the majority of reviewed studies employed ASPD/DPD groups that included participants with co-morbid psychopathy/psychopathic traits and did not delineate effects for ASPD/DPD groups with and without co-morbid psychopathy, the degree to which emotion processing deficits were mediated by co-morbid psychopathy or evident in ASPD/DPD alone could not be established. Therefore, further research to compare emotion processing and empathy in these groups is required before firm conclusions can be drawn about the extent of overlap between these populations and/or the differences that exist between them.

Differential levels of prefrontal cortex glutamate+glutamine in adults with antisocial personality disorder and bipolar disorder: A proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study

As the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, glutamate, as measured in combination with glutamine (Glx), is implicated in several psychopathologies when levels are aberrant. One illness that shows heightened Glx levels is bipolar disorder (BD), an illness characterized by high impulsivity. In addition, although animal studies have reported elevated levels of Glx in aggressive and impulsive phenotypes, no study, to our knowledge, has reported Glx in the human cortex in relation to aggression. Here, we addressed the question of whether elevated levels of Glx would be present in patients with BD and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), a condition associated with aggression and, like BD, also presents high impulsivity. We recruited individuals with ASPD (n = 18), individuals with BD (n = 16), and a healthy control group (n = 24). We used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure relative neurometabolite concentrations in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and supra-genual anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), two brain regions associated with impulsivity and behavior control. We found significantly elevated levels of Glx in the ASPD group relative to the BD and healthy control groups in the dlPFC (p = .014), and a positive correlation between Glx levels and aggression in the dlPFC in the ASPD group alone (r = .59, p = .026). These findings suggest a link between aggression in ASPD and Glx levels.

Oxytocin improves facial emotion recognition in young adults with antisocial personality disorder

Deficient facial emotion recognition has been suggested to underlie aggression in individuals with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). As the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been shown to improve facial emotion recognition, it might also exert beneficial effects in individuals providing so much harm to the society.In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial, 22 individuals with ASPD and 29 healthy control (HC) subjects (matched for age, sex, intelligence, and education) were intranasally administered either OT (24 IU) or a placebo 45min before participating in an emotion classification paradigm with fearful, angry, and happy faces. We assessed the number of correct classifications and reaction times as indicators of emotion recognition ability.Significant group×substance×emotion interactions were found in correct classifications and reaction times. Compared to HC, individuals with ASPD showed deficits in recognizing fearful and happy faces; these group differences were no longer observable under OT. Additionally, reaction times for angry faces differed significantly between the ASPD and HC group in the placebo condition. This effect was mainly driven by longer reaction times in HC subjects after placebo administration compared to OT administration while individuals with ASPD revealed descriptively the contrary response pattern.Our data indicate an improvement of the recognition of fearful and happy facial expressions by OT in young adults with ASPD. Particularly the increased recognition of facial fear is of high importance since the correct perception of distress signals in others is thought to inhibit aggression. Beneficial effects of OT might be further mediated by improved recognition of facial happiness probably reflecting increased social reward responsiveness.

The Relationship between Aggression and Serum Thyroid Hormone Level in Individuals Diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder.

Aggression is one of the leading clinical characteristics of antisocial personality disorder (APD). Studies aiming to clarify and control the biological basis of aggression are ongoing. Thyroid hormones have been indicated to play a role in the development of aggression. The aim of this study was to examine the level of aggression and serum thyroid hormone in a sample of APD and to make contributions to this field with the current findings. The sample consisted of 96 subjects with a diagnosis of APD and 97 subjects as a control group. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis (SCID) 1 and 2 were used for the diagnosis, and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire was administered. Based on criminal patterns, the APD group was then divided into two subgroups: "criminal" and "noncriminal" APD groups. The day after the interview, after one night of fasting, blood was collected from the subjects between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m.. Thyroid function tests and other biochemical analyses related to the confounding variables were also administered. The study group and the control group were compared in terms of their aggression scores and thyroid hormone levels. The mean score of free T3 level in the criminal APD group was found to be significantly higher than that in the noncriminal APD group. APD subjects with higher free T3 levels also had higher aggression scores. In the noncriminal APD group, as serum free T3 and T4 levels increased, there was also an increment in the aggression scores. However, in the criminal APD group, there was no significant correlation between thyroid hormone levels and aggression. The findings of this study indicated that criminal and noncriminal APD groups actually show different properties.

Experiential avoidance, empathy, and anger-related attitudesin antisocial personality disorder

In prevailing opinion, a strong relation exists between lack of empathy and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). However, recent data fail to wholly clarify this relation, especially in consideration of empathy dimensions. In this study our aim was to address ASPD and social functionality from a contextual behavioral science viewpoint. The present study was conducted with a sample of 34 individuals with ASPD and 32 healthy individuals as the control group. The participants were assessed with a sociodemographic form, Structured Clinical Interviews for DSM I and II (SCID-I and SCID-II), Social Functioning Scale (SFS), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II for measuring experiential avoidance, Interpersonal Reactivity Index for measuring empathy dimensions, and the State-Trait Anger Scale for anger-related attitudes. Experiential avoidance, dysfunctional anger regulation patterns, and lack of perspective-taking levels were higher in the ASPD group than in the control group. Experiential avoidance and perspective-taking processes were related with social functioning in ASPD. These findings may provide initial data for understanding ASPD clinical features and related social interaction problems. Further relations between scales and social functionality also analyzed and discussed.

