Psychopathology and Criminality Individual Project #3

Personality Disorders

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The mental state of the sniper can only be described to be one where he suffers from mild depression. He is depressed as a result of the three deaths that have come about as a result of his direct action and therefore feels remorseful for the deaths. However, his depression can be categorized as mild depression because it does not severely impact his daily life. This we observe since the only time he expresses his sadness over the deaths is when he was inebriated; otherwise, he acted completely normal, apart from the breach of protocol when handling the suspect in his latest incident. His mood and attitude were mainly with-drawn and centered on solitude and non association. His thought content could be said to be mainly concerned with the deaths of the criminal suspects and how he was to directly blame for this. Missing an In-Text Citation

Although these thoughts impacted his perception towards the carrying out of his role as a sniper, his judgment seemed to have taken a slight humanistic turn as he preferred tackling the offender personally that shooting him from a distance. However, this was not the sort of judgment he would be expected to make while on the job, noting that his work description required him to take a different course of action. His mild depression, therefore, manifests itself within him by causing him to lose motivation for the things, or aspects of his job, that are necessary for him to carry out his work appropriately. From this, we can infer that his mental state took a toll on his physical appearance as well, since he was not as motivated to perform his usual tasks as he normally would be.

The first personality disorder that the sniper may be suffering from is Schizoid personality disorder. This personality disorder was named thus in 1908, by Paul Eugen Bleuler, when he first came up with the name schizophrenia. This personality disorder is included in Cluster A of personality disorders, which contains paranoid and schizotypal personality disorders as well. This is a personality disorder whereby the individual tends to focus his attention towards their inner lives, often disregarding all that pertains to their external world, including their families. Such an individual will lack normal emotional responses, may be indifferent to social conventions, norms and other people that they interact with as well as lacking the desire for sexual or social relationships (Sass, n.d”) Supposed to be the last name and year. In observing the snipers noted recent activity, his wife reported that he had vacated their bedroom and often chose to sleep on the couch. This displays his lack of concern or desire for any sexual relationship with his wife. He additionally finds himself unable to confide in his wife regarding his mental state. In-Text Citation missing

Another factor that links the sniper with this particular personality disorder is when he gets drunk and breaks down over the killing of the three criminal suspects over the previous six weeks. He later, during sobriety, acts as if the incident did not take place either by intentional pretence or alcohol related amnesia. An additional characteristic associated with this personality disorder is that of choosing to live one’s life free from interference from others. This is clearly expressed in his latest assignment, when he disregarded all protocol and safety measures by approaching the criminal suspect and apprehending him, where he risked the lives of all those involved in the incident, including his partner’s.

The other personality disorder which matches the sniper’s symptoms is antisocial personality disorder. This is contained within Cluster B of personality disorders that also includes narcissistic, histrionic and borderline personality disorders. However, his affliction is not of a severe nature as individual with severe antisocial disorder will usually express psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies. The major symptom of this disorder is the unconcern for others feelings and thoughts (De Brito, 2009). We note that the sniper is often indifferent to his wife’s feelings, disregarding her persistence in getting him back to their marital bed, or getting him to open up. He instead prefers to keep silent on his troubles and would rather sleep in the living room than share a bed with his wife. A person with such a disorder will also be prone to impulsive and often reckless acts that may endanger not only their lives, but those of others as well. This is demonstrated by the little-thought action the sniper carried out on his last assignment, choosing to approach, disarm and arrest an armed suspect alone, without informing his partner. He did this at great risk to his life. (De Brito, 2009)

His treatment would mostly involve psychological therapies whereby he would discuss his emotions, feelings and thoughts with a trained professional. In relation to the two mentioned personality disorders, there are cognitive therapy approaches that may be used to treat the conditions. As for the first condition, schizoid personality disorder, there are some overdeveloped and underdeveloped strategies within the individual, in this case, the sniper. The overdeveloped strategies are those to do with withdrawal and autonomy and the underdeveloped ones are related to reciprocity and intimacy. The core belief of the sniper will therefore revolve around feeling alone, and in relation to others, feeling that they cannot understand what he is going through. Therefore, as noted, his behavioral strategy will mainly involve withdrawal and avoidance of any social relationship. Some medication may also be used to treat this disorder and include antipsychotic medication or medication such as Bupropion, which is used to increase pleasure feelings.

