Major concepts of Personality Disorders

Major concepts of Personality Disorders

Socioeconomic class and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia occurs more often in lower socioeconomic groups. A survey jointly conducted by American psychiatric professionals and sociologists found that the prevalence of schizophrenia is inversely proportional to social class, and the ratio of low social level to high social level is 9: 1. It is speculated that this may be related to the weak economic level, poor living environment, lively activities, occupational insecurity, and other psychological and social stress loads are related. Based on its genetic qualities, it is prone to disease.

The parenting environment plays a role in the onset of schizophrenia. Some people find that patients with schizophrenia often have stricter family education methods and intense inner conflicts(Kring& Johnson, 2018). Most of the above situations occur before the onset of illness, and most of them have adverse experiences in childhood, such as father’s alcoholism and parental divorce. Being an illegitimate child, lacking family care,  and being sexually assaulted at an early age are all risky health trends. Parents with strange personality or suffering from mental or neurological diseases, etc .; also, some schizophrenia patients have tense parents and are not cared for at an early age, Parents’ inconsistencies or contradictions in education, as well as; healthy rivalry between siblings and so on. This abnormal family environment often increases the chance of schizophrenia..

Some scientists have also studied the emotional connection between family members before and after schizophrenia and found that the emotional relationship between family members and patients is too strong or too weak to affect the outcome and duration of treatment. Schizophrenia patients’ condition, deterioration, and recurrence; lifestyle and social interactions in schizophrenia patients’ families are also a cause of schizophrenia. There are families with confusion in the way of talking and thinking, and parents’ behavior also can be inconsistent with the patient-like, the conversation between parents and between them and the patient is often conducted in a unique and uncertain manner, the language used is incomplete or has multiple meanings, language

Theory of phrenology

Until the middle of the 18th century, the concept of brain functions was based on the ideas developed by the Roman philosopher Galen. The studies carried out by Galeno were accepted by the Catholic Church and disseminated throughout Europe. Galen proposed the ventricular doctrine, that is, the brain had only one mental function, and this was performed by the cerebral ventricles. He considered the ventricles ” pure ” regions, and the existence of three ventricles represented the most holy Trinity. It is, therefore, a noble region to receive the spirit. According to Galen, the brain mass was dirty and could not be responsible for mental faculties. In this way, the idea proposed in 1796 by Franz Joseph Gall.
Phrenology was the first relevant theory that explains cerebral localizationism. Developed by Gall, it represented a major milestone in the history of neuroscience. Although his study was of great importance in neuroscience, Gall was accused at the time of quackery and pseudoscience, as there was no scientific evidence to support his hypotheses. First, Gall postulates that the intellectual and moral faculties of human beings are innate, and their manifestation depends on brain organization. Second, it is proposed in his work that the brain is made up of substructures or ” sub-organs ” that are responsible for specific mental activities such as behavior, thinking and emotions(Brown& Barlow, 2016). According to Gall, the more complex the activity developed by the brain substructure, the greater its anatomical development. Therefore, the Austrian doctor believed that the brain had 27 mental faculties.
Gall proposed his theory through studies carried out on human and animal cadavers, as well as the analysis of the cranial structure in vivo. However, the scientific community assembled a committee that declared that the theory of phrenology was unreliable, as there was no scientific evidence that could corroborate the proposal made by doctor Joseph Gall.

Personality disorders

Paranoid personality is classified by psychology as a disorder. In general, it is characterized by types of paranoia and certain patterns of excessive distrust that become widespread over time.The individual who suffers from this disorder tends to distort reality, especially in relation to others.    This paranoid disorder can also be associated with depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), agoraphobia, suicide ideas, narcissism, “Borderline” syndrome, among others.

Symptoms of paranoid personality

The main symptoms of the paranoid personality are excessive distrust of other people, which are often problems that do not exist. People who show signs of paranoid personality tend to imagine, for example, that other people watch over them, comment behind their backs, oppress, hurt, lie or hide them.Thus, the person with paranoid personality sees as threats to his person and integrity, any individual, family or stranger, not allowing anyone to be trusted. Paranoia and distrust is permanent in those who suffer from this disorder(Hooley, Butcher, Nock& Mineka, 2017). For this reason, these individuals tend to have defensive and even aggressive attitudes towards others.Over time, the person who has such a disorder will no longer forgive offenses, returning or even anticipating insults. The frequent practice of this behavior in the social environment tends to isolate it more and more.When it manifests itself, the paranoid personality creates a resistance to other people, blocking it from external means and creating an internal emotional and psychic barrier. All the space outside is hostile and malevolent, so it must be avoided or combated. Its protection is the defense against these possible damages.

Personality disorders and DSM-5

Personality can be defined as an organizational system of individualities that shapes a person’s way of interacting with the environment. Although they are interchangeable, the terms personality and character are different in the sense that character is a conscious and intentional pattern of behavior that can be modified based on analysis and alteration of the worldview.

Although psychology has produced multiple conceptions of development and classification of personality, character and subtypes of temperament, there is increasingly convincing evidence for the existence of biological and genetic components(Comer& Comer, 2019). However, this article deals more with the description of personality as it manifests itself in clinical settings.Personality characteristics develop in adolescence or early adulthood, and are believed to last throughout life. Although they are subject to the influences of experiences that occur later in life, these characteristics are often shaped by experiences in early childhood.

References

Brown, T. A., & Barlow, D. H. (2016). Casebook in abnormal psychology. Cengage Learning.

Comer, R. J. & Comer, J.S. (2019). Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (9th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.

Kring, A. M., & Johnson, S. L. (2018). Abnormal psychology: The science and treatment of           psychological disorders. John Wiley & Sons.
Hooley, J. M., Butcher, J. N., Nock, M., & Mineka, S. (2017). Abnormal psychology. Edinburgh:             Pearson.