Antisocial personality disorder is defined as a pervasive pattern of disrespect for and infringement of the rights of others that starts at infancy or early puberty and goes on to maturity. The condition is characterized by trickery and exploitation. For the concept to be applied to an individual, he or she must be above the age of 18, and must have shown some signs of delinquency at childhood. The disorder is only detected when the actions turn out to be unrelenting and very disabling or upsetting.
Some features are associated with the condition, including inability of an individual to conform to societal standards as regards to legitimate actions. This would mean that an individual continuously repeats actions that warrant arrest (Segrin, 2001). Furthermore, an individual engages in trickery, characterized by repeated lying, application of aliases and defrauding others in order to benefit illegally.
An antisocial person lacks tenacity meaning that he or she is impulsive and fails to plan for future events. Again, the disorder is characterized by irritability and disrespect for the wellness of others. Such individuals have a problem when it comes to playing societal roles and obligations.
Researchers indicate that individuals with this disorder tend to die before they realize their goals in life. Things such as suicide due to anormie, accidents and homicide mostly cause their deaths. The condition is closely associated with problems such as persistent unemployment, ineffective education, unsuccessful marriages, negligent parenthood, homelessness and recurrent imprisonment.
This essay aims at comparing the differences between the consequences of the condition to an individual and to a relationship. It is established that the condition affects relationships as well as personalities in society.
Though antisocial behavior is not a crime, it is closely associated with criminal behaviors such as drug addiction, domestic violence, rape, murder, aggravated assault and larceny. This affects both an individual and relationships in various ways. It affects an individual in that it deprives him or her of his belongings or life. When an individual is forced to engage in sex, that is, forcible rape, it causes psychological trauma.
A victim of antisocial behavior is frequently disturbed in society even though the offender might be punished. It leaves a permanent scar to an individual’s life meaning that an individual is forced to live with it for life. On the other hand, relationships are affected differently. Family Members of the victims and offenders are affected equally. The victim’s family members are affected since one of their own is affected. It may destabilize relations in case the offence was related to rape.
Partners are always unwilling to engage in relationships with victims of rape due to disease prevalence. In this case, antisocial behavior may cause family breakups or long separation, which affects the living standards of individuals. In case of murder, antisocial behavior breads violence.
One family may perhaps try to revenge for their lost relative, which brings about complications in relationships and societal wellbeing. In this case, individuals are not always involved in conflicts in case affected by the disorder (Welsh, Farrington, & Sherman, 2001).
Antisocial behavior affects an individual because it may cause depression and anxiety. It may as well cause continued aggression meaning that relationships are affected too. Depression affects an individual because it denies him an opportunity to participate actively in societal roles. Depressed individuals tend to be incompetent mainly because of hopelessness. This comes about because of neglect. Members of society tend to keep distance from an antisocial individual.
The individual may turn against members of society in an attempt to revenge. In relationships, partners are affected because antisocial persons exercise repressive rules that might not be met by members of the family. For instance, a drug addict may turn out to be violent because of drug intake.
An individual under elicit of a drug seems to be more dangerous. Such an individual may go to extreme heights of injuring members of the family or relatives. This may come about in form of defilement, sexual violence, domestic violence and other forms of injustices witnessed in families. The condition destabilizes family members meaning that breakups are inevitable.
Antisocial behavior affects a relationship more economically as compared to an individual. Family members are forced to solicit funds for curing the patient in order to avert the condition. Marriage partners are left with nothing because they might be forced to spend everything in treating the affected.
Finances play an important role in families. Inadequate finances may affect normal living in a family. Funds meant for food and other basic needs are converted to treat or take care of an affected individual. The condition is worse if it involves court processes. Members of families might be forced to compensate for actions of antisocial behavior caused by one of their own. In case of murder, the court might set free the offender on grounds of insanity but the victim’s family might demand for compensation.
This happens when the deceased or affected was taking care of certain issues in life. The family is therefore forced to dig deeper into their pockets in order to maintain its role of care giving and support. Conversely, individuals are simply affected socially. Social effects are easy to cure or solve as compared to financial effects, which seem to be permanent and long lasting. It is therefore observed that antisocial behavior is more cost full to the family and relatives as opposed to individuals (Madriz, 1997).
To an individual, the cost of antisocial behavior is long term. In relationships, the condition lasts for a short period as solutions are sought through all means. Individuals are affected because antisocial behavior can affect their health, income and quality of life in relation to social status and prestige. Most of the costs of antisocial behavior to an individual are intangible. This means that they cannot be easily quantifiable.
This implies that antisocial behavior can change an individual’s culture forever. An individual might be forced to undergo pain, suffering and to an extreme end, low quality of life. This does not occur to friends and relatives. An individual may fear to associate with other people due to his or her perceived character.
Apart from disruption of family life, relatives and friends are not much affected. Drug abuse for instance has a profound consequence to an individual’s productivity. To relationships, family members spend their time in hearing cases related to crime. Their own productivity is not affected as such (Beckett, 1997).
It can be concluded that antisocial behavior affects both an individual and relationships. An individual is affected more because he or she might be forced to engage in extreme actions. Families or relatives pay for the actions of the offender, which is mainly in form of money. Overall, antisocial behavior lowers the quality of life of individuals and relatives in society.
References
Beckett, K. (1997). Making Crime Pay: Law and Order in Contemporary American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Madriz, E. (1997). Nothing Bad Happens to Good Girls: Fear of Crime in Women’s Lives. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Segrin, C. (2001). Interpersonal Processes in Psychological Problems (1st ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Welsh, C., Farrington, D., & Sherman, W. (2001). Costs and Benefits of Preventing Crime. Boulder, CO: West view Press.