drug war lost by early neglect

6.10: web.psy/childhood animal cruelty/prelude to Antisoc'PD

1: J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2002;30(2):257-65

Animal cruelty and psychiatric disorders.

Gleyzer R, Felthous AR, Holzer CE 3rd.

Western State Hospital, Tacoma, WA 98498-7213, USA. rgleyzer1@msn.com

. Animal cruelty in childhood, although generally viewed as

abnormal or deviant, for years was not considered

symptomatic of any particular psychiatric disorder.

Although animal cruelty is currently used as a

diagnostic criterion for conduct disorder,

research establishing the diagnostic significance of this behavior

is essentially nonexistent.

In the current study, investigators tested the hypothesis that

a history of substantial animal cruelty

is associated with a diagnosis of

antisocial personality disorder (APD)

and looked for associations with other disorders

commonly diagnosed in

a population of criminal defendants.

Forty-eight subjects, criminal defendants who had histories of

substantial animal cruelty,

were matched with defendants without this history.

Data were systematically obtained from the files

by using four specifically designed data retrieval outlines.

A history of animal cruelty during childhood

was significantly associated with

APD, antisocial personality traits,

and polysubstance abuse.

Mental retardation, psychotic disorders, and alcohol abuse

showed no such association.