Neurological soft signs in homicidal men with antisocial personality disorder

Neurological soft signs (NSS) are characterized by abnormalities in motor, sensory, and integrative functions. NSS have been regarded as a result of neurodevelopmental dysfunction, and as evidence of a central nervous system defect, resulting in considerable sociopsychological dysfunction. During the last decade there has been growing evidence of brain dysfunction in severe aggressive behavior. As a symptom, aggression overlaps a number of psychiatric disorders, but it is commonly associated with antisocial personality disorder. The aim of the present study was to examine NSS in an adult criminal population using the scale by Rossi et al. [29]. Subjects comprised 14 homicidal men with antisocial personality disorder recruited from a forensic psychiatric examination. Ten age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers as well as eight patients with schizophrenia, but no history of physical aggression, served as controls. The NSS scores of antisocial offenders were significantly increased compared with those of the healthy controls, whereas no significant differences were observed between the scores of offenders and those of patients with schizophrenia. It can be speculated that NSS indicate a nonspecific vulnerability factor in several psychiatric syndromes, which are further influenced by a variety of genetic and environmental components. One of these syndromes may be antisocial personality disorder with severe aggression.