Psychopathology as a Mediator of Antisocial and Criminal Behavior

Abstract Our thoughts and emotions collude with physical reality to produce our motivation and, ultimately, our behaviors. When our thoughts and emotions are disordered and in some manner disconcordant to those of our social space, our resulting behaviors run the risk of being antisocial. The way in which cognitive and affective pathologies either deviate and/or motivate behavior is both complex and heterogeneous, and given that mental pathology involves presentation that is influenced by any combination of episodic, degenerative, and environmentally dependant factors, they are also likely to be evanescent. In some cases, the antisocial behaviors associated with psychopathology cross the line from being merely deviant into the realm of the criminal. Given the broader context of this publication, and if we assume that many psychopathologies manifest in substantial antisocial behavior, whether expressive or avoidant; it is perhaps more appropriate to focus our conversation on those that are more criminally oriented. This is the world of forensic psychopathology. Forensic psychology, the discipline associated with criminally oriented psychopathology, is not so much concerned with labeling specific psychological syndromes as associated with criminology—notwithstanding those that are specifically identified as syndromes due to their forensic orientation (e.g., psychopathy, paedophilia, etc.)—but rather is more focused on the pathological expression of individual psychological mechanisms such as thoughts, emotions, and motivations that may ultimately drive someone to engage in criminal behavior. This chapter discusses some of the most common psychopathologies that are associated with antisocial behaviors that place the individual at potentially higher risk for criminality. These conditions' characteristics and their associated mechanisms will be explored with a focus on the syndromes, symptoms, and behavioral consequences that are primarily associated with interpersonal antisocial behaviors and person-to-person enacted criminality.