Contrast between sociopaths and psychopaths- Literature Review

Contrast between sociopaths and psychopaths

According to the study of Blair (2003) it has been identified that the psychopathy increases the behavioral and emotional disturbance within the body of a person because the neural system is most affected by it. The author has provided the pathology for dealing with the psychiatric disorders those dysfunctions the neural systems of a patient. Psychopathy lead towards poor control on behaviors by a person but they cannot be considered synonymous with the antisocial personality disorder or diagnoses of conduct disorders (Blair, 2003).

It has been observed from the study of Laakso et al. (2001) that psychopathy results in the violent behavior among a person as it destroys the neurology of morals and severely affects the decision making process. Thus, a person acts like a psychopath and expresses violent behavior. However, the research finds out that there is no evidence of the relationship or correlation between psychopathic behavior and neuroanatomical condition of a person. The study analyzes the psychopathy and its disorders through the analysis of the hippocampus of the nervous system of human body. It has been identified that one of the reasons of psychopathy is the lack of acquisition of conditioned scare or fear at the time of birth (Laakso et al., 2001). The study of Blair & Cipolotti (2000) analyzes that sociopathy is influenced by the social life disorders of a person. The study reports a trauma in a patient who was suffering from acquired sociopathy. It is evident that sociopathy is also acquired through the environmental factors and it is different from psychopathy because it is usually formed at the time of birth (Blair & Cipolotti, 2000).

The relationship of sociopaths with alcohols has been analyzed by Schuckit (1973). The study focuses on alcohol abuse that is mostly confused with sociopath. It leads to the alcoholism, primary illness, complications of other neurobiological processes and psychiatric processes and a deep depressive illness such as sociopathy. The problems occur when sociopathic and primary alcoholism schema occurs while the antisocial behavior is mixed up or confused with the sociopathic diagnosis (Schuckit, 1973).

The outcomes of sociopathy and psychopathy were analyzed by Woody, McLellan, Luborsky & O'Brien (1985) and the results obtained through it reveals that there are significant differences between sociopathy and psychopathy whereas, several diagnosis and treatment measures are same among dealing with both of these disorders. The ...