When Personality Isn’t Personal

Personality is what makes individuals who they are. It is the basis for interaction with other people as well as for responses to various situations. Personality has been largely demonstrated as coming into being as a result of genetics in combination with environment. To a large extent, children are born with the natures that will govern their reactions to life. To some extent, however, they are also shaped by their upbringing and life experiences. Scientists and medical professionals have been trying to define and characterize personality for centuries. As they learn more about what makes people who they are, they are also more able to identify disorders and therefore treat those disorders.

Personality Disorder
A personality disorder may seem like an impossible reality. Is there such a thing as a bad personality? Aren’t different personalities what make each of us our own individual? While that may be true, there are still some undesirable manifestations of personality. A personality disorder causes as person to be unable to function normally in society. That person is continually unhappy, regardless of the rationality of their feelings.

Symptoms of Personality Disorder
A person with Personality Disorder is consistently unable to fit into the world around them. They do not perceive themselves or others in a normal way. They may have unrealistic expectations of others in relation to themselves. They may see themselves as particularly better or worse than those around them. They do not respond with appropriate emotions to the people and situations around them. Uncontrolled anger and inappropriate affection are potential problems. They do not interact with people in appropriate ways. They are unable to control their impulses, or react to them inappropriately. If, for example, the person with a Personality Disorder sees himself as significantly better than the rest of the people around him, he may selfishly act and hurt others. Personality Disorder may manifest itself very early in life, even in childhood. The person with the Personality Disorder may be continually frustrated because he is unable to work with others in order to accomplish tasks. He cannot be flexible and adjust in order to fulfill obligations.

The Vicious Cycle
Personality Disorder causes the victim to have unrealistic expectations, as mentioned above. They may, in a sense, live in another person’s mind, thinking thoughts for that person. In doing so, they may act in a way so as to elicit the expected response from the other person. For example if the patient is convinced that he is disliked, he may become unlikable. This creates a cycle in which the personality disorder is intensified and perpetuated.

There are several different types of Personality Disorder which are described by the typical outflow from the person experiencing problems. Mild demonstrations of the various personality disorders do not necessarily qualify a person for the disorder. As with most psychiatric disorders, they stem from normal human emotions and reactions. A person with Personality Disorder takes what is normal and creates an extreme scenario. When that personality trait overflows into areas of life in which it does not belong and therefore affects and even hurts others, then it is no longer just personality. It becomes a disorder.

Frances, Allen MD and First, Michael B. MD. Your Mental Health: A Layman’s Guide to
the Psychiatrist’s Bible. New York: Scribner, 1998.

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