CRIMINAL BEHAVIORS Impacts, Tools and Social Networks. CRINVE 2013 II^ International Congress of the Advanced High School of Criminological Sciences

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1 BOOK OF ABSTRACTS CRIMINAL BEHAVIORS Impacts, Tools and Social Networks CRINVE 2013 II^ International Congress of the Advanced High School of Criminological Sciences Milan, ITALY MAY 2013 FDE INSTITUTE PRESS 1

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3 a cura di ANGELO PUCCIA MARINA TORRE MARZIA TOSI BOOK OF ABSTRACTS CRIMINAL BEHAVIORS Impacts, Tools and Social Networks FDE INSTITUTE PRESS MANTOVA

4 Publisher FDE Institute Press Via Sandro Pertini n Mantova Loc. Colle Aperto Italy Editing Press UP - Varigrafica Alto Lazio S.A.S. Di Massimo Adario e C. Via Amerina Nepi (VT) Copyright 2013 All rights reserved. It is prohibited the partial reproduction of text and illustrations. People interested in FDE Institute Press can consult the website: 4

5 Presentation Criminal behaviors linked to personality disorders, like psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder, are a serious problems for our modern society in terms of assessment and treatment as well as for victims safeguard. Many studies are been conducted by researchers from criminological, psychological and psychiatric fields on how to better assess and manage offenders with personality disorders. Through this congress, we hope to contribute to greater recognition of and greater understanding by both professionals and the general public of the nature and impact of criminals affected by APD or psychopathy on victims/survivors and on society in general. We envision a future in which criminal behaviors have less of a negative impact on the families, friends, co-workers, and victims of offenders as well as individuals with disordered traits of personality themselves because of the establishment of: more effective methods to help victims/survivors recover from traumatic relationships with such individuals; more effective methods to prevent or ameliorate the development of personality disorder traits already in developmental age; more effective methods to treat personality disorder features (pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, social therapy, etc.); 5

6 more effective methods in reduction of recurrence of criminal behaviors during rehabilitation and resocialization penitentiary treatments; more effective methods to detect personality disorder, in special way psychopathy, before their entrance in corporations; enlargement of the network of scientific debate and standardization of international protocols for the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of criminals and victims; specific training for Health Care and HR professionals. This congress would like to meet the best scientists of the world on matter and develop a deep discussion. President of the Congress Prof. Robert D. Hare, Ph.D. Scientific Committee School of Criminology Mantova Prof. Giuseppe Sandri Lit. Luigi Caracciolo Dr. Stefano Barlati Dr. Corrado Benatti, Ph.D Adv. Mauro Bardi, Ph.D Mr. Angelo Puccia 6

7 Welcome from the Honorary the Congress I had the good fortune of being named Honorary President of the 2nd International Congress of Criminological Sciences: "Criminal Behaviours. Impacts, Tools and Social Networks," organized by the Advanced High School of Criminological Sciences at the FDE Institute of Mantova. The Congress will bring together researchers, clinicians, mental health, criminal justice and human resources personnel, and interested members of the public, to learn about and to discuss the latest theory and research on antisociality and psychopathy and their impact on society. Besides having distinguished speakers and an excellent program, the Congress will be unique in its breadth and depth. That is, it will address recent advances in which integration of behavioural genetics, developmental psychopathology, assessment, treatment, victimology, neuroscience, and lessons from clinical practice, the corporate world, and the legal system helps us to understand and deal with antisociality and psychopathic traits in both criminal and noncriminal contexts. The goal of the organizers is not only to provide a forum for discussing these advances, but to foster interdisciplinary and international collaborative research on understanding and reducing the consequences to society of antisocial and psychopathic behaviour. On behalf of Angelo Puccia, Coordinator of the Congress, and the members of the Supervisory Committee, I 7

8 would like to invite all those with an interest in the topics and goals of the Congress to join us on May 10-12, What could be better than an important and interesting scientific meeting that also has practical implications for society, is located in the wonderful city of Milan, is accompanied by renowned Italian hospitality, food and wine, and that offers many opportunities for research and social interactions with other participants? Robert D. Hare 8

