PSYCHOPATHY AND TBI

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the psychopath Podcast, a podcast that discusses everything
about psychopathy. Here's your host, doctor Carlos.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Have you ever wondered what your furry friend is really thinking, Well,
let me introduce to you my new book, Dog Psychology
by doctor Carlos Baskin. As a psychology professor with over
ten years experience, I've unlocked the secret so the Canine Psyche.
I will teach you how to understand your dog's body language,
to code their barks and wines, so all behavioral puzzles,

(00:50):
and strengthen your pond like never before. With Dog Psychology,
you'll see the world through your dog's eyes. Don't just
be a dog owner, become a dog with so go
get Dog Psychology by doctor Carlos Vasquez, available now on
kindle or paperback on Amazon. I was looking at TBIs.

(01:17):
We've seen it with other types of criminal behavior and
other subsequent psychiatric issues. I was thinking about TBI and
what they know in regard to psychopathy, and there is
a growing body of research which is shedding a light
on the complex relationship between TBI and the development of
psychopathic traits, particularly among individuals involved in the justice system.
Study suggests that head trauma may play a significant role

(01:39):
in fostering psychopathic behaviors by impairing key brain injury regions
and influencing cognitive functions and substance use patterns and adolescents.
Within the justice system, traumatic brain injuries have been associated
with heightened psychopathic traits. Again, the keyword here is associated,

(01:59):
So it's a correlational study. We don't know if it
causes it, particularly in the affect or the emotional and
impulsive lifestyle domains. There's four domains. Research indicates that the
severity and frequency of TBIs very important. The frequency and
the severity. I would also say that, well, that's really
of the durvation here of TBIs correlate with lower IQ

(02:20):
scores and increased substance use factors that in turn amplify
psychopathic tendencies. So you can see the indirect correl indirect
connection here. For example, a study highlighted the repeated or
severe head injuries disrupt cognitive processes, potentially exacerbating impulsive and
emotionally detached behaviors often seen in psychopathy among adult women.

(02:43):
In justice involved settings, we see similar patterns the severity
of TBI and the age at which the first injury
occurs appears to predict interpersonal affect of psychopathic traits, so
you'll think see things like manipulative manipulation or lack of empathy.
These findings point to a possible causal link. Brain trauma

(03:05):
may alter neurological functioning in ways that predisposed individuals to
psychopathic characteristics. As experts suggest that early intervention targeting cognitive
deficits and substance abuse could mitigate these traits and at
risk populations. The brain regions implicated in this connection include

(03:25):
the pre funnel cortex, the limbic system, the emotions and
paralymbic area structures for critical emotional regulation, decision making, and
impulse control, which are all located in that pre funnel cortex,
as well as the paralymbic areas. Research shows that reductions
in gray matter volume and the pre funnel cortex are
consistently linked to psychopathic traits and criminal behavior. Actually, most

(03:48):
psychiatric issues are also linked to pre funnel cortex issues.
Johnson Johansson at All noted a negative relationship between prefrontal
gray matter volume and antisocial behaviors, a hallmark of psychopathy.
The olymbic and paralymbic regions, including the amygdala, your freer center,

(04:08):
your threat center, the insula, which is self interperception. Basically,
what that means is you're aware of your own body
or aware of your own emotions, of what's going inside
of you. Your orbital frontal cortex, which is also regulating emotions,
impulse control, things of that nature. They also play a role.

(04:29):
Another study identified disrupted connectivity in these areas among individuals
with psychopathic traits, while another study observed decreased gray matter
volume in paralympic regions among incarcerated male adolescents. Now you
got a member. White matter typically is responsible for communication
between the different brain structures, while gray matters more about

(04:49):
the processing. These regions are affected by TBI and demonstrated
another study who found that head trauma justice involved youth
increased psychopathic tendencies through its impact on cognition and substance use.
Now you have to try to extrapolate what impact does
substance use have on the brain as well? Does it
exacerbate the issue of this TBI. In summary, the prefrontal cortex,

(05:12):
limbic and paralympic systems emerges critical links between TBI and
psychopathy so that's kind of the gist of it all,
but you can see the TBI is definitely playing a role.
We see a high correlation with TBI as well as
pedophiles is another one which is kind of interesting to
see how that's operating. So again, head trauma, substance use, emotional, physical, sexual,

(05:38):
or any other type of abuse or neglect during childhood
will also impact this individual. Is usually a combination of
things going on here, but it was an interesting study
to see the impact of TBI. And if you look
at some of these serial killers, if they give you
some of the background of their past, you'll see tbi's present.

(06:00):
That's enough for now.