Essay Example: A Current Event in Psychopathy

People tend to think that psychopathy is a behavior or experiences that are not only abnormal but also maladaptive or rather dysfunctional. Some words are used to describe it, and they include normal and abnormal which are the statistical terms and also it is adaptive and maladaptive. There are the deviations that are included on a persons behavior so that they can adapt and deal with challenges, cope with stress and accomplish his or her goals (Maddux & Winstead, 2012). Few human beings are in and of themselves either adaptive or maladaptive. Instead, their adaptiveness or maladaptiveness depends on the situations that the behavior is being enacted on and the values of the actor and the observation.

Psychopathy has been conceived as the behavior that deviates from the social, cultural norms, and the concept becomes a variation of the conception of psychopathology as the statistical abnormality. It is viewed that the psychologically disordered people think, feel and do things that most individuals do not do or do not want to do (Maddux & Winstead, 2012). The conception is therefore subjective whereby the normal and acceptable behavior is not obtained scientifically, but rather they are based on the values, the beliefs and the historical practice of the culture.

It is these factors that determine whether one is to be accepted in the society or if they are rejected. It has also been argued that the individual who does not have the personal ability to control or self-regulate their behaviors, thinking or feelings have got the maladaptive patterns that lead to mental disorders (Maddux & Winstead, 2012). If an individual behaves in a maladaptive way voluntarily, then his or her behavior should not be considered to result in a mental disorder.

In the analysis of a current event like domestic violence, it has been reported that approximately 30% of women in the United States have been exposed to partners violence in their lifetime. Most have agreed to be pushed, shoved or even slapped. An estimate of 25% of women has been exposed to severe domestic violence whereby they have been beaten burned, choked or violence that involved a weapon. When well evaluated globally, there has been significant variability in yearly rates of physical and sexual violence.

For more than 25 years, the researchers have been trying to identify the impacts of domestic violence with the inclusion of emotional and behavioral adjustment, structural brain development, cognitive functioning and physical health (Sperry & Gavisk, 2016). It is imperative to note that, it is hard for one to understand the brain and that is why situations like stress, drug addiction, and trauma can lead to the progressive loss of the brain tissue in the gene expression abnormalities that produce malfunctioning like autism (Maddux & Winstead, 2012). The disorder leads to different aspects of individual characteristics such as temperament and sensation seeking.

The brain has got receptors for almost all the hormones and the immune signals through which they can be able to influence the brain activity and also the behavior (Swaab, McCormack & Campbell, 2017). Aggressive behavior is a severe problem especially to children who suffer from autism disorder. It has been identified that the prevalence of aggression in the individuals with autism is high therefore allowing more restrictive learning environment to be created to safeguard and protect others from being hurt.

Autism has been described as the childhood-onset spectrum disorder that is characterized by persistent deficits in the social communication and with a restricted pattern of interests and activities (Swaab, McCormack & Campbell, 2017). In DSM-IV, Autistic psychopathy is categorized as a subtype of ASD in which the patient who has the history of language delay has an autistic social deficit. Reports in the past two decades have identified that there has been violent behavior in the persons with ASD and due to the sensational and unusualness of the accidents, there became a perspective by the public that those individuals had predisposed behavior since childhood.

There is increased the prevalence of violence among individuals who have got Autism, and since it starts at the childhood level, the physician can identify when an adult is involved in violence like in domestic violence (Swaab, McCormack & Campbell, 2017). Although autism is a childhood onset disorder, its symptoms persist across a life span, and if the diagnosis is missed in childhood, it might reveal itself the first time as an adult. It is important to note when the patients interests get out of control especially if the individual appears to lack sound and prudent judgment despite the normal intelligent that he or she might have.

The issue relating to domestic violence indicates that most conditions that affect the development of the brain are due to the influence in the signaling system. It, therefore, controls the overall shape and the growing of the brain (Sperry & Gavisk, 2016). With the use of alcohol which can leads to violence, the level of retinoid acid becomes affected resulting in an induced brain defects.

Autism usually coexists with intellectual disability, and they are therefore more prone to mental disorders. They are more prone to interpersonal and cognitive impairments which enable one to conclude that people who have got autism are more susceptible to psychopathology (Sperry & Gavisk, 2016).The most individual suffers from the disturbance of association and that of apathy, they develop conflicting thoughts and emotions, they detach from the social life, and they concentrate on the inner preoccupation. Others lack the motivation or the self -drive to live and irreversible change in personality. With the modification of an individual personality, they become prone to violence.

References

Maddux, J., & Winstead, B. (2012). Psychopathology. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Sperry, L., & Gavisk, D. (2016). Violence and ASD. Encyclopedia Of Autism Spectrum Disorders, 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102129-1

Swaab, L., McCormack, L., & Campbell, L. (2017). Distress and Psychological Growth in Parenting an Adult Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Aggression. Advances In Neurodevelopmental Disorders. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s41252-017-0033-5