9 Editorial note Unfortunately, because not all the speakers have sent them abstract within the deadline, not all the presentations included within the program of the II^ International Congress of the Advanced High School of Criminological Sciences CRINVE 2013, are inserted in this publication. The Scientific Committee says thank to all presenters that did that in time and hopes that in future there will be the opportunity to re-edit the Book of Abstract full of all presentations and other contributions coming from the Congress Criminal Behaviors. Impacts, Tools and Social Networks of Milan. In any case at this manuscript is assigned the ISBN code , regularly registered by FDE INSTITUTE PRESS. 9

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11 FRIDAY 10 MAY 2013 CLINICAL AND FORENSIC ASSESSMENT OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIORS 11

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13 LECTIO MAGISTRALIS The construct of Psychopathy Robert D. Hare Abstract Psychopathy has been described as the most important clinical construct in the criminal justice system, with serious implications for society in general. I will provide brief descriptions of the construct, its measurement, and its profound impact on community well-being. Keywords Psychopathy, assessment, implications for society. References HARE R. D. & NEUMANN C. S. (2008). Psychopathy as a clinical and empirical construct. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 4, doi: /annurev.clinpsy HARE R. D., NEUMANN C. S., & WIDIGER T. A. (2012). Psychopathy. In T. A. Widiger (Ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Personality Disorders (pp ). New York: Oxford University Press. 13

14 PLENARY SESSION Attachment and Psichopathy Adriano Schimmenti, Vincenzo Caretti Objectives Attachment refers to the inbuilt ability of humans to form bonds of affection and love toward significant others (Bowlby, 1969/82). Attachment is a motivational system that plays a significant role in every life stages. As a newborn, the human being needs to maintain proximity with caregivers for being protected from danger and threat, thus increasing the chance of survival. Later on, the relationship with caregivers will determine wheter or not the child develop a sense of security. The sense of security helps the child exploring his or her own internal states and relating with the social world. Indeed, secure attachment helps the immature brain of children in organizing mental processes and behavioral states, through the use of social biofeedback from parents (Gergely & Watson, 1996). In adolescence and adulthood, the attachment system leads the individuals to seek a safe retreat and a secure base within close and intimate relationships; also, the attachment system combines with other motivational systems (especially the caregiving, sexual and cooperation systems) for generating romantic attachment: this is a part of the biological endowment of our species, that allows it to continue over time (Diamond & Marrone, 2003). Psychopaths lack in the ability to form and maintain strong relational bonds. This was observed in early studies on 14

15 psychopathy (e.g., Clecley, 1976; Greenwald, 1974; Henderson, 1939; McCord & McCord, 1964; Redl & Wineman, 1951), and it is reflected at least in two PCL-R (Hare, 2003) items, i.e. Item 11. Promiscuous sexual behavior and Item 17. Many short-term marital relationships. These two items can be theoretically considered as indicating lack of attachment attitudes. Several authors, mostly from the psychoanalytic tradition, have suggested that the inability of psycopaths to form strong attachment bonds derives from childhood experience of neglect, deprivation, abuse and inconsistent discipline (Akhtar, 1992; Bird, 2001; McWilliams, 2011); other authors emphasized instead that genetic and temperamental influences for instance, the callous-unemotional traits (Frick, 2002) are at the core of psychopathy. In order to explore the role of the attachment system in the development of psychopathic personality, a multi-method study combining quantitave and qualitative analyses was conducted on the PCL-R assessments used for the Italian validation of this measure (Caretti, Manzi, Schimmenti & Seragusa, 2011). Method The sample involved 139 Italian convicted offenders from prisons (75%) and forensic psychiatric facilities (25%). Quantitative analysis was performed analyzing the predictive associations between the two PCL-R lack of attachment items and the PCL-R total score (excluding these two items), factor scores (Interpersonal-Affective and Social Deviance) and facet scores. Also, logistic regression analyses was 15

16 performed to check whether the two lack of attachment items significantly predicted the classification of participants into the psychopatic (PCL-R scores of 30 or above) versus nonpsychopatic (PCL-R scores less than 30) groups. Qualitative analyses involved the selection of a subsample of 10 offenders who obtained the highest PCL-R scores in the Italian validation study of the measure; then, the PCL-R interview transcripts of this subsample were analyzed in order to select the excerpts where participants discussed attachment topics; finally, these excerpts were analyzed following two classical rules applied in adult attachment studies where semistructured interviews are used: the concordance with Grice s maxims as in the psychodynamic tradition of the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan & Main, 1985), and the analysis of behavioral attachment attitudes as in the psychosocial tradition of the Attachment Style Interview (Bifulco, Moran, Ball & Bernazzani, 2002). This allowed a more in-depth exploration of the relationship between attachment and psychopathy. Results Results of quantitative analyses showed that the sum of the two lack of attachment items significantly predicted the PCL-R total scores (34% of variance), its factors scores (14% and 15% of variance for the Interpersonal-Affective and the Social Deviance factors, respectively), and its facets scores. However, these two items show differential associations with the PCL-R scales, with both of them predicting the Antisocial facet, only item 11 (Promiscuous sexual behavior) predicting the Interpersonal-Affective factor and its related facets, and 16

