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Intervening in the psychopath’s brain

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Abstract

Psychopathy is a disorder involving personality and behavioral features associated with a high rate of violent aggression and recidivism. This paper explores potential psychopharmacological therapies to modulate dysfunctional neural pathways in psychopaths and reduce the incidence of their harmful behavior, as well as the ethical and legal implications of offering these therapies as an alternative to incarceration. It also considers whether forced psychopharmacological intervention in adults and children with psychopathic traits manifesting in violent behavior can be justified. More generally, the paper addresses the question of how to weigh the psychopath’s presumptive right to non-interference in his brain and mind against the public interest in avoiding harm.

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Notes

  1. Personal correspondence with James Blair, June 2008.

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on an earlier version of this article, as well as to an audience at the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montreal in March 2012. The writing of the article was made possible in part by the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the John Templeton Foundation.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Walter Glannon

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  1. Walter Glannon
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Correspondence to Walter Glannon.

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Glannon, W. Intervening in the psychopath’s brain. Theor Med Bioeth 35, 43–57 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-013-9275-z

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