This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
This article needs attention from an expert in Psychiatry or Psychology. The specific problem is: Expert needed to update the information, identify false information, and remove subtle biases that only an expert can identify.WikiProject Psychiatry or WikiProject Psychology (or their Portals) may be able to help recruit an expert.(July 2014)
This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2013)
This article or section contains close paraphrasing of one or more non-free copyrighted sources. Ideas in this article should be expressed in an original manner. More details may be available on the talk page.(April 2015)
This article's factual accuracy is disputed. Please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced. See the relevant discussion on the talk page.(April 2015)
Sadism involves gaining pleasure from seeing others undergo discomfort or pain. The opponent-process theory explains the way in which individuals not only display, but also take enjoyment in committing sadistic acts.[2][clarification needed] Individuals possessing sadistic personalities tend to display recurrent aggression and cruel behavior.[3][4] Sadism can also include the use of emotional cruelty, purposefully manipulating others through the use of fear, and a preoccupation with violence.[5]
Theodore Millon claimed there were four subtypes of sadism, which he termed Enforcing sadism, Explosive sadism, Spineless sadism, and Tyrannical sadism.[6][7][8]
Comorbidity with other personality disorders[edit]
Sadistic Personality Disorder is found to occur in unison with other personality disorders. Studies have also found that sadistic personality disorder is the personality disorder with the highest level of comorbidity to other types of psychopathological disorders.[5] In contrast, sadism has also been found in patients who do not display any or other forms of psychopathic disorders.[9] One personality disorder that is often found to occur alongside sadistic personality disorder is conduct disorder, not an adult disorder but one of childhood and adolescence.[5] Studies have found other types of illnesses, such as alcoholism, to have a high rate of comorbidity with sadistic personality disorder.[10]
Researchers have had some level of difficulty distinguishing sadistic personality disorder from other forms of personality disorders due to its high level of comorbidity with other disorders.[5]
Numerous theorists and clinicians introduced Sadistic Personality Disorder to the DSM in 1987 and it was placed in the DSM-III-R as a way to facilitate further systematic clinical study and research. It was proposed to be included because of adults who possessed sadistic personality traits but were not being labeled, even though their victims were being labeled with a self-defeating personality disorder.[11][page needed] Theorists like Theodore Millon wanted to generate further study on SPD, and so proposed it to the DSM-IV Personality Disorder Work Group, who rejected it.[6]
Subclinical sadism in personality psychology[edit]
There is renewed interest in studying sadism as a non-disordered personality trait.[4][12] Everyday sadism joins with subclinical psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism to form the so-called "dark tetrad" of personality.[4][13]
^Reidy D.E., Zeichner A., Seibert L.A. (2011). "Unprovoked aggression: Effects of psychopathic traits and sadism". Journal of Personality79 (1): 75–100. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00691.x.
^"Contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic personality traits to juvenile delinquency". Personality and Individual Differences47: 734–739. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2009.06.020.
^ abcBuckels, E. E.; Jones, D. N.; Paulhus, D. L. (2013). "Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism". Psychological Science24 (11): 2201–9. doi:10.1177/0956797613490749. PMID24022650.
^O’Meara, A; Davies, J; Hammond, S. (2011). "The psychometric properties and utility of the Short Sadistic Impulse Scale (SSIS)". Psychological Assessment23 (2): 523–531. doi:10.1037/a0022400.
^Chabrol H., Van Leeuwen, N., Rodgers, R., & Sejourne, N. (2009). Contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic personality traits to juvenile delinquency. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(7), 734-739.
Blaney, P. H., Millon, T. (2009). Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Davis, R., Millon, T. (2000). Personality Disorders in Modern Life. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Pacana, G. (2011, MARCH 02). Sadists and sadistic personality disorder.
Reich J (1992). "Prevalence and characteristics of sadistic personality disorder in an outpatient veterans population". Psychiatry Research48: 267–276. doi:10.1016/0165-1781(93)90077-t.
