Guidance
This guideline covers principles for working with people with antisocial personality disorder, including dealing with crises (crisis resolution). It aims to help people with antisocial personality disorder manage feelings of anger, distress, anxiety and depression, and to reduce offending and antisocial behaviour.
Last reviewed: 30 July 2024
We simplified the guideline by removing recommendations on general principles of care that are covered in other NICE guidelines (for example, the NICE guideline on service user experience in adult mental health). This is a presentational change only, and no changes to practice are intended.
Future updates: The current International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) does not distinguish between the previous separate types of personality disorder, but defines it as a single condition, classified by severity. We are continuing to explore if the existing recommendations can be contextualised in line with ICD-11.
Recommendations
This guideline includes recommendations on:
- general principles
- prevention
- assessment and risk management
- treatment and management
- psychopathy and dangerous and severe personality disorder
- organisation and planning of services
Who is it for?
- Healthcare professionals
- People with antisocial personality disorder, their families and carers
Guideline development process
How we develop NICE guidelines
This guideline was previously called antisocial personality disorder: treatment, management and prevention.
Your responsibility
The recommendations in this guideline represent the view of NICE, arrived at after careful consideration of the evidence available. When exercising their judgement, professionals and practitioners are expected to take this guideline fully into account, alongside the individual needs, preferences and values of their patients or the people using their service. It is not mandatory to apply the recommendations, and the guideline does not override the responsibility to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual, in consultation with them and their families and carers or guardian.
All problems (adverse events) related to a medicine or medical device used for treatment or in a procedure should be reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency using the Yellow Card Scheme.
Local commissioners and providers of healthcare have a responsibility to enable the guideline to be applied when individual professionals and people using services wish to use it. They should do so in the context of local and national priorities for funding and developing services, and in light of their duties to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, to advance equality of opportunity and to reduce health inequalities. Nothing in this guideline should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with complying with those duties.
Commissioners and providers have a responsibility to promote an environmentally sustainable health and care system and should assess and reduce the environmental impact of implementing NICE recommendations wherever possible.