ABC News Experts talk about Casey Anthony’s potential disorder

An article from ABC News about Casey Anthony’s pathological lying and the disorder from which it may arise. Before I supply the text here, I want to discuss this quote:

Two of the potential issues Anthony could suffer from are border personality disorder and psychopathology, the experts said. The main thing these issues have in common is a total lack of empathy, according to LeslieBeth Wish, a psychologist and licensed social worker in Sarasota, Fla.

“They can turn a person into a non-person,” Wish said. “Borderline personalities have more emotional regulation problem and often use lying to get away from something and not ever feeling like they’re responsible.”

Those two potential issues were the ones that I identified and opined on the other day. The second paragraph above is why I believe that Casey Anthony probably doesn’t have BPD. The reasons for the lies are not impulsive and reactive, as they seem to be most often in BPD. People with BPD are much more likely to “bullshit” (as a term of art not vulgarity) than to actually lie with proactive intent. They can make up some elaborate stories about themselves, typically to make their world a safer and more livable place when others think better of them. Still, most often BPD lies are to get through a painful moment. Very often as the lies collapse, they will admit everything and ask forgiveness. Casey did NOT do this. She maintained her lies even after the police were aware they were lies. In fact, she started lying to her parents LONG BEFORE Caylee went missing.  She lied (by omission) about her pregnancy. She lied about having a job at Universal Studios BEFORE the cops got involved.

As for psychopathy…. I presented the guidelines of Hare’s PCL-R on the other page. Let’s look at them again and see which of these seem to match Casey Anthony, based on what we know from the press:

PCL-R items

The following findings are for research purposes only, and are not used in clinical diagnosis. These items cover the affective, interpersonal, and behavioral features. Each item is rated on a score from zero to two. The sum total determines the extent of a person’s psychopathy.

Factor 1

Aggressive narcissism – Hard to say for Casey Anthony. We don’t really know enough. We do know that, when in jail, she got angry about what this situation was doing to HER!

Glibness/superficial charm – Yes.

Grandiose sense of self-worth – Again hard to say. This is one factor that really separates BPD from the narcissism spectrum. People with BPD have a lot of shame and generally hate themselves.

Pathological lying – YES, YES, YES.

Cunning/manipulative – I’d have to say yes.

Lack of remorse or guilt – Again, I think we need to say yes here.

Emotionally shallow – Hard to say.

Callous/lack of empathy – Could be. Hard to say.

Failure to accept responsibility for own actions – Yes. It’s never her fault.

Factor 2

Socially deviant lifestyle – Party girl. One night stands.

Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom – Probably, but who knows.

Parasitic lifestyle – Yes. She was living off her parents and then off friends while pretending to have a job. Actually, it is interesting to note that she was telling her mother she had a job long before Caylee disappeared.

Poor behavioral control – Probably. Again, one night stands.

Promiscuous sexual behavior – Yes.

Lack of realistic, long-term goals – Yes.

Impulsiveness – Yes.

Irresponsibility – Yes.

Juvenile delinquency – well, some form of delinquency. She stole checks from her friend and passed them.

Early behavioral problems – unknown.

Revocation of conditional release – we’ll see.

Traits not correlated with either factor

Many short-term marital relationships – no, but many short-term boyfriends

Criminal versatility – it depends. She stole and possibly caused the death of her daughter. They couldn’t prove it in court to the satisfaction of the jury, but we may never know.

Ok, onto the article:

‘Dr. Judy’ Doubts Casey Anthony’s Penchant for Lying Can Be Cured

By CHRISTINA NG
July 19, 2011

Casey Anthony’s lawyers have said that Anthony has suffered “trauma” and will need counseling now that she is a free woman, but experts aren’t sure Anthony can be helped.

“It would be exceptionally difficult for anybody to treat her. There is no magic pill that’s a truth serum for a person who’s a pathological liar,” said Dr. Judy Kuriansky a psychologist from Columbia University, but better known from her radio show as Dr. Judy.

Kuriansky believes that Anthony likely feels that she has been rewarded for her lying with her acquittal and release from jail.

