Six cases of patients with mental retardation who have antisocial personality disorder

Evidence that antisocial personality disorder occurs in association with mental retardation is presented through case reports of six mildly to moderately retarded men who received a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. The men were identified when referred by care providers for more thorough psychological and psychiatric assessments. Their histories were marked by thefts, rapes, multiple assaults, arson, and other predatory acts; a lack of remorse for such actions; criminal charges; and predisposing factors such as an impoverished family. Only one man had received the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder before the assessments, suggesting that clinicians are reluctant to find sociopathic behavior clinically significant in the presence of mental retardation.