Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:58:35.922Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3.3 - Psychopathic Personality Disorder

from Part III - Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2021

By
David J. Cooke
Edited by
Jennifer M. Brown  and
Miranda A. H. Horvath
Jennifer M. Brown
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Miranda A. H. Horvath
Affiliation:
University of Suffolk
Get access

Summary

Psychopathic Personality Disorder (PPD) plays a central role in forensic clinical practice. It has relevance for violence risk and treatment responsivity; those suffering from it place financial and other burdens on services. PPD remains a controverted concept; the essence of the disorder remains disputed. In this chapter I examine the history of the concept, methods for its evaluation, its demography and its relevance to clinical practice—from the first interview, through risk formulation to intervention. I describe recent attempts to explicate the concept of the PPD, including the development of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP). I conclude by considering current controversies regarding the diagnostic significance of criminal behaviour, the predictive utility of historical instruments such as the Psychopathy Checklist Revised and the reliability of that instrument in forensic clinical practice.

Keywords

Psychopathic Personality DisorderComprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic PersonalityCAPPControversiesInterviewing
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Forensic Psychology , pp. 369 - 387
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Beaver, K. M., Rowland, M. W., Schwartz, J. A., & Nedelec, J. L. (2011). The genetic origins of psychopathic personality traits in adult males and females: Results from an adoption-based study. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39(5), 426–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, D. P., Stein, J. A., Newcomb, M. D., Walker, E., Pogge, D., Ahluvalia, T., Stokes, J., Handelsman, L., Medrano, M., Desmond, D., Zule, W. (2003). Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Child Abuse and Neglect, 27, 169–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blackburn, R. (2007). Personality disorder and antisocial deviance: Comments on the debate on the structure of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. Journal of Personality Disorders, 21(2), 142–159.Google Scholar
Briere, J. (2010). Trauma Symptom Inventory – 2nd edition (TSI-2) professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Cleckley, H. (1976). The mask of sanity (5th ed.). Mosby.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J. (1996). Psychopathic personality in different cultures: What do we know? What do we need to find out?. Journal of Personality Disorders, 10(1), 23–40.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J. (2010). Personality disorder and violence: Understand violence risk: An introduction to the special section personality disorder and violence. Journal of Personality Disorders, 24(5), 539–550.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J. (2016). Violence risk: The actuarial illusion. In D. Farrington & A. Kapardis (Eds.), Psychology, crime, policing and courts. Routledge.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J. (2018). Psychopathic personality disorder: Capturing an elusive concept. European Journal of Analytic Philosophy, 14(1), 15–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, D. J., Hart, S. D., Logan, C., & Michie, C. (2004). Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality–Institutional Rating Scale (CAPP–IRS). Unpublished manual.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J., Hart, S. D., Logan, C., & Michie, C. (2012). Explicating the Construct of Psychopathy: Development and Validation of a Conceptual Model, the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP). International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 11(4), 242–252.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J., & Logan, C. (2015). Capturing clinical complexity: Towards a personality-oriented measure of psychopathy. Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(4), 262–273.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J., & Logan, C. (2018). Capturing psychopathic personality: Penetrating the mask of sanity through clinical interview. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), The handbook of psychopathy (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J., & Michie, C. (1999). Psychopathy across cultures: North America and Scotland Compared. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108(1), 55–68.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J., & Michie, C. (2001). Refining the construct of psychopathy: Towards a hierarchical model. Psychological Assessment, 13(2), 171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooke, D. J., & Michie, C. (2010). Limitations of diagnostic precision and predictive utility in the individual case: A challenge for forensic practice. Law and Human Behavior, 34(4), 258–274.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J., Michie, C., Hart, S. D., & Clark, D. A. (2004). Reconstructing psychopathy: Clarifying the significance of antisocial and socially deviant behavior in the diagnosis of psychopathic personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, 18(4), 337–357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooke, D. J., Michie, C., Hart, S. D., & Clark, D. (2005). Assessing psychopathy in the UK: Concerns about cross-cultural generalisability. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 186(4), 335–341.Google Scholar
