Bruce Elliot Case Study

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Through the Looking Glass: An Observation of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) Via Biology and Psychoanalysis
According to Abnormal Psychology: Clinical Perspectives on Psychological Disorders, “Antisocial Personality Disorder is disturbingly common, with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 4.5 percent of the adult males and .8 percent of the adult females of the United States,” (Bowman, 2007, p. 314). However, despite its prevalence, ASPD continues to be somewhat of a confusing subject. This paper aims to dispel the confusion via interview, and two perspectives: biological and psychoanalytic.
Developmental History
Bruce Elliot was born on January 9th in Salt Lake City, Utah. He had a mother who was consistently abused by his stepfather
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The recent study confirmed that severity of overall childhood maltreatment was linked to severity of both psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder in adulthood. Moreover, this relationship was particularly strong for physical abuse and the antisocial facet of psychopathy (Dargis et al, 2016). For the sake of further clarifying the distinction between a psychopath and an individual with ASPD with regards to the previously mentioned studies, the differences between the two, according to Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths go to Work, are “APD is similar to sociopathy. The difference between psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder is that the former includes personality traits such as lack of empathy, grandiosity, and shallow emotion that are not necessary for a diagnosis of APD,” (Babiak and Hare, …show more content…
Furthermore, because of the tumors that developed in the frontal lobe of the brain, and their removal, the missing portion of the frontal lobe may contribute to Bruce’s executive dysfunction. This may have also developed via abuse regardless of tumor removal. This in turn would affect his impulsivity. Because of the low effortful control and executive function, Bruce has a negative affect, which is associated with multiple negative feelings like anger and

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