An opinion: casey anthony

Much has been made of Casey Anthony’s mental state as of late.

Now that she is alleging childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her father as the reason she took so long to report her daughter, Caylee, missing, her defense team further alleges that George Anthony was a witness to his granddaughter’s death and hid her body – both are claims that he denies.

As such, a lot of experts are calling ‘foul’ on Casey Anthony – some calling her a sociopath. A quick Google search for ‘Casey Anthony sociopath’ reveals 235,000 results. So what’s the story here?

One thing people with antisocial personality disorder, known as sociopaths, have in common with survivors of sexual abuse (which Casey claims to be) is lying.

But sociopaths lie to gain an advantage – to ‘con’ people, get out of trouble, manipulate, and gain power over others. A quick recap of Casey’s biggest lies to investigators and friends will attest to her deceitfulness, and her own trial defense admits that she had lied to investigators.

Psychiatry Online provides a reference to the diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder. For right now, we can check off “deceitfulness,” leaving two more behaviors before we can consider Anthony a sociopath. But, as much I think trouble with the law is a given in this situation, let’s look at some other bahviors.

Can we say Anthony is without remorse? If she did kill her daughter, she has not shown any guilt – and in her jailhouse letters she plans RV trips for when she is no longer in trouble. If she did not kill her daughter, then wouldn’t she have expressed more guilt about leaving Caylee with the man she claims abused her? Check two.

Is Anthony irresponsible? Considering she is a high school drop-out that was unemployed and relied on her parents for financial support, perhaps she is. If the allegations that she used chloroform to make Caylee sleep are true, then she is definitely irresponsible as a parent. Check three.

In fact, that might also constitute “reckless disregard for safety of self or others.” Check four.

For a diagnosis, you only need three out of the five main symptoms. I’m not a psychologist, at least not yet, but I think there may be something to all the hype.