17 only item 17 (Many short-terms marital relationships) predicting the Lifestyle facet. The sum of the two lack of attachment items also predicted the classification of participants into the psychopatic or non-psychopathic groups (O-R=3.00, Δr 2 =0.30), with a goodness-of-fit of 83.5%. Another logistic regression analysis showed that both the two items contributed to the prediction, with item 11 giving the strongest contribution (O-R=8.24, p<.001), while item 17 showing only a weak prediction (O-R=1.96, p<.05). Results of qualitative analyses showed that, among the ten participants who reported the highest scores in the entire sample, none of them showed a secure attachment: attachment styles and representations were always moderately to markedly insecure. Moreover, in most of the cases (7/10) there were indicators of dual or disorganized attachment i.e., transcripts showed competitive internal working models, unresolved mourning for loss, and/or unresolved abuse. When looking at childhood experience in the subsample, the majority of the participants (7/10) have also experienced multiple and severe adversities, that are considered able to threat the attachment system, including loss of a parent, living for more than a year in residential care, extreme neglect, rejection, and physical, psychological and sexual abuse from parents, witnessing violence in the household, and so on. Discussion Findings of the study show that attachment is an important variable to take into account for understanding the psychopatic personality. The PCL-R items denoting lack of attachment were indeed able to predict the PCL-R scores in 17

18 the entire sample; moreover, the investigation of attachment experiences, attitudes and representations in the subsample of severe psychopaths suggests that adverse childhood environments can play a relevant role in the development of psychopathic personality. Complexively, it is possible to assume that there are cases of psychopatic personality whose origins are rooted in the failure of attachment relationships during childhood and their negative effects on self and relationships. It is then likely that severe experiences of loss, abuses and neglect from parents can combine with temperamental traits (such as the callous-unemotional ones or the low reward dependency), deeply damaging the developing brain, the attachment system, and the possibility to feel and share affective states. Therefore, analyzing the attachment issues can result of particular importance in forensic assessment of violent behaviors (Caretti, Ciulla & Schimmenti, 2012), especially for those crimes where romantic attachment seems to be involved, as often happens with stalking behaviors (Caretti, Ciulla & Schimmenti, 2011); in these cases, it can be crucial to explore the attachment attitudes of the offender, together with his or her degree of psychopathy, in order to improve the assessment procedure, to evaluate the risk of recidivism, and to offer the best rehabilitation or treatment programs when available. Keywords Psychopathy, PCL-R, attachment, child abuse/neglect, interview, psychoanalysis, motivational systems. 18

19 References AKHTAR, S. (1992). Broken Structures: Severe Personality Disorders and their Treatment. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. BIFULCO, A. MORAN, P. M. BALL, C. BERNAZZANI, O. (2002). Adult attachment style. I:Its relationship to clinical depression. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology. 37(1), BIRD, H. R. (2001). Psychoanalytic perspectives on theories regarding the development of antisocial behavior, Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis. 29(1), BOWLBY, J. (1969/82). Attachment and Loss, Vol. 1: Attachment. New York, NY: Basic Books. CARETTI, V. CIULLA, S. SCHIMMENTI, A. (2011). Stalking: definizione del costrutto, aspetti fenomenologici, comportamenti associati [Stalking: definition of the construct, phenomenological facets, and related behaviors], Giornale Italiano di Psicopatologia / Italian Journal of Psychopathology. 17(1), CARETTI, V. CIULLA, S. SCHIMMENTI, A. (2012). La diagnosi differenziale nella valutazione della psicopatia e del comportamento violento [Differential diagnosis in the assessment of psychopathy and violent behaviors], Rivista Sperimentale di Freniatria. 136(1), CARETTI,V. MANZI, G. S. SCHIMMENTI, A. SERAGUSA, L. (2011). PCL-R. Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. Firenze, Italy: OS Giunti. CLECKLEY, H. (1976). The Mask of Sanity (V th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby. DIAMOND, N. MARRONE, M. (2003). Attachment and Intersubjectivity. London, UK: Whurr Publishers. 19

