‘Schizoid’ personality and antisocial conduct: a retrospective case note study

Abstract

SynopsisA retrospective case note analysis for 30 boys diagnosed as having a ‘schizoid’ personality disorder (Asperger's syndrome) in childhood, and for 30 matched clinic attenders (with systematic follow-up data for 19 matched pairs), showed the incidence of antisocial conduct to be the same in the two groups. However, the ‘schizoid’ boys stole less often and had fewer alcohol problems. In this group antisocial conduct was less related to family disruption and social disadvantage, and more to an unusual fantasy life. Clinical descriptions of a series of ‘schizoid’ boys and girls with conspicuous antisocial conduct follow. They suggest that characteristic patterns of antisocial conduct in such children are persistent expressions of hostility and, especially in girls, pathological lying, for which environmental circumstances provide no explanation.

DSM‐III diagnosis in criminal psychopaths: a way forward

“…Among the subjects without a diagnosis of ASPD or BPD was a group of individuals with schizoid personality disorder. These subjects corresponded to descriptions of schizoid children (Wolff & Chick, 1980) or Asperger's Syndrome (Wing, 1981), and their criminal behaviour had typically developed from a bizarre inner fantasy life for which environmental circumstances gave little explanation (see Wolff & Cull, 1986). For example, one woman from a middle-class background, with an early history of developmental delay, solitariness, and clumsiness, had for several years fantasised about killing.…”

Parent, Teacher, and Self-Report of Problem and Adaptive Behaviors in Children and Adolescents with Asperger Syndrome

“…Other research has associated Asperger Syndrome with a variety of psychiatric disturbances including anorexia nervosa (Gillberg, Gillberg, Rastam, & Johansson, 1996;Gillberg & Rastam, 1992); anxiety (BaronCohen, 1988;Ryan, 1992;Szatmari, 1991;Szatmari, Bartolucci, et al, 1989;Tonge, Brereton, Gray, & Einfeld, 1999;Tsai & Scott-Miller, 1988;Wing, 1981;Wolff & Chick, 1980); attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Ghaziuddin et al, 1998); borderline personality disorder (Pelletier, 1998); depression (Ghaziuddin et al, 1998;Gillberg, 1985;Nordin & Gillberg, 1998;Szatmari, 1991;Taiminen, 1994;Tantam, 1991;Wing, 1981;Wolff & Chick, 1980); hypersomnia (Berthier et al, 1992); hypomania (Berthier, 1995); mood disorder (Gillberg, 1985); obsessive compulsive disorder (Ghaziuddin et al, 1993;Ghaziuddin et al, 1998); schizoid personality (Cull, Chick, & Wolff, 1984;Wolff & Barlow, 1979;Wolff & Cull, 1986); and Tourette's Syndrome (Ghaziuddin et al, 1998). Tantam (1991) reported that clinical experience confirmed there is a greater risk for depression, with up to 15% of adults with Asperger Syndrome having had a period of depression.…”

Life History of Aggression scores are predicted by childhood hyperactivity, conduct disorder, adult substance abuse, and low cooperativeness in adult psychiatric patients

“…A broader range of childhood-onset cognitive and social disorders, such as the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and learning disorders (LDs), have also been implicated in the background to aggressive behaviours across all ages in case reports (Mawson et al, 1985;Wolff and Cull, 1986;Baron-Cohen, 1988;Kohn et al, 1998;Kristiansson and Sörman, 2008), in clinical surveys of correctional/forensic groups (Dalteg and Levander, 1989;Scragg and Shah, 1994;Rasmussen et al, 2001;Siponmaa et al, 2001;Kroll et al, 2002;Soderstrom et al, 2004), and in epidemiological research (Farrington, 1987;Hodgins, 1992;Rasmussen and Gillberg, 2000;Moffitt and Caspi, 2001). …”