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LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists who scanned the brains of men
convicted of murder, rape and violent assaults have found the strongest
evidence yet that psychopaths have structural abnormalities in their brains.
The researchers, based at King's College London's Institute
of Psychiatry, said the differences in psychopaths' brains mark them out even
from other violent criminals with anti-social personality disorders (ASPD), and
from healthy non-offenders.
Nigel Blackwood, who led the study, said the ability to use
brain scans to identify and diagnose this sub-group of violent criminals has
important implications for treatment.
The study showed that psychopaths, who are characterised by
a lack of empathy, had less grey matter
in the areas of the brain important for understanding other peoples' emotions.
While cognitive and behavourial treatments may benefit
people with anti-social personality disorders, the same approach may not work
for psychopaths with brain damage, Blackwood said.
"To get a clear idea of which treatments are working,
you've got to clearly define what people are like going into the treatment
programmes," he said in a telephone interview.
Essi Viding a professor in the psychology and language
sciences department of University College London, who was not involved in
Blackwood's study, said it provided "weighty new evidence" about the
importance of distinguishing psychopathic from non-psychopathic people rather
than grouping them together.
The findings also have implications for the justice system,
because linking psychopathy to brain function raises the prospect of arguing a
defence of insanity.
Interest in what goes on inside the heads of violent
criminals has been sharpened by the trial of Anders Behring Breivik, the
Norwegian who massacred 77 people last July.
Two court-appointed psychiatric teams who examined Breivik
came to opposite conclusions about his mental health. The killer himself has
railed being called insane.
LESS GREY MATTER IN BRAIN'S "SOCIAL" AREAS
Blackwood's team used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to
scan the brains of 44 violent adult male offenders in Britain who had already
been diagnosed with anti-social personality disorders.
The crimes they had committed included murder, rape,
attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
Of the 44 men scanned, 17 met the diagnosis for ASPD plus
psychopathy and 27 did not. The researchers also scanned the brains of 22
healthy non-offenders.
The results showed that the psychopaths' brains had
significantly less grey matter in the anterior rostral prefrontal cortex and
temporal poles than the brains of the non-psychopathic offenders and
non-offenders.
These areas of the brain are important for understanding
other people's emotions and intentions, and are activated when people think
about moral behaviour, the researchers said.
Damage to these areas is linked with a lack of empathy, a
poor response to fear and distress and a lack of self-conscious emotions such
as guilt or embarrassment.
Lindsay Thomson, a professor of forensic psychiatry at the
University of Edinburgh who was not involved in this study, said Blackwood's
findings add to evidence that psychopathy is a distinct neurodevelopmental
brain disorder.
Research shows that most violent crimes are committed by a
small group of persistent male offenders with ASPD.
In England and Wales, for example, around half of male
prisoners meet diagnostic criteria for ASPD. A major review of studies covering
23,000 prisoners from 62 countries conducted in 2002 found that 47 percent had
anti-social personality disorder.
Such people typically react in an aggressive way to
frustration or perceived threats, but most are not psychopaths, the researchers
wrote in a summary of their study, which was published in the Archives of General
Psychiatry journal.
There are clear behaviour differences among people with ASPD
depending on whether they also have psychopathy. Their patterns of offending
are different, suggesting the need for a separate approach to treatment.
"We describe
those without psychopathy as 'hot-headed' and those with psychopathy as
'cold-hearted'," Blackwood explained.
"The 'cold-hearted'
psychopathic group begin offending earlier, engage in a broader range and
greater density of offending behaviours, and respond less well to treatment programmes in adulthood compared to
the 'hot-headed' group."
