Risk and dynamics of violence in Asperger's syndrome: A systematic review of the literature☆
Section snippets
Some clinical features associated with Asperger's syndrome
Despite some differences in diagnostic criteria, sustained impairments in social interaction and restricted repetitive patterns of behavior are common criteria in the DSM and ICD systems. Paradoxically, even if AS is a neurodevelopmental disturbance already present in early childhood, most of its clinical expressions and the significant impairment it causes tend not to be manifested until late puberty and early adulthood. It has been suggested that this may explain the relatively late diagnosis
Asperger's syndrome and violence
In a review of the literature, Fombonne and Tidmarsh (2003) found only one epidemiologic study that investigated AS alone and six studies that provided specific estimates for the prevalence of the disorder, together with estimates of other subtypes of pervasive developmental disorders. The prevalence rates reported in these studies ranged from 0.3 to 48.4 per 10,000. The authors concluded that the reviewed studies were flawed by methodological problems, and that further research was needed to
Data collection
Two searches were conducted on the possible relationship between Asperger's syndrome and violence in the anglophonic literature. Studies were obtained through electronic data searches on CINAHL (1982 to medio February 2007), Cochrane Reviews (1992 to medio February 2007), Medline (1966 to medio February 2007), ProQuest (1992 to medio February 2007), PsycInfo (1967 to medio February 2007), and ScienceDirect (1995 to medio February 2007). The search terms for the first search were review of and
Is there an empirical basis for the existence of a relationship between Asperger's syndrome and violence risk?
Of the 11 studies, only 5 accentuated the link between AS and violence as an explicit research aim in the title, the abstract, and the introduction. England was the country of origin for five studies and Israel, for two. The remaining four studies came from Austria, USA, Australia/New Zealand, and Italy. The oldest article was published in 1985, and the most recent, in 2006.
Main findings
The main finding of this review was that despite anecdotal reports of increased violence risk in people with AS, little systematic research about its frequency and character has been published. That being the case, the review suggests that (a) there is no empirical evidence to support a claim that there is a link between Asperger's syndrome and violence, and, at the same time, (b) because of the paucity of studies on this issue, there is no evidence to preclude the claim that there is an
References (42)
Responding to the emotions of others: Dissociating forms of empathy through the study of typical and psychiatric populations
Consciousness and Cognition
(2005)The emergence of psychopathy: Implications for the neuropsychological approach to developmental disorders
Cognition
(2006)- et al.
Epidemiologic data on Asperger disorder
Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics
(2003) Putting community risk in perspective: A look at correlations, causes and controls
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
(2006)- et al.
Asperger syndrome: diagnosis and external validity
Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics
(2003) Current status of differential diagnosis for children with autism spectrum disorders
Research in Developmental Disabilities
(2007)- et al.
Risky decisions and response reversal: Is there evidence of orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction in psychopathic individuals?
Neuropsychologia
(2002) - et al.
Asperger's disorder in the emergency psychiatric setting
General Hospital Psychiatry
(2001) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
(1995)- et al.
A case of Asperger's syndrome first diagnosed in adulthood
Psychopathology
(1999)
An assessment of violence in a young man with Asperger's syndrome
British Journal of Psychiatry
Theory of mind and autism: A fifteen year review
Forensic aspects of Asperger's syndrome
The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology
Adults' emotional reactions to the distress of others
Theory of mind, causal attribution and paranoia in Asperger syndrome
Autism
Diagnostic assessment of Asperger's disorder: A review of five third-party rating scales
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Two terms-one meaning: The conundrum of contemporary nomenclature in autism
Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing
Case report: Asperger's Syndrome and sexual offending
Journal of Forensic Psychiatry
Firesetting in an adolescent boy with Asperger's syndrome
British Journal of Psychiatry
Aversive Pavlovian conditioning in psychopaths: Peripheral and central correlates
Psychophysiology
Asperger and his syndrome
Cited by (55)
Autism: Implications for high secure psychiatric care and move towards best practice
2020, Research in Developmental DisabilitiesExploring the relationship between fairness and ‘brain types’ in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder
2019, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological PsychiatryCitation Excerpt :Researchers reported that rates of violent behavior in ASD vary widely from 1.5% to 67%(Del Pozzo et al., 2018), and some studies supported an association between ASD and violence (Asperger, 1943; Baron-Cohen, 1988). Bjørkly (Bjørkly, 2009) investigated the motives of violence caused by Asperger individual's. Results indicated that some of the violent acts were motivated by communicative and social misinterpretations of other persons' intentions and being treated unfair.
Autism spectrum disorder, extremism and risk assessment
2024, Criminal Behaviour and Mental HealthA feasibility study to identify the presence of autism specific risk factors in secure services using an autism specific framework
2023, Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending BehaviourAutism and the Assessment and Management of Violence Risk
2023, Managing Clinical Risk: A Guide to Effective Practice, Second Edition
- ☆
I thank Ingrid Astrup for assistance with the literature search.