20 FRICK, P. J. (2002). Juvenile psychopathy from a developmental perspective: Implications for construct development and use in forensic assessments, Law and Human Behavior. 26(2), HARE, R. D. (2003). Hare s Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL- R) - Second Edition. Technical Manual. Toronto, ON, Canada: Multi-Health Systems. HENDERSON, D. K. (1939). Psychopathic States. New York, NY: Norton. GEORGE, C. KAPLAN, N. MAIN, M. (1985). Adult Attachment Interview. Unpublished manuscript. Berkeley, CA: Department of Psychology, University of California,. GERGELY, G. WATSON, J.S. (1996). The social biofeedback theory of parental affect-mirroring. The development of self-awareness and self-control in infancy, International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 77(6), GREENWALD, H. (1974). Treatment of the psychopath. In: H. Greenwald (ed.), Active Psychotherapy. New York, NY: Jason Aronson, MCCORD, W. MCCORD, J. (1964). The Psychopath: An Essay on the Criminal Mind. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand. MCWILLIAMS, N. (2011). Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Second Edition: Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process. New York, NY: Guilford Press. REDL, F. WINEMAN, D. (2003). Children who Hate: The Disorganization and Breakdown of Behavior Bontrols. Glencoe, IL: Free press. 20

21 Aggressive narcissism in relationship to impulsivity, hostility, and empathy in a group of forensic patients in the Netherlands Stefan Bogaerts In this lecture, we discuss high and low aggressive narcissism and the relationship with primary and secondary psychopathy. We will discuss the lack of a cut-off score in Factor 1 of the Psychopathy checklist Revised (PCL-R). This cut-off score is very interesting to distinguish between high and low aggressive narcissism. High and low aggressive narcissism differentiates between treatment characteristics such as impulsiveness, hostility and empathy. Our lecture is based on research that we have performed among 148 violent offenders. What we see is that offenders who score high on Factor 1, are less able to behave empathic against others and show more impulsive behavior compared with individuals who score low on Factor 1. High aggressive narcissists are less empathic and more impulsive than low aggressive Narcissists according to Factor 1 of the PCL-R. 21

22 Psychopathy as expressed in those who have killed police officers in the United States Anthony J. Pinizzotto Law enforcement officers are killed in the line of duty in a variety of circumstances and for various reasons. Over the last 25 years, I have interviewed over one hundred offenders who have either killed or seriously assaulted police officers. Their reasons vary from one offender to the other. Many of the excuses or reasons that offenders offer for the killing of the officer involve such explanations as I just lost control, I was afraid of being sent to prison, I really didn t mean to kill him. Psychopathic killers are much bolder in their view as to why they killed the officer: The officer deserved to die, said one psychopath. Another psychopath said, I knew he was no longer a threat, but I wanted him to die. The focus of this presentation is to describe offenders who have killed police officers in the United States. These psychopathic killers are very different from non-psychopathic killers in their thought process and behaviors before, during and after the commission of their crime. 22

23 Childhood neglect and abuse as a precondition for antisocial behaviours: the importance of indepth interview measurement Antonia Bifulco Objectives Childhood neglect, abuse and trauma are confirmed as childhood antecedents for a range of psychological disorders both internalising and externalising. This occurs through developmental biological, psychological and social pathways. However, in order to identify specific effects in research investigation and clinical practice, there is a need to measure a range of relevant experiences, their timing, severity and the context in which they occur. This is because range, severity, chronicity and co-existence of risks have differential effects and together with biological vulnerability determine the type of disorder to emerge. The presentatiton aims to outline the range of experiences that need to be considered when examining early life psychosocial causes of antisocial disorders advocating the use of indepth interview methods. Method The Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse interview (CECA) measure assesses childhood experience retrospectively in adults or adolescents and takes a narrative interview method to establish context and timing of experience together with objective markers of experience involving the behaviours of perpetrators. The measure has good reliability and validity and has been standardised internationally in a range of countries and languages including Italian. 23

