Antisocial behaviour and lying: a neuropsychiatric presentation of agenesis of the corpus callosum

Australas Psychiatry. 2014 Oct;22(5):461-6. doi: 10.1177/1039856214546535. Epub 2014 Aug 21.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this case study is to describe the case of a person with agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC), intellectual disability and features of antisocial behaviour and lying.

Methods: A 26-year-old woman with a mild intellectual disability who presented with antisocial behaviour and chronic lying was found to have ACC and associated cerebral abnormalities.

Results: Psychiatric, radiological and neuropsychological assessment of this patient provided convergent evidence of the importance of the corpus callosum in enabling understanding of social situations and appropriate social behaviour, particularly via its connectivity with the frontal regions of the brain.

Conclusion: Antisocial behaviour and lying may be more commonly associated with callosal dysgenesis than is currently realised.

Keywords: Diffusion Tensor Imaging; agenesis of the corpus callosum; antisocial behaviour; intellectual disability.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Agenesis of Corpus Callosum / pathology*
  • Agenesis of Corpus Callosum / physiopathology*
  • Deception*
  • Diffusion Tensor Imaging
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intellectual Disability / physiopathology*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Social Behavior Disorders / physiopathology*
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon