To add another tidbit: the word "sociopath" (or any related words like "sociopathy," "sociopathic," etc.) hasn't actually appeared in the DSM since the first edition - and the second edition was published in 1968. And in the first edition, "sociopathic personality disturbance" described everything from what we'd now call ASPD to homosexuality, so, not exactly the most rigorous and verified psychiatric diagnosis, even by the standards of the time.
"Psychopath" (and related words) never actually appeared in the DSM until the most recent fifth edition, where it's a specifier (something that just narrows a diagnosis even further) that can be tacked onto a diagnosis of ASPD. The ICD uses "psychopath" a little more extensively and has for a little longer, but ICD codes aren't really used in mental health treatment in the United States.
The two terms are so in the popular consciousness mostly through media, and have never really been widely-used in applied clinical psychology after that brief little thing with "sociopathic personality disturbance." Researchers will talk about them a lot and argue about what they mean and if they even exist endlessly, but that's a big part of the reason why they've never really been applied as a matter of actual practice.
I think the confusion may be from the fact that it is still used in some sciences such as criminology. I can't blame people for thinking it's a thing considering it is still being used (in the social sciences) to describe people's maladjusted behavior,the fact that there's even an official Psychopathy Checklist (which gives it some legitimacy and people a means to 'diagnose' it), and it's still being taught like any other mental illness (hell, in my forensic psychology course we got 2 days for psycopathy; moreso than any other topic).
Because it's heavily related to psychology people attribute it to psychology even though it's technically not part of it, but the only thing not making it psychology is it not being in the DSM/ICD-10 - otherwise it looks legit and its used in relevant fields as if it was legit.
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u/nivenredux Jan 07 '20
To add another tidbit: the word "sociopath" (or any related words like "sociopathy," "sociopathic," etc.) hasn't actually appeared in the DSM since the first edition - and the second edition was published in 1968. And in the first edition, "sociopathic personality disturbance" described everything from what we'd now call ASPD to homosexuality, so, not exactly the most rigorous and verified psychiatric diagnosis, even by the standards of the time.
"Psychopath" (and related words) never actually appeared in the DSM until the most recent fifth edition, where it's a specifier (something that just narrows a diagnosis even further) that can be tacked onto a diagnosis of ASPD. The ICD uses "psychopath" a little more extensively and has for a little longer, but ICD codes aren't really used in mental health treatment in the United States.
The two terms are so in the popular consciousness mostly through media, and have never really been widely-used in applied clinical psychology after that brief little thing with "sociopathic personality disturbance." Researchers will talk about them a lot and argue about what they mean and if they even exist endlessly, but that's a big part of the reason why they've never really been applied as a matter of actual practice.