ABSTRACT
There have been many attempts to organize the various clinical syndromes as extremes on "dimensions of personality" (Eysenck, 1947) or as dimensions of psychosis (Lorr, Klett, & McNair, 1962). As far back as Hippocrates, mania, melancholia (depression), and phrenitis (schizophrenia) have been conceptualized as major forms of psychoses. The neuroses, particularly hysteria, have been thought of as another major disorder. Sociopathy was not classified as a disease until the 19th century, when the term moral insanity was coined by Pritchard. Until that time, sociopathy (also called antisocial reaction or psychopathy) was considered a problem of morals rather than a medical problem. Some psychiatrists and psychologists regard sociopathic behavior as a function of disturbed societal and familial conditions, whereas others regard sociopathy as another kind of psychosis, wearing the "mask of sanity" (Cleckley, 1964).
