Diagnosis of the psychopathic personality disorder and its relationship with the law

The term psychopathic personality disorder is often used as a wastebasket category for patients who do not fit into other psychiatric categories. Many times a person is labeled as having psychopathic or antisocial personality disorder when he or she runs afoul of the law. The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R) (1987) sets forth the guidelines used for classifying a person as having a personality disorder. Many problems, such as overlapping of categories, arise as a result of using the APA guidelines. It is the purpose of this paper to examine some of the problems involved in diagnosing personality disorders, particularly the antisocial personality disorder. This paper will then offer an alternative method for dealing with sociopaths within the realm of the criminal justice system. Based on the work of Ellsworth A. Fersch, this method involves both a rethinking and a restructuring of the current system.