ABSTRACT
This chapter provides practitioners with a firm grasp of the scientific foundations and clinical use of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and Psychopathy Checklist Screening Version and, for those already familiar with the instrument, to refresh their foundational knowledge with a systematic review of recent theoretical developments and research. Sociopathy differed from the traditional conceptualizations of psychopathy that underlie the PCLR in that the etiology of sociopathy lay less in heredity and more in the influence of environmental factors and personal experience. The interpersonal–affective presentation of certain manic or hypomanic bipolar patients might at least temporarily masquerade as psychopathic. PCL-R-defined psychopathy was positively correlated with the presence of substance use disorders and diagnoses of antisocial and borderline personality disorders, but was negatively correlated with depressive disorders. Classification by level of psychopathy was significantly related to violent recidivism, such that offenders with low, medium, or high scores demonstrated significantly different rates of violent reoffense.