A hormonal approach to anti-social behaviour.

Altered levels of cortisol and testosterone have previously been associated with anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) and psychopathy, but there is some conflicting evidence as to how characteristic these findings are. To test the hypothesis that diurnal fluctuations in cortisol and/or testosterone will differentiate ASPD and psychopathy among male forensic psychiatric inpatients and distinguish both groups from healthy men not in treatment. One hundred and sixty-six men participated: 81 patients with ASPD, 42 of whom had a Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) score of 26 or more and 39 with a score of 25 or less, 51 forensic hospital employees and 34 general population men. None in the latter two groups had abnormal personality traits. For each person, diurnal cortisol and testosterone saliva samples were collected. Both patient groups and the forensic hospital employees showed significantly higher diurnal testosterone levels than the general population, community-based men. The community men showed significantly lower values in their diurnal cortisol variation than the ASPD and psychopathy groups but, in this, were similar to the forensic employee group. Neither cortisol nor testosterone levels differentiated the higher from lower Psychopathy Checklist-Revised scorers. We replicated findings of diurnal testosterone deficiencies among men with psychopathy and ASPD, but we were unable to differentiate patients groups from each other or from the hospital employees on cortisol measures. This suggests a case for more research with more diverse comparison groups and more differentiation of personality traits before drawing definitive conclusions about distinctive hormonal patterns among men with psychopathy, as external environmental variables may prove more influential than previously suspected. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The startle paradigm in a forensic psychiatric setting: Elucidating psychopathy

Most people who meet the diagnostic criteria for anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) do not meet the criteria for psychopathy. A differentiating feature is affective-interpersonal style. Eye blink startle reflex paradigms have been used to study affect. The aim of this study is to explore an eye blink startle paradigm as a means of distinguishing between men with both ASPD and psychopathy, and men with ASPD alone. One hundred and thirty-six men were recruited as follows: 31 patients with ASPD and a Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) score of 26 or more, 22 patients with ASPD and a PCL-R score of 25 or less, 50 forensic hospital employees and 33 general population men, none in the latter two groups having abnormal personality traits. Each was presented with 16 pleasant, 16 unpleasant and 16 neutral pictures. Acoustic probes were presented during each category at 300, 800, 1300 and 3800 milliseconds (ms) after picture onset. Eye blink response was measured by electromyography. Overall, both patient groups showed significantly smaller eye blink responses to the startle stimuli compared with the community controls. Both the latter and the ASPD group showed the expected increase in eye blink response at longer startle latencies to unpleasant pictures than pleasant pictures, but this was not present either in the group with psychopathy or in the forensic hospital employees. With increasing startle latency onset, eye blink amplitude increased significantly in both the healthy comparison groups and the ASPD group, but not in the group with psychopathy. We replicated eye blink startle modulation deficiencies among men with psychopathy. We confirmed that the psychopathy and ASPD groups could be distinguished by startle stimulus onset asynchrony, but this pattern was also seen in one healthy group - the forensic hospital employees. This suggests a case for more research with more diverse comparison groups and more differentiation of personality traits before drawing definitive conclusions about distinctive startle response patterns among men with psychopathy.

Comorbidity of social anxiety disorder and antisocial personality disorder in the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC)

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) are not often thought of as being comorbid. However, recent research suggests the existence of a SAD subtype with characteristics atypical of SAD but common to ASPD. Thus, we explored two competing hypotheses: (1) SAD and ASPD represent opposite ends of a single dimension, or (2) SAD and ASPD exist on two separate dimensions that may be positively correlated. Data were obtained from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. SAD–ASPD was related to greater impairment and psychiatric comorbidity than either disorder alone. The SAD–ASPD group was also more likely to seek treatment for their SAD symptoms and to drink before/during antisocial acts than the SAD only group. The presence of SAD for individuals with ASPD (and vice versa) does not appear to provide any “protective benefits.” SAD and ASPD appear to be two separate but correlated disorders.

