sadistic personality disorder

Sadistic personality disorder was thought to have been frequently comorbid with other personality disorders, primarily other types of psychopathological disorders.{{cite web |date=2006-01-01 |title=Sadistic Personality Disorder and Comorbid Mental Illness in Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients |url=http://www.jaapl.org/content/34/1/61.full.pdf.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415045910/http://www.jaapl.org/content/34/1/61.full.pdf.html |archive-date=2013-04-15 |access-date=2012-12-30 |publisher=Jaapl.org}} In contrast, sadism has also been found in patients who do not display any or other forms of psychopathic disorders.{{cite journal |last1=Reidy |last2=Zeichner |last3=Seibert |year=2011 |title=Unprovoked Aggression: Effects of Psychopathic Traits and Sadism |journal=Journal of Personality |volume=79 |issue=1 |pages=75–100 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00691.x |pmid=21223265}} Conduct disorder in childhood, and Alcohol use disorder were thought to have been frequently comorbid with Sadistic personality disorder.{{cite journal |last=Reich |first=James |year=1993 |title=Prevalence and characteristics of sadistic personality disorder in an outpatient veterans population |journal=Psychiatry Research |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=267–276 |doi=10.1016/0165-1781(93)90077-T |pmid=8272448 |s2cid=24066628}} Researchers had difficulty distinguishing sadistic personality disorder from the other personality disorders due to high levels of comorbidity, hence another reason why it was eventually removed.

According to the DSM-III-R, the diagnostic criteria were defined by a pervasive pattern of sadistic and cruel behavior that began in early adulthood. It was defined by four of the following.

• Has used physical cruelty or violence for the purpose of establishing dominance in a relationship (not merely to achieve some noninterpersonal goal, such as striking someone in order to rob him/her).
• Humiliates or demeans people in the presence of others.
• Has treated or disciplined someone under his/her control unusually harshly.
• Is amused by, or takes pleasure in, the psychological or physical suffering of others (including animals).
• Has lied for the purpose of harming or inflicting pain on others (not merely to achieve some other goal).
• Gets other people to do what he/she wants by frightening them (through intimidation or even terror).
• Restricts the autonomy of people with whom he or she has a close relationship, e.g., will not let spouse leave the house unaccompanied or permit teenage daughter to attend social functions.
• Is fascinated by violence, weapons, injury, or torture.

This behavior couldn’t have been better explained by sexual sadism disorder and it had to have been directed towards more than one person.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/diagnosticstatis0000unse_j7a2 |title=Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-III-R |date=1987 |publisher=American Psychiatric Association |isbn=978-0-89042-018-8 |location=Washington, DC}}{{rp|371}}

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Diagnosis

!Reason

|-

|Sexual Sadism Disorder

|Sexual sadists will engage in sadistic behavior, however they do so for sexual pleasure, while people with Sadistic personality disorder do so for regular pleasure and to control others.{{rp|370}}

|-

|Antisocial personality disorder

|The diagnosis of Antisocial personality disorder requires a history of conduct issues in adolescence and childhood. While the diagnosis of sadistic personality disorder does not.{{rp|371}}

|}

Theodore Millon claimed there were four subtypes of sadism, which he termed enforcing sadism, explosive sadism, spineless sadism, and tyrannical sadism.{{cite book|author1=Theodore Millon|author2=Carrie M. Millon|author3=Sarah Meagher|others=Seth Grossman, Rowena Ramnath|title=Personality Disorders in Modern Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BZjayfSEGyQC&pg=PT513|date=June 12, 2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-42881-8|pages=512–515}}{{cite web|url=http://www.millon.net/taxonomy/summary.htm|title=Personality Subtypes: Sadistic Personality Subtypes|website=Institute for Advanced Studies in Personology and Psychopathology|author=Million, Theodore, D.Sc.|access-date=2015-05-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621092251/http://www.millon.net/taxonomy/summary.htm|archive-date=2017-06-21|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.alpfmedical.info/personality-disorders-2/the-sadistic-personality.html|title=The Sadistic Personality, Variations of the Sadistic Personality|access-date=2018-09-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617220026/https://www.alpfmedical.info/personality-disorders-2/the-sadistic-personality.html|archive-date=2018-06-17|url-status=live}} ALPF Medical Research{{cite book|author1=Theodore Millon|author2=Carrie M. Millon|author3=Sarah E. Meagher|author4=Seth D. Grossman|author5=Rowena Ramnath|display-authors=1|title=Personality Disorders in Modern Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mHnbLYVAn9kC|edition=2nd|date=8 November 2004|publisher=Wiley|location=Hoboken, N.J.|isbn=978-0-471-66850-3}}

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!Subtype

!Description

!Personality traits

|-

|Spineless sadism

| Including avoidant features

| Insecure, bogus, and cowardly; venomous dominance and cruelty is counterphobic; weakness counteracted by group support; public swaggering; selects powerless scapegoats.

|-

|Tyrannical sadism

| Including negativistic features

| Relishes menacing and brutalizing others, forcing them to cower and submit; verbally cutting and scathing, accusatory and destructive; intentionally surly, abusive, inhumane, unmerciful.

|-

|Enforcing sadism

| Including compulsive features

| Hostility sublimated in the "public interest," cops, "bossy" supervisors, deans, judges; possesses the "right" to be pitiless, merciless, coarse, and barbarous; task is to control and punish, to search out rule breakers.

|-

|Explosive sadism

| Including borderline features

| Unpredictably precipitous outbursts and fury; uncontrollable rage and fearsome attacks; feelings of humiliation are pent-up and discharged; subsequently contrite.

