The Personality Disorder

CLASSIFICATION OF PERSONALITY DISORDER


One of the more fascinating contributions of psychology to criminology is the concept of PSYCHOPATHY, also called sociopathy (the term preferred by sociologists), criminal personality (a term popularized by Yochelson and Samenow), and APD, or Antisocial Personality Disorder (the clinical DSM-IV disorder). Actually, the APD diagnosis (which predicts symptoms quite reliably) is much more common than the psychopathy diagnosis (which collects causes with more validity). Not all APDs are psychopaths, but all psychopaths are usually APDs. Persistent APDs usually wind up in prison, but psychopaths are more than persistent APDs — psychopaths are believed to be remorseless predators who use any means necessary to achieve their ends and to avoid detection.

Early-to-mid 20th Century criminology was heavily influenced by the psychological determinist position that all criminals were psychopaths. Much of this thinking is now outdated, but the field of Orthopsychiatry remains which, since the depression era, has held that all criminal behavior is an expression of mental illness.” Karl Menninger (1968) is also a key figure in this regard.   On any given day, about 70,000 inmates in the United States are psychotic, and a great number more (at least a quarter-million) suffer from mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.  Prisons hold three times more people with mental illness than do psychiatric hospitals, and U.S. prisoners have rates of mental illness that are up to four times greater than rates for the general population (Human Rights Watch figures, 2003). 

What makes them different (above is a scenario in the mental ward while below is in prison)

The following checklist summarizes all if not most of the psychological or psychiatric defects or deformities that psychologists and criminologists thought, at one time, were indicative of psychopathy. These indicators were often the basis for insanity pleas, mitigating circumstances, or just understanding criminals in the early 20th century. Today, much of it is used by the law as aggravating circumstances.  Please note that this list contains many items which are presently regarded as myths or falsehoods about criminals.

      1. Freudian slips of the tongue (indicative of mental conflict)
      2. Guilt feelings (covered up, but wants to be punished for something)
      3. Uses defense mechanism of projection (blaming others for own faults)
      4. Uses defense mechanism of displacement (ditching, self-handicapping, settling for 2nd best, being own worst enemy, but feels entitled to something or being 1st)
      5. Oral fixation (smokes or always has to have something in mouth)
      6. Oedipus complex (or other love/hate relationship with parents)
      7. Comes from a dysfunctional family or broken home (absent or abusive father)
      8. Impervious to fear, anxiety, depression, or remorse (unremorseful)
      9. Superficially charming, a real cool cat (manipulative and conning)
      10. Inability to love or express emotions deeply, can’t respond to kindness (cold)
      11. Pathological lying (for no reason at all, can’t help self)
      12. No self-insight (doesn’t reflect much upon own personality makeup)
      13. No self-humor (can’t stand to be the butt of jokes or can’t laugh at self)
      14. A fairly high IQ (good grades in school or disparity in achievement)
      15. Uses neologisms (makes up strange new words, abbreviations, or sayings)
      16. Fascination with fire (or death, or purified ways to destroy something)
      17. Cruelty to animals (or doesn’t like animals)
      18. Lack of probity, courtesy, or doesn’t tolerate society’s “niceties” or obligations
      19. Moody, obsessive-compulsive, suffers from one or more phobias
      20. Does not tend to learn from mistakes unless immediate punishment given
      21. Lack of formal-operational thinking (tends to think in concrete, black-or-white terms)
      22. Identity conflict (often with delayed adolescence, hasn’t grown up in certain ways)
      23. Preconventional morality (thinks things are wrong only because it might lead to punishment or it’s not in his/her best interests right now, failure to understand disparities between own behavior and socially acceptable behavior, often in trouble with the law)

SELF-HANDICAPPING: Another type of Personality Disorder 

One of the more interesting “myths” about psychopathic criminals is the notion that they have fairly high intelligence, yet make stupid mistakes.  This notion pervades much of the psychological literature (e.g. Sternberg 2002) and popular culture (see Dumb Criminal Acts).  This notion is sometimes used when a political leader, like a President or world-renowned scientist, jeopardizes their career, good name, and credibility by engaging in some sort of really stupid behavior – like having sex with an intern or underage child, for example.  Hence, the “mythology” persists that psychopaths usually rise to power in politics or business with their mental illness undetected until they make some stupid mistake. 

The name for this phenomenon — when people slack off from using their best common sense — is called SELF-HANDICAPPING, and the origins of this concept have been traced by Berglas (1990).  Whether or not it’s an attribute of psychopathy is controversial, but mainstream criminology embraces some related ideas in such concepts as displacement (strain theory), least effort (learning theory), and impulsiveness (control theory).

