RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Psychopathic disorder: a category mistake? JF Journal of Medical Ethics JO J Med Ethics FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics SP 77 OP 85 DO 10.1136/jme.17.2.77 VO 17 IS 2 A1 Holmes, C A YR 1991 UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/17/2/77.abstract AB Although the concept of psychopathy retains its currency in British psychiatry, apparently being meaningful as well as useful to practitioners (1), it is often taken to refer to a purely legal category with social control functions rather than a medical diagnosis with treatment implications. I wish, in this brief article, to suggest that it is essentially, and most usefully, an ethical category which stands outside the diagnostic framework of present-day psychiatry.