Treatment Works

In James Fallon’s A Psychopath Inside, Fallon discovers that the neurological patterns in his brain match the patterns he had seen in the brains of psychopaths that he was researching. He later finds out that he has a family history of murderers. This causes Fallon to question if he is a psychopath. After all, the brain scans are the same and even his genes have qualities of psychopaths. Yet, Fallon says that he never felt like one and never thought of murdering someone. In his book, Fallon tries to understand himself with this newly discovered brain pattern, and discusses how this new information has changed his life and views of psychopaths.

            In A Psychopath Inside, Fallon talks about how there is a difference between personality and character. He explains that personality is the traits that an individual has which include things such as agreeableness and emotionality. However, an individual's character is seen when they are put into a stressful situation. Fallon states that personalities are genetic and tend to stay the same whereas character can be more easily changed. Robert Byron wrote an article called Criminals Need Mental Health Care in which he also believes that criminal’s characters can be changed, as long as they get the proper treatment.

Multiple Hollywood movies have taught the public that many times criminals will plead insanity in a trial to avoid getting a death sentence or reducing their punishment. However, pleading insanity is not seen as common as one would think. Half of all of the prisoners have a mental disorder and these people get little to no treatment (Byron, 2014). This results in many individuals relapsing to criminal behavior. Robert Byron mentions that forensic hospitals treat offenders found guilty by reason of insanity and have successfully prevented these individuals from reoffending.

But can people actually change even if their disorders are due to the structure of their brains? Fallon explains that the brain region tied to empathy functions less in psychopath’s brains, including his, making him less empathetic. However, towards the end of his novel, he explains how he is trying to change his behavior and learn how to share the feelings of others. He began to attend more funerals and weddings, events that he would usually not attend if other exciting opportunities arose. He explained that he hoped by doing these more humane things, it “might temporarily strengthen some weak synaptic circuitry so I could re-habit my habits into behaviors more suitable to mensch than a psychopath” (Fallon, p. 203). With time he admits that he believes he has changed a bit. This just shows that even when something may seem untreatable because it is an alteration in the brain, there can still be a treatment. This is why Byrons is pushing towards having prisoners treat their disorders.

           

 Byrons mentions that in 2005, 16,241 inmates released were analyzed by Connecticut’s Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division in which they found that 1,514 had a disorder. Some of these include, “chronic schizophrenia or bipolar disorders with frequent psychotic exacerbations, who need medication and assistance with activities of daily living, [as well as persons] with borderline personality disorder with frequent suicidal gestures or episodes of self-mutilation” (Byrons, 2014). The rate of recidivism for those with the disorders was much higher than the rest of the 16,241 inmates. Byron states that one of the reasons for this is drug addiction, which many people forget is a disorder. People are put in prison for substance abuse of illegal drugs, do not receive treatment in prison then are released into a community where they have no job or housing. This leads to a relapse to old habits and placed back into jail. The cycle of constantly being in and out of prison is not fair to any individual. After all, as Byron mentions, those individuals that pleaded insanity and receive help from forensic hospitals are treated and return to society as normal law-abiding citizens. More criminals can change their behaviors and stay out of prison if they received proper treatment as well.

            Byron suggests in having forensic hospitals or mental health courts as an alternative for offenders with disorders. So if treatments work, why aren't offenders getting them? The average annual cost for one prison inmate is about $33,000 whereas the cost for one in a forensic hospital is $500,000. However, Byron believes that these hospitals should still be used as the solution because individuals are not able to control their disorders. It is not entirely an individual’s fault for these disorders which can lead to criminal behavior. Their brains are physically different from the average individual. The reason why Fallon has the brain of a psychopath but does not commit any crimes is that he was raised in a better environment which tamed his psychopathic side. Had he been raised in poverty with a family that did not love him, he could have ended up in prison as well. Other people were not as fortunate and ended up in an environment that pushed their disorders, causing them to end up in prison. Byron hopes that one day prisons will have more funding to treat those with disorders. This can lead to a better system and keep more people out of jail.

Fallon, James H. The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain. New York: Current, 2013. Print.

Byron, Robert. “Criminals Need Mental Health Care.” Scientific American Global RSS. March 1, 2014. Web. Feb 27, 2015. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/criminals-need-mental-health-care/>