Basically, self-handicapping is the belief that you’re so truly smart, that you don’t need to exert any effort to prove it.  Such a person cares deeply about looking smart, but in order to avoid the appearance of being dumb, they decide to slack off and not try at all.


The MULTIPLICITY OF PERSONALITY

Another most alibis’ used by the criminal like John Wayne Gacy is the multiple personalities to evade criminal liability. In his case, he told the police and the court that it was not him who does criminal acts, but rather his other personality within him. According to Dr. Lawrence Freedman of the University of Chicago who studies the case, Gacy is the most complex personality he ever encountered who has more than 4 personalities.


THE BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER (BPD) AND OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD)

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, emotional adjustments, and marked impulsivity demonstrated in a variety of contexts (in Filipino – sala sa lamig sala sa init, sobrang mahal at bilib sa sarili, mahirap pakibagayan at madaling maginit o magalit).  Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is when a person has illogical and irresistible thoughts or impulses that they consider absurd and attempt to resist (nag-iisip at nangangarap makamit o makuha ang isang bagay kahit mahirap at gagawin nya ito sa tama o maling paraan) These irresistible thoughts (or obsessions) must be are acted out physically (as compulsions) because the person feels that something bad will happen if they don’t.  Both conditions are types of personality disorders along different clusters, but BPD and OCD are similar in their difference from other types of personality disorders.  As opposed to disorders along the antisocial spectrum which can be said to represent a disease of detachment, borderlines and the obsessive-compulsives can be said to be afflicted with a disease of attachment.

Such people are often pathologically attached — to persons, places, and things — so much that they sometimes block out any other person’s right to an opinion or thoughts of their own. As with all personality disorders, there’s a disinhibition of violence, and sometimes violence may be directed toward another person.  That’s usually when they come to the attention of criminal justice authorities.  The vast majority of people with BPD and OCD are law-abiding, however.

Borderline Personality Disorder was officially recognized as a diagnosis in 1980. It is so widely used that 20% of psychiatric patients have it (it’s one of the most common co-occurring psychopathologies), and it’s estimated that 3-5% of the general population has it. 66% of all known borderlines are females. At least 5 of 9 features must be present for the diagnosis:

      1. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment (fear of abandonment)
      2. Unstable and intense interpersonal relationships (alternating extremes of idealization and devaluation)
      3. Identity disturbance (a feeling that one doesn’t exist or embodies evil)
      4. Impulsiveness (in such areas as sex, substance abuse, crime, or reckless driving)
      5. Recurrent suicidal thoughts, gestures, or behaviors (depressive loneliness)
      6. Emotional instability and/or mood swings
      7. Chronic feelings of emptiness (boredom)
      8. Inappropriate displays of intense anger (temper tantrums)
      9. Transient, stress-related paranoia, dissociation, or doubling

Obsessive-Compulsiveness is characterized by obsessions, defined as recurrent and persistent ideas, and compulsions, defined as repetitive, purposeful, and intentional behaviors performed in response to an obsession. As is obvious, the two go together. Minor symptoms include perfectionism, preoccupation with details, over consciousness, and an inability to delegate work to others. Moderate symptoms include inflexibility and miserly hoarding of money or restricted expressions of affection. Severe symptoms include a flooding of emotions, impulses to kill, and stereotypical behavior. To be diagnosed with OCD, a person needs only 4 out of 8 characteristics:

      1. Perfectionism
      2. Preoccupation with details
      3. Reluctance to delegate tasks
      4. Excessive devotion to work
      5. Overconscientiousness and inflexibility about matters of morality & ethics
      6. Miserliness (saving needless things for the future)
      7. Inability to discard worn-out or worthless objects
      8. Behavior that is rigid and stubborn

THE NEUROTIC

Neurosis is a disorder of the psychic or mental functions without lesions of nerves and of less severity than a psychosis. A neurotic is a person suffering from neurosis. They are characterized by a morbid nature or tendency. The most known character of NEUROTIC IS THE MANIC TENDENCY of various types.

Neurosis, in psychoanalysis, a mental illness characterized by anxiety and disturbances in one’s personality. Generally, only psychologists who adhere to a psychoanalytic or psychodynamic model of abnormal behavior use the term neurosis. Psychiatrists and psychologists no longer accept the term as a formal diagnosis. Laypersons sometimes use the WORD NEUROTIC TO DESCRIBE AN EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE PERSON. There are three (main) common types of NEUROSIS, they are:

1. DISSOCIATIVE DISORDER

Characterized by dissociation, a failure to integrate information about one’s personal identity, memories, sensations, and states of consciousness into a unified whole. This is a disorder characterized by the presence of two or more distinct identities. Dissociative Identity Disorder is the term used by psychologists whose according to the person is in a state of multiple personality disorder (see multiple personalities disorder/split). 