The deficit of decision-making in male subjects with antisocial personality disorder

Objective To investigate the capabilities of decision-making in male subjects with Antisocial personality disorder(ASPD). Methods A total of 76 male ASPD subjects were compared with matched 60 healthy controls on the Iowa Gambling Task.At the same time, All of them were evaluated with Self- Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the MMPI Personality Disorder Scales (MMPI-Pd) and The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11). Results The ASPD group selected less advantageous cards (the number of cards selected from the advantageous decks minus the number of cards selected from disadvantageous decks) than healthy controls ((-4.13±18.27)time, (6.03±19.43) time respectively, t(134)=-3.132, P=0.002). A 2(group)×5(block) ANOVA (analysis of variance) on the cards of net advantageous from the gambling task revealed a significant main effect of group (F(1, 134)=9.811, P=0.002). Meanwhile, the ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of block(F(4, 536)=15.456, P<0.001). The results showed that healthy controls and ASPD group gradually shifted their selections toward the good decks as the game progresses.The study indicated the total number of advantageous cards for subjects with antisocial personality disorder were negative correlation to the MMPI-Pd(r=-0.232, P=0.006). Conclusion The present study suggests that the decision-making impairment might be in the male subjects with antisocial personality disorder.The deficit of decision-making for ASPD might be attributed to the dysfunction of the orbitofrontal, dorsolateral frontal, and anterior cingulate cortex. Key words: Antisocial personality disorder; Decision making; Cognition

Inhibitory control and negative emotional processing in psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder.

The field of personality disorders has had a long-standing interest in understanding interactions between emotion and inhibitory control, as well as neurophysiological indices of these processes. More work in particular is needed to clarify differential deficits in offenders with antisocial personality disorder (APD) who differ on psychopathic traits, as APD and psychopathy are considered separate, albeit related, syndromes. Evidence of distinct neurobiological processing in these disorders would have implications for etiology-based personality disorder taxonomies in future psychiatric classification systems. To inform this area of research, we recorded event-related brain potentials during an emotional-linguistic Go/No-Go task to examine modulation of negative emotional processing by inhibitory control in three groups: psychopathy (n = 14), APD (n = 16), and control (n = 15). In control offenders, inhibitory control demands (No-Go vs. Go) modulated frontal-P3 amplitude to negative emotional words, indicating appropriate prioritization of inhibition over emotional processing. In contrast, the psychopathic group showed blunted processing of negative emotional words regardless of inhibitory control demands, consistent with research on emotional deficits in psychopathy. Finally, the APD group demonstrated enhanced processing of negative emotion words in both Go and No-Go trials, suggesting a failure to modulate negative emotional processing when inhibitory control is required. Implications for emotion-cognition interactions and putative etiological processes in these personality disorders are discussed.

Electroencephalographic abnormalities in antisocial personality disorder

The presence of brain dysfunction in violent offenders has been frequently examined with inconsistent results. The aim of the study was to assess the EEG of 84 violent offenders by visual inspection and frequency-domain quantitative analysis in 84 violent prisoners. Low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) was also employed for theta band of the EEG spectra. Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) was present in 50 of the offenders and it was absent in the remaining 34. The prevalence of EEG abnormalities, by visual inspection, was similar for both the ASPD group (82%) and non-ASPD group (79%). The brain topography of these anomalies also did not differ between groups, in contrast to results of the EEG quantitative analysis (QEEG) and LORETA that showed remarkable regional differences between both groups. QEEG analysis showed a pattern of excess of theta-delta activities and decrease of alpha band on the right fronto-temporal and left temporo-parietal regions in the ASPD group. LORETA signified an increase of theta activity (5.08 Hz) in ASPD group relative to non-ASPD group within left temporal and parietal regions. Findings indicate that QEEG analysis and techniques of source localization may reveal differences in brain electrical activity among offenders with ASPD, which was not obvious to visual inspection.

Synaptosomal- Associated Protein 25 Gene Polymorphisms and Antisocial Personality Disorder: Association with Temperament and Psychopathy

The molecular genetic of personality disorders has been investigated in several studies; however, the association of antisocial behaviours with synaptosomal-associated protein 25 (SNAP25) gene polymorphisms has not. This association is of interest as SNAP25 gene polymorphism has been associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and personality. We compared the distribution of DdeI and MnII polymorphisms in 91 young male offenders and in 38 sex-matched healthy control subjects. We also investigated the association of SNAP25 gene polymorphisms with severity of psychopathy and with temperament traits: novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and reward dependence. The MnII T/T and DdeI T/T genotypes were more frequently present in male subjects with antisocial personality disorder (APD) than in sex-matched healthy control subjects. The association was stronger when the frequency of both DdeI and MnII T/T were taken into account. In the APD group, the genotype was not significantly associated with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised scores, measuring the severity of psychopathy. However, the APD subjects with the MnII T/T genotype had higher novelty seeking scores; whereas, subjects with the DdeI T/T genotype had lower reward dependence scores. Again, the association between genotype and novelty seeking was stronger when both DdeI and MnII genotypes were taken into account. DdeI and MnII T/T genotypes may be a risk factor for antisocial behaviours. The association of the SNAP25 DdeI T/T and MnII T/T genotypes with lower reward dependence and higher novelty seeking suggested that SNAP25 genotype might influence other personality disorders, as well.