Cooke, D. J., Michie, C., & Skeem, J. L. (2007). Understanding the structure of the Psychopathy Checklist Revised: An exploration of methodological confusion. British Journal of Psychiatry, 190(Suppl. 49), 39–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, D. J., & Sellbom, M. (2019). An examination of Psychopathy Checklist-Revised latent factor structure via exploratory structural equation modeling. Psychological Assessment, 31(5), 581.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DeMatteo, D., Edens, J. F., Galloway, M., Cox, J., Smith, S. T., Koller, J. P., & Bersoff, B. (2014). Investigating the role of the Psychopathy Checklist?Revised in United States case law. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 20(1), 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeMatteo, D., Hart, S. D., Heilbrun, K., Boccaccini, M. T., Cunningham, M. D., Douglas, K. S., Dvoskin, J. A., Edens, J. F., Guy, L. S., Murrie, D. C., Otto, R. K., Packer, I. K., & Reidy, T. J. (2020). Statement of concerned experts on the use of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised in capital sentencing to assess risk for institutional violence. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 26(2), 133–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiGiuseppe, R., & Tafrate, R. C. (2004). Anger Disorders Scale (ADS): Technical manual. Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. S., Hart, S. D., Webster, C. D., & Belfrage, H. (2013). HCR-20V3: Assessing risk for violence: User guide. Mental Health, Law, and Policy Institute, Simon Fraser University.Google Scholar
Douglas, K. S., Vincent, G. M., & Edens, J. F. (2018). Risk for criminal recidivism: The role of psychopathy. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Edens, J. F., Cox, J., Smith, S. T., DeMatteo, D., & Sörman, K. (2015). How reliable are Psychopathy Checklist–Revised scores in Canadian criminal trials? A case law review. Psychological Assessment, 27(2), 447.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edworthy, R., Sampson, S., & Völlm, B. (2016). Inpatient forensic-psychiatric care: Legal frameworks and service provision in three European countries. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 47, 18–27.Google Scholar
Ellingson, J. M., Littlefield, A. K., Verges, A., & Sher, K. J. (2018). Psychopathy and substance abuse disorders. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1993). Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R) [Database record]. APA PsycTests.Google Scholar
Fallon Report. (1999). Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Personality Disorder Unit, Ashworth Special Hospital VOLUME 1 His Honour Peter Fallon QC Professor Robert Bluglass CBE Professor Brian Edwards CBE Mr Granville Daniels Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Health by Command of Her Majesty, January 1999 Cm 4194-ii.Google Scholar
Farrington, D. P., & Bergstrom, H. (2018). Family background and psychopathy. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (pp. 354–379). Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Forouzan, E., & Cooke, D. J. (2005). Figuring out la femme fatale: Conceptual and assessment issues concerning psychopathy in females. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 23(6), 765–778.Google Scholar
Flórez, G., Ferrer, V., García, L. S., Crespo, M. R., Pérez, M., Saiz, P. A., & Cooke, D. J. (2020). Comparison between the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised and the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality in a representative sample of Spanish prison inmates. Plos One, 15(2), e0228384.Google Scholar
Gatner, D. (2019). How much does that cost? Examining the economic costs of crime in North America attributable to people with psychopathic personality disorder (Unpublished dissertation). Simon Fraser University.Google Scholar
