BACKGROUND Antisocial personality disorder is usually preceded by serious and persistent conduct problems starting in early childhood, and so there is little difficulty in identifying an at-risk group. AIMS To address six key areas concerning the relationship between early conduct problems and antisocial personality disorder. METHOD Review of recent research into early identification of and...

BACKGROUND Commission of crime and hostility and their forensic consequences in a patient with schizophrenia can worsen the patient's condition and disturb his family, society, and even the psychiatrist. Based on previous research, patients with schizophrenia are at a higher risk for crime. It is not clear whether this is due to the nature of schizophrenia, comorbidity of antisocial personality...

This commentary seeks to extend the recent article by Sreenivasan et al, which supports the contention that case law history allows for the commitment of a sexually violent predator/sexually dangerous person (SVP/SDP) based on a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder and absent a paraphilic condition. We argue that a clear sexual disorder must be present before a person can be found to be...

BACKGROUND Impulsive aggression in adulthood is associated with disturbances in serotonergic function. In contrast, research examining this association in childhood has yielded inconsistent results. AIMS The current study examined the prospective relationship between serotonergic function measured in childhood and the later emergence of antisocial personality disorder. METHOD Hormonal respo...

BACKGROUND suggested that the genetic variation at ADH1B and ALDH2 influences the risk of alcoholism. The ADH1B*2 and ALDH2*2 alleles had been thought to be protective against alcoholism. Recent studies have suggested that either physiological tolerance of blood acetaldehyde, or innate insensitivity to it, or both may play a crucial role in keeping alcoholism from developing by protecting again...