by MJ Guyton

Created on: December 05, 2008

You've seen them every day. It may be on the news, at a sporting event, or at the grocery store. People with antisocial personality disorder are masters of deception, chameleons who may appear flirty, outgoing or even fun at first. It doesn't take long, though, before you realize that something just isn't right with this person.

An old-fashioned name for antisocial personality disorder is psychopath. These are damaged people, and most of the damage was probably done during their childhoods. A person with antisocial personality disorder was most likely neglected or abused as a child. But the abuse and neglect doesn't have to be severe; even benign neglect can cause a person to develop this illness. For example, let's use the case of a baby born to a drug or alcohol-addicted mother. An infant in this situation might end up being taken care of by an older sibling (often not much older) most of the time. As a result, maternal bonding doesn't occur and the baby is neglected and lacks in the nuturing that raising a healthy human being requires. The child learns that he/she can't count on getting the love and attention that is so badly needed. All that neediness is turned inward and pushed down in order for the young child to deal with the hurt and abandonment.

When such a child grows into adulthood, he/she learns to be a cunning, charming and ruthless person. It's said that most people in our prisons and jails suffer from antisocial personality disorder, and that's probably true. When you first meet a person who has antisocial personality disorder, it's easy to fall into the notion that they are just like everybody else. It's after you know them for a while that you start to see the darker side of their personality.

If you have someone in your life who has antisocial personality disorder, here are some tips that may be helpful and informative to you in your life with this person:

1. It's not about you. In the beginning, you might have thought it was going to be about you, but as soon as the antisocial person gets comfortable in your environment, you need to realize that in their mind, it's going to be all about THEM. As much as it may hurt you to eventually find this out, you must realize that this usually won't change. A good way to deal with this is not to argue or pick fights with the antisocial person; they are always right (in their mind) and your arguments will be turned against you. A good coping skill is learning to walk away.

2. Your antisocial friend may do

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