24 Results Studies using CECA show some specificity of type of childhood adversity and disorder. Poor care has a surprisingly important important role compared to hostile victimisation, (for example neglect for sexual offending; antipathy and tension in the home for antisocial personality disorder, poor supervision for conduct disorder). However hostile childhood environments are also predictive (eg violence in the home and physical abuse for aggressive behaviours). Studies indicate a dose-response effect for conduct disorders and antisocial personality disorder with the greater number of adversities linked to more serious antisocial disorders. Discussion Approaches such as the CECA are needed to establish details of childhood experience among individuals with antisocial behaviour, to provide causal linkages for developing attachment, psychodynamic or lifespan social models. The CECA is a measure which is very informative in research investigation, but is also increasingly being used as an assessment tool in practice. Examples involve assessing adolescents in residential care many of whom have conduct disorder as well as in high security prisons with violent and psychopathic offenders. Other examples are in psychotherapeutic practice. Research needs to accommodate multi-methods of measurement to include those narrative and historical to achieve optimal results. Keywords: Childhood; neglect/abuse; interview methods; life history; antisocial behaviour; conduct disorder. 24

25 References BIFULCO A (2008) Risk and resilience in young Londoners. In (Eds, D. Brom, R Pat-Horenczyk & J, Ford) Treating traumatised children: Risk, resilience and recovery. Routledge BIFULCO A & MORAN P (2007) Il Bambino Maltrattato. Le radici della depressione nel trauma e nell abuso infantile. Casa Editrice Astrolabio. BIFULCO A & MORAN P. (1998) Wednesday's Child: Research into women's Experience of neglect and abuse in childhood and adult depression. London, New York: Routledge. BIFULCO A. (2006) Childhood experience and sexual offending the use of the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA) interview in forensic psychology research and practice. L evaluation diagnostique des agresseurs sexuel. (Ed Thierry Pham) Editions Mardaga, Belgium. 25

26 PAPER SESSION Session A Traumatic Memories and Mentalization Developmental trauma and conduct disorders in youths Adriano Schimmenti, Antonia Bifulco, Sergio Manzella, Vincenzo Caretti Objectives The relationship between adverse childhood experiences and the development of antisocial personalities is well estabilished (Afifi, Mather, Boman, Fleisher, Enns, Macmillan, Sareen, 2011). However, it remains rather unclear which types of adverse experience in childhood can lead to the development of conduct disorder and antisocial behaviors among adolescents and young adults. This study aimed to explore the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and conduct disorder in a community sample of adolescents and young adults 1. Method The sample consisted of 160 community-based youths (52% female; 48% males) aged between 16 and 30. They were investigated as part of a Medical Research Council-funded programme of intergenerational factors associated with 1 The research was supported by the Medical Research Council (programme grant G ). 26

27 psychiatric disorder in community mothers with psychosocial vulnerabilities and their offspring (Bifulco, Moran, Ball & Bernazzani, 2002). Two standardized interview measures were administered to the participants: (1) Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment for DSM- IV disorders (CAPA; Angold, Prendergast, Cox, Harrington, Simonoff & Rutter, 1995) was used to assess lifetime conduct disorders; (2) Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA; Bifulco, Brown & Harris, 1994) was used to assess adverse childhood experiences. Results More than one in ten participants (n=19, 11.9%) received a diagnosis of conduct disorder in their life. Lifetime conduct disorders resulted in association with a number of childhood adversities, including sexual abuse (p<.001), physical abuse (p<.01), rejection from parents (p<.05), violence between parents (p<.001), and loss of parents (p<.05). Conduct disorders were also associated with father diagnosed as suffering from antisocial disorder personality (p<.05) and with low supervision from parents (p<.05). Discussion Findings of this study show that conduct disorder is associated with several childhood adversities, most of them related to the attachment bonds. Affective neuroscience can help elucidating the developmental process of the neglected and abused child that lead to antisocial behaviors: brain imaging studies are indeed providing evidence of structural 27

