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image/svg+xml Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao Closed Access logo, derived from PLoS Open Access logo. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao The American Journal...arrow_drop_down
image/svg+xml Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao Closed Access logo, derived from PLoS Open Access logo. This version with transparent background. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Closed_Access_logo_transparent.svg Jakob Voss, based on art designer at PLoS, modified by Wikipedia users Nina and Beao
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis
Article . 1979 . Peer-reviewed
License: Springer TDM
Data sources: Crossref
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The antisocial character

Authors: L R, Hott;

The antisocial character

Abstract

In the early 1950s, I interviewed a 20-year-old man on the prison ward at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital who had planned, conspired, and helped commit a double murder with ruthless disregard for the consequences of his actionsJ In a very businesslike way he had persuaded a companion, a schizophrenic who was an only son of two physicians, to poison them by having them both drink champagne, which the instigator had filled with arsenic, on the parents' wedding anniversary night at a "celebration" by this foursome. The police listed their deaths as a double suicide for more than a year. Meanwhile, a life insurance policy of $150,000 was shared by the two youths. The reason for their eventual arrest was my patient's need to impress his girlfriend by constantly boasting of his role in killing his friend's parents; she eventually informed the police about the crime. As a result, both young men were placed on the prison ward for examination and observation. The couple's son was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and my patient as a "psychopathic personality." During my psychiatric interviews with him, he neither showed consciously remorse, guilt, shame, nor anxiety, nor did he admit feeling any of these emotions. He admitted readily to his part in the murder, which he said was, to him, an experience similar to Oscar Wilde's "In Search of a New Experience." He did not have any remorse about his actions, except for the regret he felt about being apprehended and imprisoned. He admitted seeing nothing wrong with murder, stealing, or any other immoral or amoral actions, provided he or anyone else could "get away with it." He showed no psychotic illness or symptoms. I demonstrated that his unconscious, idealized image of perfectionistic behavior, with its unrelenting "shoulds" of absolute moralistic standards and unconscious guilt and anxiety, was so burdensome to him that he felt that the only way to relieve himself of this powerful pressure was to externalize his problems and overthrow in one fell swoop all of these social pressures, by

Related Organizations
Keywords

Aggression, Norepinephrine, Serotonin, Child Rearing, Compulsive Behavior, Humans, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Morals

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
6
Average
Average
Average
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