The second mentioned condition, antisocial personality disorder will have the sniper having overdeveloped strategies to do with exploitation and deprivation of others while the underdeveloped strategies to do with social sensitivity, reciprocity an empathy. Therefore, the core belief of the sniper if suffering from this particular disorder will be one of vulnerability. Therefore, the cognitive therapy will involve identification of such core beliefs within the sniper, and an attempt to modify such core beliefs. For example, when dealing with the core beliefs of vulnerability or solitude, the sniper should be encouraged and motivated to create new beliefs. Therefore, in this case, the belief of solitude should be changed to one of sociality. That of vulnerability should be changed to one of empowerment. (Intext citation is needed)

The adoption of this new belief should then be observed over a period of time, with insistence that the sniper pay attention to the new belief daily. The man should then be encouraged to constantly search for evidence that would support their new beliefs through their daily interactions. These may then be used as yardsticks to measure the man’s treatment progress. An additional way in which the man could be helped through his condition is by role play with the therapist, whereby they would interchange roles between the intellectual and emotional perspective (Beck, et.al, 2004). Medications that may be used to treat this disorder are antipsychotic drugs such as lithium and carbamazepine which help in impulse control and aggression, while some antidepressants, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) may be used to improve the personality disorder generally. (Beck, 2004)

With respect to the two above mentioned personality disorders, the general symptoms can be categorized into main problem areas which should be addressed. These problem areas involve social relation and self reflection. Therefore, in addressing the sniper’s prevailing mental condition, these two problem areas will have to be addressed. If they are sufficiently treated, then the sniper may be accepted back into his regular duties. This is because, as far as the snipers history is concerned, he seems to have no prior markers indicating that he had such personality disorders. All his problems, with regards to detachment and rash behavior stemmed up from the recent killings that he had carried out. This issue was further aggravated by the fact that the killings occurred over a short duration of 6 weeks. Therefore, the emotional trauma from these incidents seems to have been the precursor to development of his prevalent mental condition.

As a sniper, killing of criminal suspects would obviously be a major part of his duties. However, the man seems to have been shocked by number of people he had killed, especially within such a short span. If treatment of the snipers disorder does not lead him to acknowledge and accept the fact that such killings would be part and parcel of his job description, then he should not resume role as a sniper. However, this does not mean that he cannot rejoin law enforcement as a regular officer. Resuming duty in this capacity would thus signify that the treatment was indeed effective, but not completely successful, noted by the ‘demotion’ duties of the man. Work as a regular officer would not have to involve deadly situations since such officers may have their duties restricted to various areas within the police department, therefore they may not be required to be active on the field, where such life-threatening situations may arise. Therefore, the sniper may be posted to carry out roles such as: management of evidence, surveillance jobs, maintenance of police records and other functions that may not necessarily or directly involve/risk violent altercations (In tex citation is needed). The sniper wouldn’t be resentful for the fact that he was identified as having a problem since, even if all other symptoms were to be ignored, he was in clear violation of his job procedure and protocol and therefore, required intervention so as to address this issue.

The first way in which this treatment would aid the sniper is in improving his self reflection. This is the human capacity to exercise introspect as well as the willingness to learn more about human fundamental nature (Smith, 2002). From the man’s condition, we notice that he had a major problem with the killing of criminal suspects. We can infer from the information provided that such killings took an emotional and mental toll on him, causing him to risk his life just to prevent such killing from occurring again. Thus, in helping the man through the process of his self reflection, he may be made to understand that killing was critical part of the role he carried out in law enforcement. Treatment of the man in this aspect will thus occur in two ways. Either the sniper will come to recognize that indeed such actions cannot be removed from his job as a sniper, and thus seek to detach such feelings from exercise of his. Alternatively, the man will still acknowledge the critical part played by killing in sniper activities and thus infer that this role cannot be for him, accepting to work as a law enforcement officer in another role. Either way, the man would become a better law enforcement officer as he would know what was required of him within his duty as a law enforcement agent, in whatever role, and thus carry out his tasks as required.

The second way such treatment would help the man is by improving his social relationships. The man would be made to appreciate the role of social connections and the part they play in maintaining the mental and emotional health of someone. He would therefore be more open to sharing his feelings, recognizing this as an important way for maintaining social relationships at home and within the workplace. This is especially in reference to his wife, whom he had shut away from his mental turmoil. (in text citation is missing).Treatment would lead to a more transparent and welcoming attitude within the man, consequently improving the cold relationship that has plagued his marriage within the past few weeks. He would therefore find it easier to share with his wife thereby removing any need for him to avoid sharing a bed with her and wallowing in his feelings alone. Such action would obviously be appreciated and welcomed by the spouse, noting her determination to have him confide in her. From his treatment therefore, the man’s personal life would be improved, in addition to improving his life at work. (In text citation is missing)

References

Beck, A. T., Freeman, A., & Davis, D. D. (2004). Cognitive therapy of personality disorders.

De Brito, S. A., & Hodgins, S. H. E. I. L. A. G. H. (2009). Antisocial personality disorder. Personality, personality disorder and violence, 42, 133-153.

Mental Health Foundation. (n.d.). Depression. Retrieved from http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-a-z/D/depression/

Sass, H., & Schwarte, R. Schizoid Personality Disorder. WPA/ISSPD Educational Program on Personality Disorders, 129.

Smith, R. (2002). Self-reflection and the self. Rewriting the Self, 49. (was advised this reference looks incomplete)