Sadistic personality disorder
| Sadistic personality disorder | |
|---|---|
| Illustration showing the pleasure that sadistic people often have from hurting someone | |
| Specialty | Psychiatry, clinical psychology |
| Symptoms | Cruelty, manipulation using fear, preoccupation with violence |
| Complications | Substance use disorder, marital, occupational and legal difficulties |
| Usual onset | Adolescence |
| Causes | Unclear |
| Risk factors | Childhood abuse |
| Diagnostic method | Based on symptoms |
| Differential diagnosis | Antisocial personality disorder and Sexual sadism disorder |
| Personality disorders |
|---|
| Cluster A (odd) |
|
| Cluster B (dramatic) |
| Cluster C (anxious) |
| ICD-11 classification |
|
| Other and unspecified |
|
| Depressive |
| Others |
|
Sadistic personality disorder is an obsolete term for a proposed personality disorder defined by a pervasive pattern of sadistic and cruel behavior. People who fitted this diagnosis were thought to have a desire to control others and to have accomplished this through use of physical or emotional violence. The diagnosis proposal appeared in the appendix of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R),[1] however it was never put to use in clinical settings and later versions of the DSM (DSM-IV, DSM-IV-TR, and DSM-5) had it removed. Among other reasons, psychiatrists believed it would be used to legally excuse sadistic behavior.
- ^ Hucker, Stephen J. Sadistic Personality Disorder