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[Music]
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we need to talk about Kevin is a 2011
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Thriller drama directed by Lyn Ramsey
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and adapted from the 2003 fiction novel
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by Lionel Shriver the film centers
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around Eva katchadorian played by Tilda
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Swinton as she deals with the aftermath
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of a school Massac committed by her son
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Kevin depicted by Ezra Miller although
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Eva and her soul shattering experience
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is the focus of the movie Kevin her
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husband Franklin played by John C Riley
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and their daughter Celia often make
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appearances providing insight into the
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life of Kevin and what led him to commit
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such a horrendous crime the story
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progresses in a nonlinear fashion
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frequently employing flashbacks of
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Kevin's life the only present-- day
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actions seen in the film are Eva leaving
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her house and visiting Kevin in prison
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on the second anniversary of the
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massacre right before he is transferred
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to an adult prison for the purpose of
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this video I will actually be focusing
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on Kevin and trying to diagnose his
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mental illness as well as suggest
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treatment let me discuss some client
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history first so Kevin's family history
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medical mental history those sort of
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things Kevin lives with his mother and
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father in an outwardly stable household
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however from the beginning Eva has
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difficulty connecting with Kevin as his
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mother while Kevin shows strong responds
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to Franklin his father as a newborn
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Kevin cries so much with Eva that she
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tries to drown out the sound with the
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Jackhammer only to calm down in
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Franklin's arms as the firstborn child
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Kevin seizes baby sister Celia as a
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threat when she is born but eventually
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learns to tolerate her using her to do
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menial tasks for him such as getting a
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soda near the date of the massacre Eva
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and Franklin discussed getting divorce
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and Kevin overhears them and confronts
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them about it listen buddy it's easy to
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understand something when you hear it
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out of
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context why would I not know the
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context I am the context there isn't a
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lot on Kevin's medical history in the
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film but there's a few situations that
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correlate with his mental illness for
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example as a toddler Kevin torments his
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mother by refusing to talk thinking his
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hearing is damaged from all the
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screaming he did as a baby she takes to
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the Doctor Who says there's nothing
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wrong with him I wouldn't worry about it
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too much in his early childhood Kevin
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torments his mother by refusing to potty
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train which frustrates his mother to the
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point that she throws him across the
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room breaking his
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arm later we'll see how he uses the
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broken arm to manipulate others as far
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as mental history goes Kevin is actually
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high functioning mentally only acting
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like he can't talk or refusing to potty
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train in order to manipulate those
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around him to Franklin Cavin is just a
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normal kid but he completely different
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around Eva now let's take a look at some
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of Kevin's observable symptoms in the
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film I'll be characterizing his actions
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with a set of traits that are all
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connected by one illness which I'll
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diagnose him with later we frequently
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see Kevin as a toddler being very
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non-compliant with his mother this could
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be characterized by having a shallow
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affect which is an emotional poverty or
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a feeling of coldness towards others
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after shamelessly insulting his mother's
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decoration of a room Kevin D faces it
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with paint showing a lack of remorse a
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lack of empathy and a tendency towards
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impulsivity at one point in the film
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Kevin is fed up with his mother so he
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decides to defecate in his pants forcing
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her to change his diaper for a second
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time this frustrates Eva so she throws
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him across the room breaking his arm
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Kevin then lies to Franklin about how he
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broke his arm so he can use this to
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Blackmail Eva right after Kevin slams
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his sandwich onto a table so Eva has to
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clean it up Franklin comes home from
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work and Kevin immediately switches
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emotions acting enthused about his day
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ranting about the average person's
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obsession with shocking news Kevin talks
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about how people like him are the ones
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that get attention on TV in order to
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occupy himself Kevin continuously
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practices archery after his father gives
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him a bow and arrow as a gift after
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Celia's pet bunny Mr Snuffles is found
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dead in the kitchen sink Eva uses drain
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cleaner to clean up the mess Eva claims
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to have put the drain cleaner away
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afterwards so when Celia accidentally
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goes blind in one eye she thinks it's
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Kevin's fault but he denies
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responsibility and says Celia is going
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to have to suck it up now in a rapid
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fire list I'm going to show you a few
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more examples of Kevin demonstrating
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these traits despite clearly being at
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the bookstore Kevin Lies when his mother
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asks if he was at the book store that
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day before Eva takes Kevin out to dinner
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he Gorges himself with a chicken saying
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he was hungry once at dinner he
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completely breaks down the conversation
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making his mother uncomfortable Kevin
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also collects CDs with viruses on them
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which his mother ends up finding and
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accidentally spreading to everyone at
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her work at one point Kevin is caught
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masturbating and simply continues
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showing No
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Remorse these 10 traits are part of
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Robert Harris's psychopathy checklist
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which scores clients from zero or does
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not apply to two or fully applies on