2. ANXIETY DISORDER

Anxiety Disorders are mental illnesses in which a person experiences an abnormally high level of anxiety over a long period of time. Symptoms of the different anxiety disorders vary widely, among them are:

(a) Generalized anxiety disorder

People with generalized anxiety disorder feel anxious most of the time. They worry excessively (takot at pagaalala ng walang basehan base sa mga naririnig like earthquake, covid, delubyo etc..) about routine events or circumstances in their lives.

(b) Phobias

A phobia is an excessive, enduring fear of clearly defined objects or situations (labis na labis na pagkatakot sa isang bagay ng walang dahilan) that interferes with a person’s normal functioning. Although they know their fear is irrational, people with phobias always try to avoid the source of their fear.

(c) Panic Disorder

Panic is an intense, overpowering surge of fear. People with panic disorder experience panic attacks—periods of quickly escalating, intense fear and discomfort accompanied by such physical symptoms as rapid heartbeat, trembling, shortness of breath, dizziness, and nausea. (Note the difference between phobia: Sa phobia nakikita mo at nararamdaman ang kinakatakutan mo, sa PANIC DISORDER “wala at hindi mo nakikita ang kinatatakutan mo”.

(d) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder 

(See and read again the previous topic)

(e) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Post-traumatic stress disorder sometimes occurs after people experience traumatic or catastrophic events, such as physical or sexual assaults, natural disasters, accidents, and wars (Traumatic Experience).

      • difficulty sleeping
      • irritability
      • trouble concentrating

3. PHOBIAS

Phobia is an intense and persistent fear of a specific object, situation, or activity (and if you see above PHOBIA IS ALSO PART OF ANXIETY DISORDER). Because of this intense and persistent fear, the phobic person often leads a constricted life. The anxiety is typically out of proportion to the real situation, and the victim is fully aware that the fear is irrational.

Phobic anxiety is distinguishable from other forms of anxiety only in that it occurs specifically in relation to a certain object or situation. This anxiety is characterized by physiological symptoms such as a rapid, pounding heartbeat, stomach disorders, nausea, diarrhea, frequent urination, choking feelings, flushing of the face, perspiration, tremulousness, and faintness. Some phobic people are able to confront their fears.

In the psychoanalytic model, neurosis differs from psychosis, another general term used to describe mental illnesses. Individuals with neuroses can function at work and in social situations, whereas people with psychoses find it quite difficult to function adequately.

People with neuroses do not grossly distort or misinterpret reality as those with psychoses do. In addition, neurotic individuals recognize that their mental functioning is disturbed while psychotic individuals usually do not. Most mental health professionals now use the term psychosis to refer to symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and bizarre behavior.


PSYCHOSIS

The term psychosis describes a disintegration of the thinking process, involving the inability to distinguish external reality from internal fantasy. The characteristic deficit in psychosis is the inability to differentiate between information that originates from the external world and information that originates from the inner world of the mind (such as distortions of normal thinking processes) or the brain (such as abnormal sensations and hallucinations: ikumpara sa mga naunang topic, dito sa PSYCHOSIS ang tao na nakakaramdam nito minsan iba na ang tingin sa paligid at malayo sa katotohanan halimbawa may naririnig pero wala naman talagang nagsasalita (delusions ang tawag); o di kaya may nakikita pero mali ang tingin tulad ng tingin sa tao halimaw (hallucinations naman ang tawag dito) kaya minsan nakakagawa ng KRIMEN ang mga TAONG MAY PSYCHOSIS). Most often what causes psychosis for a NORMAL BEING?

Psychosis is a common feature of schizophrenia. Psychotic symptoms are often a feature of organic mental disorders, mood disorders, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, delusional (paranoid) disorder, brief reactive psychosis, induced psychotic disorder, and atypical psychosis.

Schizophrenia AS PSYCHOSIS is best understood as a group of disorders with similar clinical profiles, invariably including thought disturbances in a clear sensorium and often with characteristic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, bizarre behavior, and deterioration in the general level of functioning.

