I read an interesting article named “Corrupt Society” published in the KnowHow page of The Telegraph dated January 29, 2007. It was written by Dr. Gita Mathai, a pediatrician at the family practice at Vellore. I appreciate the article as it is very analytical and informative. Being a medical transcriptionist, we hear a variety of diseases of the American patients and I feel that those who suffer from this disorder are dangerous to society. She points out the murderers Mohinder Singh Pandher and Surendra are suffering from the Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). The statistics say the deadly disease is common in about 3% male and 1% female population. Chronic criminals suffer 30 to 80%.
A person of ASPD is CORRUPT. The ASPD patients exhibit the following traits. They are as follows:
C – Cannot follow the law.
O – Obligations ignored.
R – Remourselessness.
R – Recklessness.
U – Underhandedness.
P – Planning deficit.
T – Temper.
Unfortunately there are no specific tests to identify this disorder. Only after 18 the diagnosis is made if three of the above-mentioned symptoms are seen at the age of 15 years.
The diagnosis is based on the following points:
- Clinical interviews.
- Self-rating personality surveys.
- Rating from co-workers and family.
Color brain scan is a technique in which the varying emotions light up the different areas of brain. They showed emotional blunting when they are shown faces of happy and neutral faces. The ASPD patients did not get frightened when they are shown frightening photographs. The ASPD patients are unable to process emotional signals. The horrifying fact is that they feel no sympathy or empathy and proceed with horrifying acts of cruelty and violence.
ASPD can be prevented to some extent in the following ways:
- With nurturing during the first five years of life, from caring individuals if the parents are unavailable.
- Satisfactory parenting with consistent reasonable and logical discipline, which is not harsh and arbitray.
- Starting psychiatric counseling in childhood if pyromancy or cruelty to animals is noticed.
- Watching for signs of drug addiction or crime in teens.
- Not arranging a marriage for an alcoholic or drug addict in the hope that matrimony and family responsibility will provide a miraculous cure.
My Comment: I briefly discussed the contents of the article above and this article tells the medical reason for the Nithari killings. It shows that a disorder can cause havoc to human society. It can ruin the life of many if not detected and cured at the early stage. So I would advise the parents to be vigilant on their children’s activities. The criminals of the antisocial personality disorder should not be released on bail as they will commit more crimes. They should be electrocuted or given death sentence. The punishment I am suggesting seems harsh to my readers but there is no substitute of that in case of a hard core criminal.