|}

Sadistic personality disorder was developed as forensic psychiatrists had noticed many patients with sadistic behavior. It was introduced to the DSM in 1987 and it was placed in the DSM-III-R as a way to facilitate further systematic clinical study and research.Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology, p. 744 It was removed from the DSM for numerous reasons, including the fact it could be used to legally excuse sadistic acts. Sadistic personality disorder also shared a high rate of comorbidity with other disorders, implying that it was not a distinct disorder on its own.{{Cite journal |last=McNamara |first=Damian |date=2004-04-01 |title=Proposals for DSM-V need high evidence threshold: diagnostic research conferences planned |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=02706644&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA116672835&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Clinical Psychiatry News |language=English |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=1–3}}{{Cite journal |last=Fink |first=Paul J. |date=2006-09-01 |title=Treating antisocial personality disorder |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=02706644&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA152011021&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Clinical Psychiatry News |language=English |volume=34 |issue=9 |pages=18–19}} Millon writes that "Physically abusive, sadistic personalities are most often male, and it was felt that any such diagnosis might have the paradoxical effect of legally excusing cruel behavior."Personality Disorders in Modern Life 2nd Ed. p.512. Researchers were also concerned about the stigmatizing nature of the disorder, and that it put patients at higher risk of abuse from prison guards.{{Cite web |last=Foulkes |first=Lucy |date=March 13, 2019 |title=Sadism: Review of an elusive construct |url=https://psyarxiv.com/ur87t/ |url-status=dead |access-date=2022-07-24 |website=psyarxiv.com |archive-date=2022-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724185742/https://psyarxiv.com/ur87t/ }}Sprock, J. (2015). DSM-III and DSM-III-R. In The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology (eds R.L. Cautin and S.O. Lilienfeld). Theorists like Theodore Millon wanted to generate further study on SPD, and so proposed it to the DSM-IV Personality Disorder Work Group, who rejected it.Disorders of Personality: DSM-IV and Beyond, p. 482

{{main|Everyday sadism}}

There is renewed interest in studying sadism as a personality trait.{{cite journal |last=Buckels |first=E. E. |author2=Jones, D. N. |author3=Paulhus, D. L. |year=2013 |title=Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism |journal=Psychological Science |volume=24 |issue=11 |pages=2201–9 |doi=10.1177/0956797613490749 |pmid=24022650 |s2cid=30675346}}{{cite journal|last=O'Meara|first=A|author2=Davies, J |author3= Hammond, S. |title=The psychometric properties and utility of the Short Sadistic Impulse Scale (SSIS)|journal=Psychological Assessment|year=2011|volume=23|issue=2|pages=523–531|doi=10.1037/a0022400|pmid=21319907}} Sadism joins with subclinical psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism to form the so-called "dark tetrad" of personality.{{cite journal|author1=Chabrol H.|author2=Van Leeuwen, N.|author3=Rodgers, R.|author4=Sejourne, N.|year=2009|title=Contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic personality traits to juvenile delinquency|journal=Personality and Individual Differences|volume=47|issue=7|pages=734–739|name-list-style=amp|doi=10.1016/j.paid.2009.06.020|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223672152|access-date=2016-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110183801/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223672152_Contributions_of_psychopathic_narcissistic_Machiavellian_and_sadistic_personality_traits_to_juvenile_delinquency|archive-date=2019-01-10|url-status=live}}

== See also ==

• Antisocial personality disorder, a personality disorder characterized by a long term pattern of disregard for, or violation of, the rights of others
• Bullying
• Evil Genes
• Malignant narcissism
• Psychopathy
• Sadism and masochism
• Schadenfreude
• Self-defeating personality disorder (masochistic personality disorder)
• Sexual sadism disorder
• Zoosadism
• Sociopathy

{{Reflist}}

• Blaney, P. H., Millon, T. (2009). Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Davis, R., Millon, T. (2000). Personality Disorders in Modern Life. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Livesley, J. (1995). [https://books.google.com/books?id=9AqPs9ootqoC&pg=PA329 The DSM-IV Personality Disorders]. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
• Million, T. (1996). Disorders of Personality DSM-IV and Beyond. New York: Wiley-Interscience Publication.
• {{cite journal | author1 = Myers W.C. | author2 = Burket R.C. | author3 = Husted D.S. | year = 2006 | title = Sadistic personality disorder and comorbid mental illness in adolescent psychiatric inpatients | url = http://www.jaapl.org/content/34/1/61.full.pdf.html | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130415045910/http://www.jaapl.org/content/34/1/61.full.pdf.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-04-15 | journal = Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online | volume = 34 | issue = 1 | pages = 61–71 | pmid = 16585236 }}
• Pacana, G. (2011, March 2). Sadists and sadistic personality disorder.
• {{cite journal | author = Reich J | year = 1992 | title = Prevalence and characteristics of sadistic personality disorder in an outpatient veterans population | journal = Psychiatry Research | volume = 48 | issue = 3| pages = 267–276 | doi=10.1016/0165-1781(93)90077-t| pmid = 8272448 | s2cid = 24066628 }}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050830144650/http://www.csbsju.edu/uspp/Research/Sniper.html "Provisional Psychological Profile of Washington, D.C.-Area Sniper"] provides some theoretical descriptions of the sadistic personality, which, in addition to being a "white man", were traits concluded by the author to describe the D.C. sniper attacks shooter.

{{DSM personality disorders}}

{{Psychopathy}}

Category:Criminology

Category:Forensic psychology

Category:Violence

Category:Obsolete terms for mental disorders