Personality disorder
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Personality disorders are a type of mental disorder defined by the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV) as "enduring patterns of inner experience and behavior that deviate markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture, are pervasive and inflexible, have an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, are stable over time, and lead to distress or impairment."
Personality disorders often inhibit a person's ability to function successfully in society, but are, by and large, not harmful to society (with certain exceptions). Megalomania, fear of interaction, belief that one is destined to be something "great,", trouble with relationships and unstable self-image are all aspects that can lead to a diagnosis of "personality disorder."
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[edit] Gender issues
Three-quarters of those diagnosed with borderline personality disorder are female. There is some speculation that because of gender stereotypes, a person manifesting certain thought and behavior patterns (e.g. impulsivity, anger, lying, reckless disregard for safety of self and others) is more likely to be diagnosed with BPD if female and antisocial personality disorder if male. A distinction sometimes drawn between BPD and ASPD is that borderlines "act in" by harming themselves while ASPDs "act out" by harming others.[1]
With regard to the criteria, a major distinction between BPD and ASPD is the ASPD requirement "There is evidence of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 years."
[edit] Some personality disorders
[edit] Anti-Social Personality Disorder
This disorder is sometimes referred to as psychopathy, with those affected called psychopaths. People with this disorder show little concern for others and experience shallow emotion. They are also prone to lying. Thus these people are likely to become charlatans, shysters, and other deceitful persons.
[edit] Borderline Personality Disorder
BPD is a serious personality disorder. The symptoms fall into different groups. One of these is an inability to appropriately regulate emotions- this leads to a variety of many long lasting and dark emotions, most notably a profound feeling of emptiness, but also depression, furious outbursts, fear and shame- amongst others.[2]
The description of borderlines as "dangerous" to others is usually because of their purported tendency to subconsciously come up with facts that justify their feelings, for example by exaggerating others' mistreatment of them to explain why they have such a strong emotional response to it. This can supposedly lead to "distortion campaigns" such as those described in Randi Kreger's Stop Walking on Eggshells. Dana Becker argues, "The BPD diagnosis has been used in court to institutionalize and/or medicate women involuntarily, deny them custody of their children, and have their parental rights terminated. Women diagnosed as having BPD have also frequently been discredited as witnesses in court cases involving rape or sexual abuse."[3]
Quinn Capes-Ivy argues, "Could that 'inappropriate anger' be not a disordered way of thinking, but valid female rage against a world which devalues women and things which are thought of as 'traditionally feminine'?"[4] BPD was described by Gillian Proctor as "the latest example of a historical tendency to explain away as 'madness' the strategies some women use to survive oppression and abuse."[5] Jennifer Reimer argues, "The portrayal of 'borderline women' in films in the late 1980s and early 1990s, such as Fatal Attraction, and Single White Female, as well as books like I Hate You, Don’t Leave Me, played a significant role in the stigmatization of so-called 'borderline' women."[6]
The prevailing theory about people with BPD is that their perceptions (e.g. splitting, regarding a person as all good or all bad) and resulting behavior toward those they have devalued is the result of subconscious defense mechanisms rather than the kind of purposeful malice exhibited by those with ASPD. Some men's rights writers such as Paul Elam argue that borderlines know what they are doing and often enjoy it.[7]
[edit] References
- ↑ 10 Myths about Borderline Personality Disorder Dispelled
- ↑ http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Borderline-personality-disorder/Pages/Symptoms.aspx
- ↑ Borderline Personality Disorder: The Disparagement of Women through Diagnosis
- ↑ Borderline Personality Disorder - a feminist critique, the f word
- ↑ BPD: not just a feminist issue
- ↑ Borderline Personality Disorder, Feminism, Mentally Impaired?
- ↑ BPD: Sick, or just crazy asshole?
[edit] External links
- DSM-IV list of personality disorders
- Asshole personality disorder, inexplicably missing from the DSM