Leanoric, on 17 August 2011 - 01:53 PM, said:
A very interesting read... It also made me wonder how this would relate to things like Autism or Aspegers. My son, for instance, is 5 and was recently diagnosed with Aspergers. Several of the criteria in the list (eg. 11, 17, 18, 19, 20) just can't be measured with him yet. But even so, I scored him in the very high 20s (ok, clearly I have no real basis for knowing the degree to which you have to exhibit a criteria for it to score a certain amount, but still...). Just another couple of points (maybe from the criteria he is too young for yet) and suddenly Aspergers and being a psycopath look very similar. Which is worrying for several reasons.
NOTE: I am *not* equating Aspergers with being a psycopath. I am merely wondering about the overlap in diagnosis of such things...
Good clarification you put in there at the end, I may have been much more offended otherwise
mmm, yeah, first of all, parents probably shouldn't use those checklists on their kids
My mother tried one on me, got a very low score. My counsellor then managed to get something in the medium-to-high range for Asperger's. Parents tend to have a curiously biased view of their kids (which is only natural, really).
But mostly, no, Asperger's and psychopathy *might* be similar superficially, but generally speaking the differences become fairly hefty. Aspies (the name we have for ourselves) might have trouble expressing emotion, but the emotions are still there. We can also be manipulative, but that's simply a case of 'little shit syndrome' common to small children, Asperger's or otherwise
And technically, you can't diagnose a child with psychopathy; they usually get diagnosed with 'Conduct Disorder' which is the child version of it, and it's a different set of behaviours. Psychopaths tend not to have the obsessions and the nuts-level attention to detail that we sometimes have, as well. A child psychologist would be able to reassure you better than I can; Developmental Psychology isn't my field.
I can see how Autism (which has a different set of diagnostic criteria - similar, but different) might relate to psychopathy; Autism can often carry with it mental retardation (low IQ), along with some other curious behavioural weirdnesses. Even then I'd be surprised if the two diagnoses were paired together, people with Autism are usually pretty noticeable by the fact that their social abilities are. . . pretty strange, and the concept of 'charm', superficial or otherwise, can't really be attached to them.
Short version: Probably wouldn't be too worried
Also, these are some links to the current diagnostic criteria for Asperger's, Conduct Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder.
NOTE: These aren't the be-all-and-end-all. If you read the 'cautionary statement' link you'll get a better idea of what I mean, but these are general diagnostic criteria, and clinicians generally use more refined criteria for their diagnoses, and they're trained to use them. Don't go out diagnosing people based on this stuff, that would be both stupid and potentially dangerous
And for the love of God don't try to diagnose yourself as that's even more foolish
Asperger's:
http://www.behavenet...rs/asperger.htm
Conduct:
http://www.behavenet...ders/cndctd.htm
Antisocial:
http://www.behavenet...ntisocialpd.htm