OTHER PSYCHOTIC RELATED DISORDERS ARE:

Schizoaffective disorder is a condition that includes persistent delusions, auditory hallucinations, or formal thought disorder consistent with the acute phase of schizophrenia, but the condition is also frequently accompanied by prominent manic or depressive symptoms. Schizoaffective disorder is further divided into bipolar (history of mania) and unipolar (depression only) types (may naririning kahit walang nagsasalita, nagsasalita mag isa, minsan problemado o di kaya pilit na inaari ang hindi sa kanya).

Delusional disorders are characterized by prominent well-organized delusions and by the relative absence of hallucinations; disorganized thought and behavior; and abnormal effects. The delusional disorders are divided into six types: persecutory, grandiose, erotomanic, jealous, somatic, and unspecified (wrong thinking – maling naririning o paniniwala, maling pag-iisip o pagdududa: nababaliw pero mukhang hindi kasi once kinausap mo mukhang matino).

 Brief reactive psychosis describes a condition in which an individual develops psychotic symptoms after being confronted by overwhelming stress (kapag na stress nagging psychotic tulad ng malaking problems, kawalan ng pera, labis na kalungkutan, atbp). The onset of symptoms is abrupt, without the gradual symptom development often seen in schizophrenia or schizophreniform disorder, and the duration is brief (no longer than 1 month).

 

Induced psychotic disorder describes a disorder characterized by the uncritical acceptance by one person of the delusional beliefs of another (posibling nahawa sa kabaliwan ng kasama o partner na nung una posibleng sumasakay lang pero nahawa! The question is nakakahawa ba ang kabaliwan). In other words, a dominant partner has a delusional psychosis that is believed and accepted by a passive partner.

Substance-Induced Disorders. AOD-induced psychotic disorders (AOD is alcohol or Drugs) conditions characterized by prominent delusions or hallucinations that develop during or following psychoactive drug use and cause significant distress or impairment in social or occupational functioning (Kalasingan o pagka-high). This disorder does not include hallucinations caused by hallucinogens in the context of intact reality testing.

Although there can be great variability in individual susceptibility to AOD-induced psychotic symptoms, it is important for the clinician to determine if the presenting symptoms could plausibly be induced by the type and amount of drug apparently consumed. For example, vivid auditory, visual, and tactile hallucinations are plausible side effects of a 5-day, high-dose cocaine binge. However, should these symptoms emerge during a brief episode of mild alcohol intoxication, it is likely that the symptoms represent an underlying psychotic process that has been exacerbated by the use of alcohol.  Substance-induced symptoms are as follows, including its effect:

  • Stimulant-Induced Symptoms. Psychotic symptoms induced by stimulant intoxication are unusual when stimulants are used in low doses and for brief periods. Acute stimulant intoxication in the context of a chronic, high-dose pattern can cause symptoms of psychosis, especially if coupled with a lack of sleep and food and environmental stressors. 
  • Depressant-Induced Symptoms. Particularly when unmedicated, sedative-hypnotic withdrawal can include symptoms of psychosis. Acute withdrawal from alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines can produce a withdrawal delirium, especially if the use was heavy and tolerance was high or if the patient has a concomitant physical illness.

 

  • Psychedelic- and Hallucinogen-Induced Symptoms. Many psychedelic drugs, such as amphetamine-related psychedelics (for example, MDMA and MDA), are not hallucinogenic at the lower doses associated with situational psychedelic drug use. However, in a chronic, high-dose pattern of use (which is rare), psychotic symptoms are possible, by virtue of the drugs’ stimulant properties. Other psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, have strong hallucinogenic properties.
  • Hallucinogen intoxication can cause hallucinogenic hallucinosis, characterized by perceptual distortions, maladaptive behavioral changes, and impaired judgment. Hallucinogen intoxication may also prompt hallucinogenic delusional disorder and a hallucinogenic mood disorder.

YOUR TAKEAWAYS:

Having that knowledge now about a small bit of PSYCHOLOGY AND MENTAL DISORDER, can you now describe your capability to learn PRACTICAL FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY by studying people around you?

THIS IS A GROUP TASK, BUT DON’T ANSWER IT THIS TIME:  I WILL GIVE YOU TIME LATER AFTER YOUR EXAMINATION…..

GOOD LUCK!

Review the coverage of Module 2 for Your Exam: READY TO TAKE THE EXAM?

REMEMBER: You are only allowed twice (2 attempts) in this EXAM! IF READY FOLLOW THE ARROW….

 

 

You are allowed twice only for this examination for “RECORD and GRADING” purposes. So take your EXAM IF YOU ARE READY!

GOOD LUCK!

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