Is it common for people with ASD to also have ASPD?

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I've been diagnosed with having Asperger's, but I also have a lot of other issues that I'm dealing with. Many of them are common coexisting problems of someone with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). I also meet 6/7 of the criteria for ASPD based on the DSM IV. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, especially without being diagnosed by one of my doctors, but the pieces really seem to fit. I'm going to bring it up to them when I see them this week.

So, does anyone know if this is common in people with Asperger's or am I just one of those lucky people with more than one thing wrong with him?

I do not think you can be a "sociopath" and have aspergers, but I haven't looked into it that much.

I actually looked it up a few hours ago, it looks a lot like aspergers, but has some big difference.

Only one I remember- sociopath lacks empathy, aspergers have a hard time showing empathy

Last edited by Alexender on 27 Feb 2012, 11:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

none of the folks i know with ASD have ASPD. if i were you, i wouldn't admit having ASPD.

ASPD isn't the same as being a sociopath. Being a sociopath would imply not having any emotions whatsoever. The capacity to feel, doesn't automatically rule out ASPD.



I never admitted to having it. I said that I meet the criteria. If I don't admit it, how am I supposed to get help? I think that, if it's true, I should be telling my doctors.

I always thought I would develop it. It is after all a personality disorder which develop rather than being a developmental problem.

I have mild oppositional defiance disorder. It's more arguing and liking to witness conflict. But I've always thought from various moods I've been through that I could get worse.

There's a stigma attached to ASPD so people will probably deny it happening along side autism straight away.

My personality is very proud and opinionated. I've been in enough arguments with people to turn against them and think awful things about them and what I'd do. And what I'd do to the rest of society. I think it's possible for someone on the autism spectrum to develop ASPD. I have met someone on the spectrum who was quite sociopathic.
Personality disorders can alter emotions too, even make them disappear. When I go through my ODD I can feel less empathic for people.

Autism isn't always about having empathy but not knowing how to show it. It can be about not knowing about empathy to feel it for people and just like social rules it must be revealed to us. I can admit I felt very little empathy to people because I didn't know about it.

Part of my ODD is about disagreeing with the majority though.

sociopathy and psychopathy are old terms for ASPD. they are the same thing. yes, an aspie can have ASPD.

please read the asociated discussion in PPR,
it seems that even the defintion of psychopathy isnt truly one thing and that some of the criteria do not have any bearing on actual illness only legality, subjective legality.

it also shows a lot of symptoms present in multiple different disorders, again only with criminaility to differentiate so as i see it it is an arbitrary defintion with little actual research to back it up.
it is in contention in the DSM, it is in contentioon in the psychiatric world and yet laymen insist on shouting psychopath at anyone that seems to fit the sterreotype.

all of this goes for sociopathy as well, no clear cut defintions, stereotyping, disputes among proffessionals in the field.
have a read at the wiki page and its references and it immediately becomes apparant that psychopathy was born of the mind of one person with very little actual evidence, lots of statistics and a few genuine case studies, both suffering from observation bias.
ASPD however is a very real and well researched subject and that doesnt suffer from the same issues (why it is described as psychopathy is beyond me, that part is in contention and probably wont survive to the next DSM)

This is off the topic of this thread but when they take Psychopath and Sociopath out of the DSM, please let me know, but I highly doubt it. It's a real pathology and isn't going anywhere. Not sure why people are having such a problem with it either. You're very uninformed if you think it isn't real and doesn't exist.

You should probably go back to the other thread and rant about it there.

not the point of my post.

it may exist, but it cant be based on suybjective criteria, so if it needs to stay it needs revision.

also if you read the bottom of my post i also said that this doesn not regard ASPD but only psychipathy,
ASPD fits most of the symptooms without having to use subjective criterion as such, they can still be indicators.
but ASPD is not psychopathy(

"Psychopathy (/saɪˈkɒpəθi/[1][2]) is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for, or violation of, the rights of others. It is defined in different ways, but can involve a lack of empathy or remorse, false emotions, selfishness, grandiosity or deceptiveness; it can also involve impulsiveness, irritability, aggression, or inability to perceive danger and protect one's self.

However, there is no consensus about the symptom criteria for psychopathy, and no psychiatric or psychological organization has sanctioned a diagnosis of "psychopathy" itself.'[3]"

og yes how uninformed one becomes when one spends time reading about a subject directly instead opf relying on hearsay and opinion.

I think this is trailing off the original topic too much.

The description of ASPD sounds very little like psychopathy so I would continue to talk of them separately. They can say it's an updated version of the same thing but they're mistaken until they get the details right.

Yes, you can have ASPD, it would typically be an angry coping mechanism to a messed up childhood. A lot of Aspergers traits look like other things though, so I wouldn't count on a checklist to tell you much.

on topic this seems to be the best answer,

psychopathy has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. the OP asked if they could have AS and ASPD, not whether professionals agree on the definition of psychopathy or sociopathy.

Thanks for answering my question. It just seems weird to have both. I mean I've read that 6 out of every 1,000 people are born with ASD and only 3% of males have ASPD. The odds of having both are extremely rare. I'll have to have my doctors confirm this before I start really believing that I have it. I appreciate the responses. I'll reply back on Thursday, when I'll have seen both doctors this week.

Because of overlapping symptoms they aren't independent variables - you can't just multiply the probabilities.

If you have one mental difference such as add or aspeegrrs you have a 60-70% chance of having another, called comorbid

Last edited by Alexender on 28 Feb 2012, 7:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.