Main description:

This book explains the ethical and conceptual tensions in the use of psychopathy in different countries, including America, Canada, the UK, Croatia, Australia, and New Zealand. It offers an extensive critical analysis of how psychopathy functions within institutional and social contexts.

Inside, readers will find innovative interdisciplinary analysis, written by leading international experts. The chapters explore how different countries have used this diagnosis. A central concern is whether psychopathy is a mental disorder, and this has a bearing upon whether it should be used.

The book's case studies will help readers understand the problems associated with psychopathy. Academics and students working in the philosophy of psychiatry, bioethics, and moral psychology will find it a valuable resource. In addition, it will also appeal to mental health professionals working in forensic settings, psychologists with an interest in the ethical implications of the use of psychopathy as a construct and particularly those with a research interest in it.

Contents:

Introduction to the volume Part I - Diagnosing psychopathy. Practices, case studies, and practical concernsChapter One: Introductory chapterChapter Two: What it means to be diagnosed as a psychopathChapter Three: The uses of the construct of psychopathy in the USA (indicative title)Chapter Four: The uses of the construct of psychopathy in UK (indicative title)This chapter will discuss the uses and utility of psychopathy as a construct for policy and clinical practices within the UK context. He will outline and analyse the use of psychopathy in British and commonwealth jurisdictions, with an emphasis upon cases where it has been raised as a mitigating factor for the death sentence.Chapter Five: Antisocial personality disorders and preventive sentencing in New Zealand Chapter Six: The use of the notion of psychopathy within the legal and treatment practice in Croatia Part II - The plausibility of the construct and the validity of psychopathy: psychometric and philosophical issues Chapter Seven - Introductory chapterChapter Eight - Psychopathy as a scientific kind: Epistemic usefulness, metaphysical underpinnings, and kind construction Chapter Nine - Capturing the complexity of psychopathic personality disorder: Recent developments in the assessment of the disorder Chapter Ten - The state of the art of neuropsychological studies of psychopathyChapter Eleven - Psychopathy: Neuro-hype and its consequences ReferencesChapter Twelve - Psychopathy and the issue of existence
Part III - Is psychopathy a mental illness?Chapter Thirteen - The illness status of psychopathy: between biological functions and norms Chapter Fourteen - The medicalisation of psychopathyChapter Fifteen - Sameness in darkness: Gender and psychopathyChapter Sixteen - Psychopathy and societal valuesChapter Seventeen - Psychopathy and public valuesConclusion of the volume