Can anti-socials abide by the law? Can anti-socials be nonviolent? Is law breaking and violence required for the diagnosis?

The main problem with antisocial personality disorder is it is only a useful diagnostic concept in and surrounding prison, which is why it's so tied to criminality. Because of this, being arrested or sent to jail is sort of the hallmark of the disorder. The DSM focuses on clinical utility, so a lot of diagnoses are left out because they don't really have clinical utility. That's one of a few reasons why psychopathy is left out, because there are plenty of psychopaths that are out and about not committing crimes, and psychopathy is ego-syntonic; they don't feel like they have anything wrong with themselves. The only time a psychopath would even need a diagnosis is if they get arrested, and would probably be diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder, but they are technically different. Psychopathy is more genetic, ASPD is more nurture - most people with personality disorders were prone, but it takes triggers to activate them, whereas psychopaths are born. Unfortunately I don't have the study, but I did read at one point that only a percentage of people in jail with ASPD are actually psychopaths (I think it was somewhere between 20-40%).

There is obviously overlap, but that's not a requirement; You can be a psychopath that doesn't qualify for an ASPD diagnosis, and you can have ASPD and not be a psychopath.

So, typically people with antisocial personality disorder will almost always have some sort of legal entanglements if they are diagnosed, because legal issues are part of the reason for the diagnosis. If you're not impulsive with a disregard for the law, you're probably not going to get an ASPD diagnosis.

/r/askpsychology Thread