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
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I think I cant take it anymore. just hope that everything will end soon. |
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Today 31st July 2011. 晴。 Is a wonderful day to rest at home. I just cant rest due to the amount of workload given. But i am not doing anything, super no mood to start on my project, and there is test coming up. Should i continued to slack? Am i doing the right thing? just feeling super stress and wanted to relieve my stress, but i do not want to let others know about it. And my friend, i treated you as my friend but do you? Do i need to consider this again? why am i thinking of this? I hated it when you say that sentence. do you know how much i hated?! You never know, i swear. Why, why do you have to say it again and again? you know how bad i feel? Am i such a failure? will i start to lose all my friends? i really dunno. Or you just dun fit to be my friend? Or the other way round? However, with all the bad side of the day, i know i still have someone, somewhere there to help me, support me. It is not that bad after all. |
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12/06/2011~ 14/06/2011 Reached Port Dickson on the 12 June 2011 at 10.30pm. Wanted to go seaview to buy roti prata, but the shop has closed. disappointing! after that went home to eat "bak Zhang/ dumpling" after eating i went to sleep. haha.... On the 13 June, early in the morning my parent and I went to Seremban to eat "yi bo lao su fen". After that went to buy " sao bao" and egg tart to eat. i think i ate 4 "sao bao" and 1 egg tart. after that we went Jusco to shop, bought a pair of green slipper and herbal egg. haha.... around afternoon ate homecooked stir fried "bee hoon" and "bak zhang" and also have a few cups of taiwan oolong tea... haha.. Ate a lot of sea weed and pork floss from thailand. At night, nothing much, ate food that my grandmother has cook. Pan fry fish, stir fried vegetable, pork trotter, stir fried mixed vegetables with pig skin. That is all for Monday. On the 14 June, in the morning went out with my aunt and parent to eat breakfast; wanton noodle and laksa with a cup of herbal tea. In the afternoon, just ate "bak zhang" again. For dinner; satay, roti prata, poh pia, homecooked soup, stir fried vegetable with sotong and pig trotter again. 15 June, ate "nasi lemak" and "teh tarlik" for breakfast. Nothing much for lunch, just some leftover from yesterday dinner. went to drink "ABC/ ice kachang". Dinner ate fried rice..... This is the end of the trip to malaysia. SUMMARY: dumpling, lao su fen, sao bao, egg tart, herbal egg, fried bee hoon, oolong tea, sea weed, pork floss, pan fried fish, stir fried vegetable with pig skin, pork trotter, wanton noodle, laksa, herbal tea, satay, roti prata, poh pia, soup, stir fried vegetable with sotong, nasi lemak, teh tarlik, ABC and fried rice. Imagine how many Kcal I have put on for this vacation, from tommorow onwards I can only eat things that are healthy and low in calories. |
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我今天说了个谎。 |
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f**k la.... dun gossip behind people okay! it is not the truth lor. this is just what you think! please find out the truth before saying anything behind people. I have started before he start lor. duh... hated you since day one. your mouth damm big sia! hated you since day one. the moment you open your mouth! hated you since day one. the moment i saw your retarded face! |
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hello, my name is poh yang and i am 18 starting from today! my life as a 18 years old boy have started. firstly i want to thanks all people who have wished me a happy birthday. Secondly, i also want to thank people who have accompanied me for this 17 years in my journey of life. I hope that all of you will be there for the rest of my life. Now i want to thank every single of my friend one by one. First: Rina and Shi Ying. they are the one who gave me my present first, and i got to know them only a few months which i never have expected. i will always appreciate them, my friend. The present that they gave me was a set of 3 doraemon figurings. For the photos of the present please go the my facebook to see if you are curious. Second: Mengyan, Leslie, kimmee, jianhe, puji, boonsiang. They gave me a very big surprise. it was a surprise party that they held yesterday. they came up to my house with a birthday cake ready on their hand! I was really really touched. They also gave me a huge doraemon soft toy. ( the face was even bigger than my face!) and i am thinking of a place to put him! we were having fun in my house! boonsiang and kimmee smash cake on my face. ( i will always REMEMBER). i also want to thank all of you that you have make effort to sustained this friendship of ours! thanks a million! third: my family. my brother treated me and my family to dian xiao er to have a dinner and also he bought me a polo tee. My mother bought a bag, t-shirt and a shorts for me. my aunty gave me an ang bao. My cousin sister treated me to ding tai feng to have dinner last sat. Last but not least: everyone who have SMS me or wrote on my facebook wall a happy birthday! i think it had around 64 people who wrote on my wall! i have thanks ever single of them! THANK YOU! Summary: a summary of what i have for my birthday this year. 1) a set of 3 doraemon. 2) a huge doraemon soft toy. 3) polo tee. 4) shirt. 5) shorts. 6) bag. 7) Ang Bao. thank you everyone who have make a different in my life throughout this 17 years! my birthday is going to end in round half an hour time. will have to wait for next year. once again THANK YOU! |