Grisso, T. (1986). Evaluating competencies: forensic assessments and instruments (1st ed.). Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D. (1980). A research scale for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations. Personality and Individual Differences, 1(2), 111–119.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D. (2003). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (2nd ed.). Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D., Cooke, D. J., & Hart, S. D. (1999). Psychopathy and sadistic personality disorder. In Millon, T., Blaney, P. H., & Davis, R. D. (Eds.), Oxford textbooks in clinical psychology: Vol. 4. Oxford textbook of psychopathology (p. 555–584). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D., Neumann, C. S., & Mokros, A. (2018). The PCL-R assessment of psychopathy: Development, properties, debates, and new directions. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Harris, G. T., & Rice, M. E. (2006). Treatment of psychopathy. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hart, S. D. (1998). Psychopathy and risk for violence. In Cooke, D. J., Forth, A. E. & Hare, R. D. (Eds.), Psychopathy: Theory, research and implications for society (pp. 355–374). Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
Hart, S. D. (2001). Forensic issues. In Livesley, W. J. (Ed.), Forensic and clinical issues in the assessment of psychopathy (pp. 555–569). Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hart, S. D. (2016). Culture and violence risk assessment: The case of Ewert v. Canada. Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, 3(2), 76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, S. D., & Cook, A. N. (2012). Current issues in the assessment and diagnosis of psychopathy (psychopathic personality disorder). Neuropsychiatry, 2(6), 497–508.Google Scholar
Hart, S. D., Cox, D. N., & Hare, R. D. (1995). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (1st ed.). Multi-Health Systems Inc.Google Scholar
Hart, S. D., & Logan, C., (2011). Formulation of violence risk using evidence-based assessments: The structured professional judgment approach. In Sturmey, P. & McMurran, M. (Eds.), Forensic case formulation (pp. 83–106). Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hart, S. D., Michie, C., & Cooke, D. J. (2007). Precision of actuarial risk assessment instruments: Evaluating the ‘margins of error’ of group v. individual predictions of violence. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 190(S49), s60–s65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, D. K. (1939). Psychopathic states. W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Karpman, B. (1948). The myth of psychopathic personality. American Journal of Psychiatry, 104(9), 523–534.Google Scholar
Kreis, M. K., & Cooke, D. J. (2011). Capturing the psychopathic female: A prototypicality analysis of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) across gender. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 29(5), 634–648.Google Scholar
Larsen, R. R., Jalava, J., & Griffiths, S. (2020). Are Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) psychopaths dangerous, untreatable, and without conscience? A systematic review of the empirical evidence. Psychopathy, Public Policy, and Law, 26(3), 297–311.Google Scholar
Lenzenweger, M. F., Lane, M. C., Loranger, A. W., & Kessler, R. C. (2007). DSM-IV personality disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Biological psychiatry, 62(6), 553–564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lilienfeld, S. O., & Andrews, B. P. (1996). Development and preliminary validation of a self-report measure of psychopathic personality traits in non-criminal populations. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66(3), 488–524.Google Scholar
Logan, C., & Weizmann-Henelius, G. (2012). Psychopathy in women: presentation, assessment, and management. In Psychopathy and law: A practitioner’s guide. Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lynam, D. R., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (2007). Longitudinal evidence that psychopathy scores in early adolescence predict adult psychopathy. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116(1), 155.Google Scholar
Lynam, D. R., Gaughan, E. T., Miller, J. D., Miller, D. J., Mullins-Sweatt, S., & Widiger, T. A. (2011). Assessing the basic traits associated with psychopathy: Development and validation of the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment. Psychological Assessment, 23(1), 108.Google Scholar
Marshall, L. A., & Cooke, D. J. (1999). The childhood experiences of psychopaths: A retrospective study of familial and societal factors. Journal of Personality Disorders, 13(3), 211–225.Google Scholar
Miller, A. K., Rufino, K. A., Boccaccini, M. T., Jackson, R. L., & Murrie, D. C. (2011). On individual differences in person perception: Raters’ personality traits relate to their Psychopathy Checklist-Revised scoring tendencies. Assessment, 18(2), 253–260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Millon, T. (1981). Disorders of personality. Wiley.Google Scholar
Millon, T. (2011). Classifying personality disorders: An evolution-based alternative to an evidence-based approach. Journal of Personality Disorders, 25(3), 279–304.Google Scholar
Moreira, D., Moreira, D. S., Oliveira, S., Ribeiro, F. N., Barbosa, F., Fávero, M., & Gomes, V. (2020). Relationship between adverse childhood experiences and psychopathy: A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 101452.Google Scholar
