ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Symptoms

Symptoms of such behavior include:

• strong efforts to harm others,
• selfless cruelty,
• lack of moral sensitivity,
• violence in interpersonal relationships.

Antisocial behavior includes:

• intimidation through threats or violence,
• harassment, including on the basis of race,
• verbal abuse,
• homophobic behavior,
• systematic intimidation of children,
• vandalism, graffiti, and putting up posters/stickers,
• street drug dealing,
• littering and abandoning vehicles,
• alcohol use in quantities that go beyond social norms.

For behavior to be described as antisocial, it must have two characteristics: it alarms society and is repeatedly displayed.

Causes

To date, it has not been possible to clearly determine which factors are directly responsible for the occurrence of antisocial behavior in people. As with the pathogenesis of various other psychiatric disorders, it is also suggested that biological and environmental factors play an important role in the emergence of this type of behavior.

As for the former, attention is paid to the genes inherited from our parents. However, the occurrence of antisocial behavior is most strongly influenced by environmental factors. These include, in particular, various problems that may arise in the early stages of development, including:

• being raised in emotional coldness,
• domestic violence (both physical and psychological violence),
• lack of parental interest,
• experiencing unpleasant phenomena in non-home environments (e.g., bullying by peers at school),
• traumatic events (e.g., rape).

Antisocial behavior is associated with various mental disorders, namely:

• personality disorders (antisocial personality, dissociative personality),
• antisocial behavior,
• psychopathy,
• sociopathy,
• social pathology,
• behavioral disorders.

Treatment

The most important role is played by psychotherapy—in this case, a wide variety of approaches can be used, because both cognitive behavioral therapy and psychodynamic therapy, and sometimes family therapy, may also be helpful.

However, one aspect is worth emphasizing: psychotherapy for antisocial behavior usually takes a long time. During therapy, both the patient and the therapist often face many difficulties. For the patient, it is usually primarily difficult to become motivated for therapy. Often, they have the impression that they really have nothing to do with the problem. In addition, it may be difficult to build a therapeutic relationship, because the patient may be convinced that the therapist does not care about them at all. It also happens that they have a very hostile attitude toward the specialist, which is difficult to break. In addition, certain medications are sometimes recommended to patients. Preparations that are sometimes used in such situations mainly include antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics.