Post by Chris on Mar 23, 2016 17:02:06 GMT
Do you recognise any of these elements in yourself or others? Post a message to the forum.
Yes… next question. That’s the simple, glib answer to this question. In fact, I would become deeply suspicious if someone said they didn’t recognise any of these qualities or symptoms within themselves, or others, over the course of their lives.
In my view, the two “biggies” to be most concerned about are Antisocial Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. In many respects, these represent a list of symptoms most of us exhibit in childhood, but ones we hopefully grow out of – if our upbringing and environment allows us. That “if” is worth further consideration.
There is a distinctly American footprint here in the classifications – particularly with the other personality disorders. In an older, more British or European appreciation of the subject, many of the people solidly branded in the DSM as having Schizotypal Personality Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder, Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder, could simply be thought of as “different”. The American drive to compel introverts, perfectionists, individuals and eccentrics to conform to a childishly simple template explains much of the philosophy driving the anti-psychiatry movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
As to the two “biggies”… Hollywood and historians revere psychopaths! Blue Chip companies on both sides of the Atlantic actively seek out candidates who score highly on the psychopath scale and put them in charge of other people and huge budgets. People with ASPD are actively rewarded in western society.
As to Narcissistic Personality Disorder, recent studies have shown that there has been an epidemic of narcissism in the last 30 years. One study (I will have to track it down) shows that 80% of us consider ourselves to be “important people”, as opposed to 20% 50 years’ ago. Television, advertising and social media bombard us with messages that we are special and more important than the people around us, with whom we empathise less and less. We are fantasists, continually on the threshold of stardom and riches.
Yes… next question. That’s the simple, glib answer to this question. In fact, I would become deeply suspicious if someone said they didn’t recognise any of these qualities or symptoms within themselves, or others, over the course of their lives.
In my view, the two “biggies” to be most concerned about are Antisocial Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. In many respects, these represent a list of symptoms most of us exhibit in childhood, but ones we hopefully grow out of – if our upbringing and environment allows us. That “if” is worth further consideration.
There is a distinctly American footprint here in the classifications – particularly with the other personality disorders. In an older, more British or European appreciation of the subject, many of the people solidly branded in the DSM as having Schizotypal Personality Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder, Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder, could simply be thought of as “different”. The American drive to compel introverts, perfectionists, individuals and eccentrics to conform to a childishly simple template explains much of the philosophy driving the anti-psychiatry movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
As to the two “biggies”… Hollywood and historians revere psychopaths! Blue Chip companies on both sides of the Atlantic actively seek out candidates who score highly on the psychopath scale and put them in charge of other people and huge budgets. People with ASPD are actively rewarded in western society.
As to Narcissistic Personality Disorder, recent studies have shown that there has been an epidemic of narcissism in the last 30 years. One study (I will have to track it down) shows that 80% of us consider ourselves to be “important people”, as opposed to 20% 50 years’ ago. Television, advertising and social media bombard us with messages that we are special and more important than the people around us, with whom we empathise less and less. We are fantasists, continually on the threshold of stardom and riches.