Nordic Symposium on Forensic Psychiatry: Across the Lifespan

Psychopathy as the diagnostic endpoint for personality disorder and the Dynamic Model of Psychopathy Assessment and Treatment Framework as a problem solver regardless of population and severity level. 

The lack of an integrated construct of psychopathy has been identified as a major cause of the treatment difficulties associated with the disorder. In this presentation, it is demonstrated how psychopathy might be the diagnostic endpoint for personality disorder (Gullhaugen, under review), and the Dynamic Model of Psychopathy (DMP; Gullhaugen, Heinze, & Chernyahovsky Kornev, 2021) Assessment and Treatment Framework (Gullhaugen, under review) is presented as a potential problem solver regardless of population and severity level. By measuring individual differences on the DMP’s three dimensions, self- and affect consciousness (grandiosity–shame), community (invades–dismisses) and agency (defies–evades), treatment can be personalized and aimed toward the developmental psychological milestones of personal integrity, secure attachment, and genuine autonomy. A system for converting the externalizing behaviors of individuals with psychopathy into self-conscious emotions and needs brings out the pain and vulnerability of those who are characterized by the suffering they inflict on others, and makes treatment a tangible process. The redefined psychopathy construct and the associated framework need to be tested (hypothesis; potential dynamic states in psychopathy are easier to treat than static traits). This presentation is, thus, also a basic research protocol for ongoing and future studies.