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each trait with a minimum of 30 out of
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40 points to qualify as a
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psychopath now the film does not show
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enough to go through the checklist
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completely but from my common knowledge
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I would label Kevin as a psychopath also
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known as a sociopath also called
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antisocial personality disorder the
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diagnostic and statistical Manual of
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mental disorders or DSM for short goes
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in-depth about the diagnosis and
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treatment of both antisocial personality
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disorder and callous unemotional conduct
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disorders two disorders which are
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closely linked since callous unemotional
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traits are a prerequisite for
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psychopathy if we look at the diagnostic
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criteria for antisocial personality
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disorder we see that many of the
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criteria are met by Kevin including
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criteria A1 through A6 C and D criteria
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B is not met because Kevin is only 15
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when he commits the murders and he's
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only 17 when we see him in the film what
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can be accurately diagnosed is a mild
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childhood onset conduct disorder with
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limited pro-social emotions featuring a
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lack of remorse callous emotions and
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shallow effect the real controversy is
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whether it's morally justifiable to
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label a child as a psychop ath now there
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have been child's psychopathy tests
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developed Jennifer Khan's New York Times
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article can you call a 9-year-old
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psychopath discusses the presence of
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these callous unemotional traits in
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children which can be measured with
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child psychopathy tests which in this
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case would reveal that Kevin is in fact
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a psychopath now I'm going to perform a
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functional assessment on a scale of 1 to
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100 to see how well Kevin functions in
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society up until the massacre I would
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give Kevin a 75 out of 100 when it comes
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to societal function for the majority of
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Kevin's life it can be inferred that he
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functioned fairly well in Social
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settings likely appearing friendly in
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order to gain trust from others and
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manipulate them to his own ends
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unfortunately the film makes no mention
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of Kevin's social life including his
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friendships romantic relationships and
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general behavior in school once Kevin
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commits the homicides I would give him a
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score of five or less due to his
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explicit danger to society while in
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prison his functional assessment score
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would remain fairly low but with
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treatment he could be released back into
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into society as an adult with a better
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score perhaps around 40 since he would
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have trouble getting jobs and forming
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relationships as a registered criminal
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let's take a look at treatment for Kevin
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no treatment explicitly occurs within
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the movie although Prozac is made
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mention of towards the
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end tried as a
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minor out of your head on
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Prozac you'll be out of there in a
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couple years Prozac is a selective
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serotonin reuptake inhibitor or
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anti-depressant that has been linked to
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violence but these so-called side
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effects are the result of underlying
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mental illness and studies show that
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Prozac actually reduces aggressive
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behavior which is why it's used to treat
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conduct disorders Kevin along with his
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lawyers used Prozac as a way to shift
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the blame and reduces sentence as of
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right now there's no known cure for
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psychopathy particularly because it is
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linked to reduced gray matter in the
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paralympic system of the brain which is
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involved with empathy motivation and
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self-control Psychotherapy can be used
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to treat antisocial personality disorder
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but there are no drugs specifically for
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this disorder rather individual symptoms
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may be treated such as with proac for
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the impulsive aggressive behavior in
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addition to drug therapy the conduct
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disorder could be treated with family
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therapy and family intervention using
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techniques such as positive
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reinforcement instead of punishment to
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attain desired behaviors however with
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Kevin's callous unemotional Tendencies
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the likelihood of reinforcement or
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punishment to work are low so where does
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Kevin Go From Here UNT fortunately due
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to Kevin's history of having antisocial
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personality traits throughout his
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childhood and committing such a
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horrendous crime there's a high
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likelihood for recidivism meaning
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without proper treatment in prison he
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would be likely to commit another crime
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once released the good thing is that
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antisocial personality disorder begins
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to remit by age 40 so Kevin would
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eventually outgrow his violent
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tendencies we need to talk about Kevin
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as just a movie well and a book but the
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level of realism it displays is
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remarkable in that New York Times
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can you call a 9-year-old psychopath
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Jennifer Khan describes the behavior of
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a child named Michael who shows signs of
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callous unemotional traits she speaks of
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his uncanny ability to shift emotions
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instantly and his inconsolable screaming
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as a child without rational cause for
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this reason we need to talk about Kevin
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makes a positive impact on the field of
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psychology in that it sheds light on
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real problems that children like Michael
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face any progress towards removing the
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stigma around labeling will ultimately
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help in the treatment of antisocial
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personality disorders the earlier the
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better by waiting for a diagnosis until
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18 personality traits are already
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cemented and crimes may have already
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been committed as in Kevin's case
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[Music]
