Word: asp
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...confused with occasional periods of bad behavior or crimes of passion, ASP (also referred to as sociopathy) is defined in the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as a lifelong "pervasive pattern" of rule breaking and violating the rights of others that begins before age 15. ASPs are chronic troublemakers whose symptoms vary greatly in severity: they can be constant money borrowers, black sheep, pathological liars, white-collar criminals or, at the most severe end of the continuum, murderous felons. They are impulsive and grandiose, don't learn from punishment, are poor self-observers, blame others for their problems...
...shocking videotapes that Harris and Klebold made before the Columbine massacre provide a unique glimpse into the antisocial mind, say those who have studied ASP. "What's frightening is how cold and calculated all this was, with no regard for the consequences," says Black. "They view it through their perverse world view, not seeing it as others would, which is a characteristic of antisocials." Though the two boys expressed remorse for the hurt they were about to cause their parents, their ability to shut off such pangs of guilt is also characteristic of ASP. "There was some remorseful thinking...
...since the mid-1800s (when it was called "moral insanity"), and antisocial personality disorder has been listed in the DSM since 1968. Yet surprisingly little research has been done on it. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, only $3 million was spent last year for research on ASP, and $31 million was spent on its childhood predecessor, conduct disorder. Yet $132 million was devoted to schizophrenia...
...reason for the resistance is that ASP is still not universally accepted by psychologists as a diagnosis. Some critics dismiss it as a category so broad as to be useless. "It's used for everyone from the person who cheats on his income taxes to Attila the Hun," says Fred Berlin, associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins medical school. "It's a label masquerading as an explanation." Others wonder whether the term is simply a catchall psychological description for people who are habitual criminals. Yet proponents argue that the disorder's core ingredients--a lifelong pattern of behavior...
...from her purse, torturing animals, driving drunk and making violent threats against classmates. Typical boyish rebellion? "There was a difference," Kathleen says. "I didn't sense any real remorse. He would use his charm to overcome my anger." Now she has accepted that her son--a lawyer with diagnosed ASP who changes jobs regularly, terrorizes former girlfriends and accrues credit-card debt--probably won't change...