Advances in forensic psychology research: Cognitive-emotions-behavioral correlates and antisociality
Chair: Thierry H Pham (UMons) Forensic psychology includes a large set of different topics involving both clinical and community populations. This symposium will present recent and ongoing research from a collaborative network in Belgium and abroad. The first paper focuses on a specific deficit of social cognition: The impaired self-other distinction among forensic patients with antisocial personality disorder in comparison to community participants. The second paper addresses The traumatic experience and its impact on autobiographical memory recall among forensic patients with antisocial personality disorder. The third paper focuses on the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and its implications for the medico-legal system in terms of risk prevention and treatment. The fourth paper develops the notions of Sexual Addiction and Hypersexuality and their overlaps with the concept of psychopathy in general population. Overall, the symposium outlines important implications of these topics for diagnosis evaluation, risk management and therapeutic intervention for persons presenting these different symptomatologies.
Mistaking my views for his: Impaired self-other distinction in antisocial personality disorder Henryk Bukowksi (UCLouvain) Deficits of social cognition are regularly but inconsistently reported among individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). Because of the multifaceted nature of social cognition, deficits might be only observed when assessing specific facets of social cognition and under sufficiently demanding conditions. We examined 21 forensic inpatients with ASPD and 19 participants from the community via a visual perspective-taking paradigm allowing to tease apart self-other priority (i.e., how self-focused one is) from self-other distinction performance (i.e., how much one confuses his with others’ mental states). The ASPD group made significantly more errors at handling conflicting self-other viewpoints by enforcing self-other distinction (19%) than the control group (4%), but the ASPD group was not significantly more self-focused. In contrast, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index self-report scale did not differentiate the two groups. Hence, examining performance on self-other distinction, a key facet lying at the core of the attachment-based model of mentalizing (Fonagy & Luyten, 2009), allowed us to pinpoint a clear socio-cognitive deficit in ASPD and advocates for psychometric approaches that embrace the multifaceted nature of social cognition and the need for objective measures with sufficient sensitivity.
The traumatic experience of people with antisocial personality disorder: What impact on autobiographical memory recall? Fanny Degouis (UMons) People with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) have difficulties in managing and producing emotional content compared to the community people. Several studies have shown that people who have been exposed to a traumatic event in childhood are also affected in their management of emotions. People with ASPD have experienced a significant number of early complex or cumulative events. Exposure to traumatic events at key points in development can impact identity construction and therefore potentially lead to a pathological developmental trajectory such as a personality disorder. The way in which these traumatic events are integrated in autobiographical memory and at the level the self-conceptual is decisive in identity construction. The objective of the current study is to identify among people with ASPD, which variables (mainly traumatic events exposure or dissociation processes) may explain identity disturbance by using the recall of autobiographical memories. We expect strong positive predictions between history of cumulative interpersonal traumatic experiences and dissociation, and some specific properties of autobiographical memories such as the recall of non-specific, non-integrated, thematically threatening life events memories. The study provides refined indicators by considering traumatic experiences subtypes according to their severity and number but also defines the specific role of dissociation.
ADHD and medico-legal aspects: Screening and prevention for recidivism Charlotte Reguidière (UMons) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder causing cognitive and psychopathological difficulties. In recent decades, literature has shown compared with published general population prevalence, a fivefold increase in prevalence of ADHD in youth prison populations and a 10-fold increase in adult prison populations (Young et al., 2015). ADHD offenders come into contact with the justice system earlier and at a higher prevalence than the general population, even when treated with medication (Silva et al., 2014). Furthermore, evidence suggests that ADHD symptoms are important in predicting institutional behavioral problems once incarcerated (Young et al., 2011). The risk of reoffending is also higher. Indeed ADHD appears to have an incremental predictive power for criminal recidivism (Philipp-Wiegmann et al., 2018). In this research project we will focus on 3 steps to better address the care of inmates with ADHD. (1) screening by making specific screening tools available to this population, (2) improving understanding of the direct and indirect interactions between ADHD and comorbidities, and (3) tailoring treatment according to the 3 principles of the Risk-Need-Responsibility model.
Sexual addiction/hypersexuality in general population: Epidemiological data, conceptual overlapping, and association with subclinical psychopathic traits Emilie Telle (UMons) Sexual Addiction/Hypersexuality (SA/H) is a long-studied concept involving a lack of terminological and diagnostic consensus (Grubbs et al., 2020), explaining its absence among international nosographies. This umbrella concept refers to compulsive, impulsive, or addictive components characterized by excessive sexual thoughts, behaviors, or fantasies (e.g., excessive masturbation, pornography use.; Karila et al., 2014). Furthermore, these sexual components may involve antisocial behavior (e.g. fetichism, exhibitionism), whose subclinical components are often non-investigated in the literature. Consequently, epidemiological studies on the topic of SA/H are rare, with estimations approximating 10% among community samples (Dickenson et al., 2018). In a Belgian non-clinical sample of 444 participants (84.50% women; MeanAge = 29.00; SD = 10.59), the current paper investigates SA (SAST-fr), H (HBI), and Psychopathic Subclinical Traits (PST; SPR-4), using an online survey. Main descriptive results highlight low rates of SA/H (SA: 0.9%; mild SA: 6.30%; H: 3.60%). Males exhibit significantly higher scores than females for H and PST, but not for SA. Cross-section age comparisons (5-year range) highlights a significant decrease in H and antisocial traits (facet 4; SRP-4). Finally, analyses identified a wide range of positive and significant correlations between difficulties in self-regulating fantasies, impulses, and behaviors (H) and SA (total score) (ρ = .63), and between SA/H (total scores) and impulsivity and sensation-seeking (facet 3, SRP-4; ρ = .36 to .42). Further analyses will be conducted with linear regression models. The overall will be discussed in light of the international literature.