28 brain differences associated with early adversity (e.g. in hippocampus, amygdala, medial portion of the corpus callosum, medial prefrontal cortex, and so on). Also, functional differences have been reported in response to child abuse and neglect in brain regions implicated in emotional and behavioral regulation, including amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex: it was observed an hyper-excitability of limbic structures, a reduced inhibitory action of the medial prefrontal areas, an abnormal fronto-temporal activity and a hypoactivation of the cerebellar vermis (McCrory, De Brito & Vidin, 2010). Such differences at the neurobiological level may represent adaptations to childhood experiences of heightened stress that lead to an increased risk of psychopathology. The structural and functional alterations associated with child abuse and neglect in turn can explain the onset and maintainance of specific psychopathological phenotypes, including impulse control disorders and antisocial personality disorder (Teicher, Andersen, Polcari, Anderson, Navalta, Kim, 2003). Keywords: Child abuse/neglect, conduct disorder, antisocial personality, affective neuroscience, developmental psychopathology. References AFIFI, T. O. MATHER, A. BOMAN, J. FLEISHER, W. ENNS, M. W. MACMILLAN, H SAREEN, J. (2001). Childhood adversity and personality disorders: results from a nationally representative population-based study, Journal of Psychiatric Research. 45(6),

29 ANGOLD, A. PRENDERGAST, M. COX, A. HARRINGTON, R. SIMONOFF, E. RUTTER, M. (1995). The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA), Psychological Medicine. 25(4), BIFULCO, A. BROWN, G. W. HARRIS, T. O. (1994). Childhood experience of care and abuse (CECA): A retrospective interview measure, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 35(8), BIFULCO, A. MORAN, P. M. BALL, C. BERNAZZANI, O. (2002). Adult attachment style. I:Its relationship to clinical depression, Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology. 37(1), MCCRORY, E. DE BRITO, S. A. VIDING, E. (2010). Research review: the neurobiology and genetics of maltreatment and adversity, Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry. 51(10), TEICHER, M. H. ANDERSEN, S. L. POLCARI, A. ANDERSON, C. M. NAVALTA, C. P. KIM, D. M. (2003). The neurobiological consequences of early stress and childhood maltreatment, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 27(1 2),

30 Psychological trauma and traumatic emotions Giuseppe Craparo The failure of the attachment relationship, meant as an emotional relationship, can become an evolutionary factor of vulnerability of the Self because the individual is not capable of making emotions his\her guide for the body, the objects of the mind and the interpersonal relationships. Emotional contents which are non-symbolized and non-mentalized within an insecure, emotionally neglectful, primary attachment relationship (Fonagy, Target, 2002) will be experienced only on a pre-reflective mental level. On the basis of our clinical experiences we can suppose that these emotions, which can be defined traumatic emotions (Craparo, Schimmenti, 2008), are implicated in different psychopathologies. We list below the characteristics of traumatic emotions, which are distinguished by their nature: a) not-symbolic, for they lack a corporeal representation which may define them; b) physiological motor, for in the absence of reflective processes, their activations abruptly produce stereotypical, rigid and usually out-of-control reactions; c) painful, due to their failure in identification and modulation which produce an increase of the perceived intensity partly resulting from an unbearable hyperarousal; d) disorganization, because they activate mechanisms of disconnection among Self states as a response to stressful conditions experienced by the individual as a source of threat to his\her own identity. 30

31 References CRAPARO, G., and SCHIMMENTI, A. (2008). La disregolazione affettiva in adolescenza: studi esplorativi sul ruolo del trauma e della dissociazione. In A.A.V.V. (Eds.) Nuove frontiere della ricerca clinica in adolescenza. Nuove frontiere della ricerca clinica in adolescenza. Roma: Il pensiero scientifico. FONAGY, P., and TARGET, M. (2002). Early intervention and the development of self regulation. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 22,

32 Thinking about thinking... about killing : Mentalization issues in Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy. Andrea Fossati, Antonella Somma. Objectives The present study aims at showing the state-of-the art of the available scientific evidence on mentalization issues in Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy. Method Qualitative review of the published literature based on PsychInfo and Scopus electronic databases. Results As a whole a dearth of studies on the relationship between problems in mentalization, and ASPD and Psychopathy, respectively was observed. Notwithstanding this limitation, ASPD individuals seem to show a partial, but fundamental impairment of mentalizing, the so-called mindreading without empathizing (Baron-Cohen 2005; McGauley, Yakeley, Williams, & Bateman, 2011). Mentalization-based treatment seems to be effective in treating inmates with ASPD (McGauley et al.., 2011). ASPDs can detect and understand faux pas, but show an indifference to the impact of faux pas. On the face/eye task non-psychopathic ASPDs showed impairments in the recognition of basic emotions compared with controls and psychopathic ASPDs. For complex emotions, no significant group differences were detected largely due to task difficulty (Dolan & Fullam, 2004). In psychopathy, there seems to be no impairment in cognitive empathy; indeed, diagnosed patients 32