Conceptualizing Psychopathy: An overview

Abstract

Psychopathy is the most controversial and elusive construct of our times. Although the concept has been around for over 100 years, our understanding of psychopathy remains relatively opaque as there appears to be little consensus in relation to the definition and clinical characteristics of the disorder. The etiology of psychopathy remains largely unknown, whereas psychological treatments for psychopathic patients are marked by therapeutic pessimism, as these patients appear immune to any therapeutic intervention. Given the confusion and heterogeneity of psychopathy, this aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the conceptualisations of psychopathy, starting from the early historical forerunners to the most recent formulations of the disorder