Salekin Randall T
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, P.O. Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0348, USA.
Clin Psychol Rev. 2002 Feb;22(1):79-112. doi: 10.1016/s0272-7358(01)00083-6.
It is a widely held belief that psychopathic individuals are extremely difficult to treat, if not immune to treatment. This therapeutic pessimism is pervasive and undermines motivation to search for effective modes of intervention for psychopathic individuals. A review of 42 treatment studies on psychopathy revealed that there is little scientific basis for the belief that psychopathy is an untreatable disorder. Three significant problems with regard to the research on the psychopathy-treatment relation cast doubt on strident conclusions that deem the disorder untreatable. First, there is considerable disagreement as to the defining characteristics of psychopathy. Second, the etiology of psychopathy is not well understood. Third, there are relatively few empirical investigations of the psychopathy-treatment relationship and even fewer efforts that follow up psychopathic individuals after treatment. Psychologists are encouraged to investigate the psychopathy-treatment relation from multiple perspectives as well as to conduct long-term follow-up studies to establish a modern view of the psychopathy-treatment relation.
人们普遍认为，患有精神疾病的个体极难治疗，甚至无法治疗。这种治疗上的悲观情绪普遍存在，削弱了寻找针对精神疾病个体有效干预方式的动力。一项对42项关于精神疾病治疗研究的综述表明，认为精神疾病是一种无法治疗的疾病这一观点几乎没有科学依据。关于精神疾病与治疗关系的研究存在三个重大问题，这对认为该疾病无法治疗的尖锐结论提出了质疑。首先，对于精神疾病的定义特征存在相当大的分歧。其次，精神疾病的病因尚未得到很好的理解。第三，对精神疾病与治疗关系的实证研究相对较少，治疗后对患有精神疾病的个体进行跟踪随访的努力更少。鼓励心理学家从多个角度研究精神疾病与治疗的关系，并进行长期跟踪研究，以建立对精神疾病与治疗关系的现代观点。
