ELECTRO-ENCEPHALOGRAPHIC STUDIES OF PSYCHOPATHIC PERSONALITIES.

Abstract

AN abnormal personality is one which deviates from its appropriate personality norm. Psychopathic personalities constitute a sub-group of abnormalpersonalities. Schneider (quoted by Kahn, 1931) has defined psychopathic personalities as those abnormal personalities who suffer from their abnormality or from whose abnormality society suffers. This definition points to a cleavage within the group which is apparent in many classifications, and which is the basis of the division into the bipolar types, inadequate and aggressive, adopted in this paper. A certain amplification is necessary. Psychopathic personalities do not include certifiable mental defectives, psychotics, neurotics, or those whose behaviour disorder is due to demonstrable physical disease. Henderson (1939) classifies psychopaths into three broad groups, predominantly aggressive, inadequate, and creative. The aggressive group is subdivided into those who injure others, those who attempt self-injury, alcoholic and drug addicts, the epileptoid, and the sex variants. The inadequate group embraces a wide variety of types which have in common ineffectual behaviour. The creative group was formulated to bring together the brilliant but unstable eccentrics. In this paper Henderson's classification is adopted with three modifications. The group of creative psychopaths is not used, as no clinical material of this kind has been investigated. The aggressives have not been subdivided into smaller groups. The sexual perverts have been divided between the aggressive and inadequate groups, but have also been brought together separately for comparison. This simplified method of classification is used, first because this investigation is largely concerned with the aggressive component of behaviour, second because of lack of time for making elaborate and detailed personality studies. In the Predominantly Aggressive group have been included those psychopathic personalities with a history of either determined suicidal attempts, violence to others regardless of the consequences, repeated destruction of property, or combinations of such kinds of aggressive and impulsive behaviour. These are the patients who describe from early years uncontrollable outbursts of temper, which have almost invariably got them into trouble, either with their * Read before the Psychiatric Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, March 11, 1942. 47 by coright.