Murrie, D. C., Boccaccini, M. T., Guarnera, L. A., & Rufino, K. A. (2013). Are forensic experts biased by the side that retained them?. Psychological science, 24(10), 1889–1897.Google Scholar
Murphy, J. M. (1976). Psychiatric labelling in cross-cultural perspective: Similar kinds of disturbed behavior appear to be labelled abnormal in diverse cultures. Science, 191(4231), 1019–1028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patrick, C. J., Fowles, D. C., & Krueger, R. F. (2009). Triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy: Developmental origins of disinhibition, boldness, and meanness. Development and psychopathology, 21(3), 913–938.Google Scholar
Polaschek, D. L., & Skeem, J. (2018). Treatment of adults and juveniles with psychopathy. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Poythress, N., & Petrila, J. P. (2010). PCL-R psychopathy: threats to sue, peer review, and potential implications for science and law. A commentary. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 9(1), 3–10.Google Scholar
Preszler, J., Marcus, D. K., Edens, J. F., & McDermott, B. E. (2018). Network analysis of psychopathy in forensic patients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 127(2), 171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Repo-Tiihonen, E., Virkkunen, M., & Tiihonen, J. (2001). Mortality of antisocial male criminals. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 12(3), 677–683.Google Scholar
Rice, M. E., Harris, G. T., & Cormier, C. A. (1992). An evaluation of a maximum-security therapeutic community for psychopaths and other mentally disordered offenders. Law and Human Behavior, 16(4), 399–412.Google Scholar
Schneider, K. (1958). Psychopathic personalities (9th ed.). Cassell.Google Scholar
Salekin, R. T. (2002). Psychopathy and therapeutic pessimism: Clinical lore or clinical reality? Clinical Psychology Review, 22(1), 79–112.Google Scholar
Saucier, G., & Goldberg, L. R. (2001). Lexical studies of indigenous personality factors: Premises, products, and prospects. Journal of Personality Disorders, 69(6), 847–879.Google Scholar
Sellbom, M., & Cooke, D. J. (2019). Manual for the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality – Self-Report (CAPP-SR). Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Sellbom, M., Lilienfeld, S. O., Fowler, K. A., & McCrary, K. L. (2018). The self-report assessment of psychopathy: Problems, pitfalls, and promises. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Shariat, S. V., Assadi, S. M., Noroozian, M., Pakravannejad, M., Yahyazadeh, O., Aghayan, S., Michie, C., & Cooke, D. (2010). Psychopathy in Iran: A cross-cultural study. Journal of Personality Disorders, 24(5), 676–691.Google Scholar
Shepherd, E. (2019). The Hunt for Non-Barking Dogs and Other Curiosities: Identifying and Managing Anomaly Within Forensic Interviews. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 18(1), 66–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skeem, J. L., & Cooke, D. J. (2010a). Is criminal behavior a central component of psychopathy? Conceptual directions for resolving the debate. Psychological Assessment, 22(2), 433–445.Google Scholar
Skeem, J. L., & Cooke, D. J. (2010b). One measure does not a construct make: Directions toward reinvigorating psychopathy research. Psychological Assessment, 22(2), 455–459.Google Scholar
Tolman, A. O., & Mullendore, K. B. (2003). Risk evaluations of the courts: Is service quality a function of specialization. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34, 225–232.Google Scholar
Tew, J., & Atkinson, R. (2013). The Chromis programme: from conception to evaluation. Psychology, Crime & Law, 19(5–6), 415–431.Google Scholar
Tew, J., Bennett, A., & Dixon, L. (2020). The Chromis programme: Exploratory research using multiple case studies. London: HM Prison & Probation Service, Ministry of Justice Analytical Series.Google Scholar
Verschuere, B., & te Kaat, L. (2019). What are the core features of psychopathy? A prototypicality analysis using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Journal of Personality Disorders, 1–10.Google Scholar
Verschuere, B., van Ghesel Grothe, S., Waldorp, L., Watts, A. L., Lilienfeld, S. O., Edens, J. F., Skeem, J. L., & Noordhof, A. (2018). What features of psychopathy might be central? A network analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in three large samples. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 127(1), 51–65. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000315CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Viding, E., & Larsson, H. (2010). Genetics of child and adolescent psychopathy. In Salekin, R. T. & Lynam, D. R. (Eds.), Handbook of Child and Adolescent Psychopathy (pp. 113–134). Guilford Press.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2019). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (11th ed.). https://icd.who.int/Google Scholar
Yang, M., Wong, S., & Coid, J. (2010). The efficacy of violence prediction: A meta-analytic comparison of nine risk assessment tools. Psychological Bulletin, 136(5), 740–767.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×