Characterisation of self-defining memories in criminals with antisocial personality disorder

ABSTRACT

Early aversive events are key factors in the development of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and are known to impact the ability to produce specific autobiographical memories and to modify self-construction. The present study assessed identity construction in forensic inpatients suffering from ASPD by comparing the characteristics (specificity, integration, valence, topic and period) of self-defining memories (SDM) of persons with ASPD hospitalised in a forensic hospital to those of control participants. Offenders with ASPD had difficulty in retrieving purely specific single events and tended to recall memories comprising multiple events. In addition, they produced significantly less meaning-making from their past experiences (low integration). These characteristics of SDM could be due to a defensive process used by offenders with ASPD in which they do not integrate aversive experiences, thereby creating a vicious circle where maladjustment of their personality is maintained.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-defining memories
• antisocial personality disorder
• integration
• specificity

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Gaëlle Husson, Fanny Degouis, Florian Sanssen, Étienne Gehenne for their valuable contribution to this study. They also thank the team of care workers at Les Marronniers forensic hospital. Finally, the authors thank Ray Cooke for copyediting the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Agence Nationale de la Recherche: [Grant Number ANR-11-EQPX-0023]; European Union: [Grant Number ERDF SCV-IrDIVE].