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Carol W. Berman, M.D.: Personality Disorders

Right now Mary Jo Buttafuoco is in the news because she just published a book, Getting it Through My Thick Skull, about her ex-husband Joey and his lover Amy who shot her in the face 17 years ago. Mary Jo describes him as a "sociopath." In psychiatry we use the term Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). In patients with APD we see a total disregard for and violation of the rights of others starting at 15 years old. Antisocial Personality Disorder individuals fail to conform to social norms since they constantly break the law. They are deceitful, use lying and various con schemes for personal profit and pleasure. They are impulsive, irritable and aggressive with reckless disregard for safety. They are known for their lack of remorse.

Mary Jo said she couldn't leave her husband for years even though she realized he was an APD. She kept thinking that she could reform him. Many women are taken in by APD schemes and cunning. Sometimes men are taken in if the APD is female. More often they are male.

After Amy shot Mary Jo in the face, Joey didn't show any remorse or empathy. Yet Mary Jo stayed with him. Often APD's are charming, even charismatic.

Some of our famous criminals probably had APD, like Billy the Kid or Bugsy Siegel. The jails are full of examples of this disorder.

In psychiatry we know that we can't help APD's if they just have the personality disorder itself. If they have mania, depression or psychosis we can use medications to alleviate their problems.

Personality Disorders: A Practical Guide

This new addition to the Practical Guides in Psychiatry series is a clinically oriented pocket guide to diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders. Using the conversational style and case vignettes found in all Practical Guides in Psychiatry titles, Dr. Berman addresses ... MORE

ISBN: 978-0-7817-9401-5

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About the Author:

Carol W. Berman grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the University of California at Berkeley as an undergraduate. She moved to New York and attended NYU Medical School. Her residency in psychiatry was spent at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital. She returned to NYU for a research fellowship, where she remains as a clinical instructor in psychiatry. She is also in private practice in New York City.

On top of publishing her work with LWW, Dr. Berman wrote One Hundred Questions and Answers About Panic Disorder (Jones & Bartlett) and a monthly column for CNS News called 'Practical Psychiatry' from 1999-2007. Several of her short stories have been published in literary magazines and she is on the editorial board of The Bellevue Literary Review. Her first play, UNDER THE DRAGON, was produced by The Workshop at The Neighborhood Playhouse in 2002. Her second play, SUNSHINE SALLY, was produced in 2007. PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT, her third play, about a schizophrenic ER doctor had a production in 2009. When she is not writing or treating patients, she paints in acrylics, oils or watercolors.