“Why would she want to go to therapy when she basically got what she wanted? There’s no motivation for her to seek help,” Kuriansky said. “If she had been sent to jail, maybe she would want to see somebody because her style didn’t work, but it did.”

Anthony, 25, is in hiding after being released from a Florida jail following her acquittal on murder charges for the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. She has received death threats and as she left jail protesters changed “Caylee, Caylee.”

Casey Anthony Therapy Will Be ‘Challenge’

Anthony’s criminal lawyer Jose Baez has said, “It is my hope that Casey Anthony can receive the counselling and treatment she needs to move forward with the rest of her life.”

Her civil attorney Charles Greene was quoted as saying Anthony was “emotionally unstable” following the trauma of her daughter’s death and the grueling trial.

Psychologists interviewed by ABCNews.com agree that the desire to change is the key to successful treatment for pathological liars, which some believe Anthony may be.

While acquitted of murder, she was convicted on four counts of lying to police. One of her lies was that Caylee was kidnapped by a fictional nanny named Zanny. Zanny was one of a dozen bogus characters that Casey had created. She also lied about working at Universal Studios.

None of the psychologists who spoke with ABCNews.com have treated Casey Anthony, but spoke from observations and personal experience.

Two of the potential issues Anthony could suffer from are border personality disorder and psychopathology, the experts said. The main thing these issues have in common is a total lack of empathy, according to LeslieBeth Wish, a psychologist and licensed social worker in Sarasota, Fla.

“They can turn a person into a non-person,” Wish said. “Borderline personalities have more emotional regulation problem and often use lying to get away from something and not ever feeling like they’re responsible.”

Wish explains that for people who suffer from these problems, separate lies can quickly become entire narratives that the teller can even come to believe as true.

“A lie begets a lie and it’s easy to get trapped in telling lies to protect other lies,” Wish said. “Does she believe her lies? She might, but more than likely she believes that she’s good enough to make you believe her lies.”

While Kuriansky emphasizes that she cannot make a diagnosis on a patient she has not seen, she does believe that Anthony has a personality disorder. Her personality disorder could have “narcissistic features with particular attention to pathological lying.”

The symptoms of this problem include volatile moods, extremely manipulative personalities, a lack of empathy of others and a strongly defensive nature, she said.

“I believe there is something that can be done for people like this,” said Tony Ferretti, a psychologist in Melbourne, Fla. “The behavior has been learned and can be unlearned. A person is not born a liar.”

The problem with Anthony, Ferretti believes, is that she does not appear to have the motivation or desire to change her behavior.

“It’s kind of like an addict, until they acknowledge that they have a problem or desire or motivation to change, nothing is going to chnge,” Ferretti said.

Casey Anthony Therapy Will Be ‘Formidable Challenge’ to a Therapist

Wish said the problem generally develops in early childhood and can come from a lack nurturing and stability, especially from parents.

Casey Anthony’s murder trial tore apart the Anthony family with lurid accusations that her father and brother molested her and that her father had a mistress. George Anthony denied those accusations. Casey Anthony’s relationship with her mother was also portrayed as strained, with several witnesses saying that the two argued a lot and were often at odds.

Psychologists agree that all of this could contribute to Casey Anthony’s penchant for lying.

Kuriansky believes that Anthony might be able to benefit from supportive counseling, but this would be a formidable challenge for a counselor or therapist who would need to be on guard about believing anything Anthony said.

“It’s really hard to treat,” Wish said. “You can’t say it’s impossible, but it’s very difficult.”

“These are people that cannot withstand very much self-examination, but you can work on emotional regulation and helping them understand and see [things] differently,” Wish said. “It’s a very small rope of balancing emotions and thinking.”

All three psychologists agree that it mainly comes down to what the person in question wants. If they want help, they can be successful, but if they do not, it is virtually impossible to help them.

Casey Anthony is a free woman and her next step is up to her, and perhaps her lawyers, but Wish believes, “She still needs something. She can’t just be tossed out there.”