A nurse is talking to a female client who is a survivor of intimate partner violence. The woman relates that her husband has been told that he has the characteristics of an antisocial personality disorder

Question

The woman also informs the nurse that her husband has an extensive criminal record. The nurse interprets this information and suspects that the woman's husband would most likely demonstrate which behavior?

A) A risk for aggressive and assaultive violence toward people within and outside of his family
B) Intermittent remorse for the violence and abuse that he commits
C) Symptoms of depression along with harboring feelings of inadequacy
D) Purposefully remaining socially isolated from people other than those in his family

Answer 1

Ans: A
Evidence suggests that when people with borderline personality disorder are distressed, they are predisposed to interpret social situations as threatening and to respond with emotional dysregulation, verbal attacks, and physical violence. People who meet the diagnostic criteria of antisocial personality disorder, have an extensive history of criminal behavior, and who are generally violent are also more likely to be both aggressive and assaultive. These perpetrators have a heightened sensitivity to emotional displays that predispose them to interpret social situations as threatening and to respond with emotional dysregulation, verbal attacks, and physical violence.