Posted by forthfore on April 17, 2000, at 21:17:37
In reply to Sociopathy - a mental illness?, posted by boB on April 16, 2000, at 21:30:37
There's a difference between mental illness and incompetence - which is the legal consideration with mental illness. That is you can be mentally ill by anyone's standards yet still legally competent - perfectly responsible for your actions.
What you're calling sociopathy is now defined by the DSM as "antisocial personality disorder." Legally, having the disorder is not going to get anyone classified as incompetent. But it is a a "mental illness" (or disorder anyway) as far as the APA is concerned.
On the other hand, I'm hard put to think of a human characteristic that isn't a disorder as far as the APA is concerned.
> No. Sociopathy is not a mental illness, at least as considered under McNaughten (sp) test for mental illness used in most courts.
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> I am not sure about DSM-IV - I did not think it classified sociopathy as a mental illness, but I am working way beyond my informed recollection with that guess. I think sociopathy is more like a personality trait than a classified illness. My general recollection of my readings is that sociopathy is basicly badness, in the eyes of a court. Mental illness, to a court, is the inability to perceive or anticipate the consequences of ones actions, and a lack of moral judgement. Sociopathy is the choice to make the wrong moral decision. At least this is my paraphrase of what I recall about this.
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> Regardless the definition, I consider it important to realize that the nomenclature was created for the convienience of the legal or medical institions that use it. You personal understanding of sociopathy as a mental illness likely reflects sound judgement and understanding beyond the published definitions.
poster:forthfore
thread:30106
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000411/msgs/30401.html