Joey Barton and His Diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder

Antisocial personality disorder is a continuous mental condition that alters a person’s thinking, perceptions of situation and relationships. These are quite dysfunctional and also destructive. Generally, people with this disorder have no morality. To them right and wrong do not matter, they reject the rights, desires, and feelings of other people (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2015).

These people tend to irritate, manipulate, and treat others badly. A lot of times this disorder makes them violate the law, landing them in trouble frequently. These people are known to lie, be violent, and have some sort of addiction to drugs and/or alcohol. The characteristics mentioned, unusually make it difficult for them to function regularly in society. In this paper I will discuss how Joey Barton, a professional soccer play, is diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2015).

“According to the DSM-5, there are four diagnostic criterion, of which Criterion A has seven sub-features. These include:

Disregard for and violation of others rights since age 15, as indicated by one of the seven sub features:

• Failure to obey laws and norms by engaging in behavior which results in criminal arrest, or would warrant criminal arrest
• Lying, deception, and manipulation, for profit tor self-amusement,
• Impulsive behavior
• Irritability and aggression, manifested as frequently assaults others, or engages in fighting
• Blatantly disregards safety of self and others,
• A pattern of irresponsibility and
• Lack of remorse for actions (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)

The other diagnostic Criterion are:

• The person is at least age 18,
• Conduct disorder was present by history before age 15
• and the antisocial behavior does not occur in the context of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).” (Porter, 2015).

Joey Barton is most known for his aggressive and destructive behavior. Although it is not confirmed that he has this disorder, many skeptics believe he does. He fits several, if not all of the criterion in the DSM-5 (Skeith, n.d.).

Barton has a quite lengthy list of criminal offenses. Most noteworthy, would definitely be the time he poked a cigar into a teammate’s eye after he was taunted. He also made a choice in 2006 to request transfer, which earned him a lot of negative criticism from the fans of the club. In both of these cases, Barton acted in such a way that he showed no remorse (Skeith, n.d.). He acted quickly and out of anger which inferred with others on an extreme basis.

The one criteria I had difficulties finding was an act done prior to the age of 15. I was unable to locate any information on his previous history, but in my opinion, he probably displayed these behaviors early on. Barton disobeyed the law so frequently, that he is currently imprisoned (Skeith, n.d.). This is another example from DSM-5 to help prove his standings. He also reaches the age limits and has no reported case of schizophrenia or bipolar.

A disorder like this can pose a huge threat to the criminal justice system. Even with knowledge of these disorders, no one can ever be fully aware of the next crime they will commit. Persons with these disorders have altered cognition and do not rationally think. In my opinion we cannot blame them, rather make sure they are medicated and controlled. These people are very violent and do not regard others, making them very dangerous. Often times, treatments are not fulfilled and these people are not taken care of. I think as an officer, the best help you could give them is acceptance and patience. I mean, if you are aware of a repeated offender having a disorder such as this, you should try to teach them rather than lock them up. However if someone is not diagnosed, such as Joey, there is really nothing that can be done unless requested by the court.