EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE APPLIED TO PERSONALITY DISORDERS
THE PERSONALITY DISORDERS: AN EVALUATION
Laboratory experiments, naturalistic studies, and longitudinal surveys all
converge to support the existence of the antisocial personality disorder. On a
variety of specific criteria, individuals with the disorder are demonstrably
different from normal people. However, the legitimacy of the other personality
disorders is far more problematic. No matter how convincing the descriptions
of these disorders seem to be, the documentation for their existence as reliable
and valid syndromes is, at bottom, anecdotal. It has grown out of clinical lore,
and while it is not to be lightly dismissed for that reason, neither can it be easily accepted.
For despite the effort that has gone into tightening the various categories of personality disorders
they are still particularly prone to a variety of errors that easily erode their usefulness.
ALTERNATIVE VIEWS OF THE PERSONALITY DISORDERS
Because personality disorders are characterized by the presence of enduring
traits that often originate in childhood or early adolescence, evidence for
their existence needs to be accumulated across a considerable period of
time. As a result, distortions of memory and failure to obtain and properly
assess facts are powerful potential sources of error for these diagnoses. Consider
Seymour who was held to be suffering from a paranoid personality
disorder. The behavioral facts relating to his difficulties were
quite accurate, But subsequently, a careful investigation of the sources of his
difficulties yielded a quite different picture. It turned out that Seymour had
been experiencing a marked hearing loss. He had not mentioned it during
his early interviews both because he underestimated its extent and because he
dreaded wearing a hearing aid. He had difficulty getting dancing partners
because, while he heard the music, he often missed the instructor's calls and
was commonly out-of-step. In the discussion group, he often repeated comments
that had already been made by others or, worse, misheard others'
comments, such that his own were inappropriate and disruptive. Similar
difficulties pervaded his experience in the ceramics class. Moreover, his
seeming distrust of others, which had been manifested in the locking of his
study and in not talking about his work, takes on a somewhat different
meaning when one learns that as a physicist, he had spent his entire career
working on classified military problems. In addition, like many professionals
of the 1950s and 1960s, Seymour had moved a great deal. Making
new friends in each new location required a heavy expenditure of time and
energy. Precisely because he had a close relationship with his wife and be-.
cause he was deeply involved in his work, Seymour was simply unwilling to
invest himself in new, but transient, relationships.
Thus, the potential for misinterpreting lifelong behaviors is a potentially
dangerous one because the contexts in which those behaviors developed
may not be readily retrievable now. But even when considerable information
is available, therapists of different theoretical persuasions may arrive at
different diagnostic conclusions as far as the personality disorders are concerned.
Consider Laura who appeared to have all of the characteristics
of a compulsive personality disorder. Might not a feminist therapist
who is sensitive to the conflicts that arise from the competing demands of
gender and work roles, see the case differently? Laura, who was traditional
in her attitudes toward family and home, was simultaneously ambitious in
her professional life. In attempting to fulfill both roles with excellence, she
unwittingly aspired to the impossible: to be a "superwoman." She wanted
her house neat, her children at the top of their class, and herself at the top of
her male-dominated profession. Her carping and her insistence that the
house be spotless reflected this competition between roles, for if the house
was not spotless, to whom would it fall to clean it up? Similarly, in her refusal
to take: holidays and her long working hours, she was behaving like the
ambitious men in her profession.
In much the same way, it is possible to view Joyce's behavior as
the result of economic and social factors, rather than as evidence of a dependent
personality disorder. With two small children and no marketable
skills, it was extremely difficult for her to extract herself from an abusive situation.
Her father's strict notions about a woman's place prevented her
from returning home, while her husband's jealousy prevented her from developing
a network of reliable friends who might extricate her from her
present difficulties.
Poverty, isolation, and despair provide explanations for
the dependent behavior of abused women, which may be more cogent than
the explanations that arise from the personality disorder diagnoses.
Finally, there are theorists who question whether the traits that presumably
underlie the personality disorders really exist and, therefore, whether
the personality disorders themselves are real (Mischel and
Peake). Although the notion that traits exist is nearly as old as the notion
Of personality itself, it has proved quite difficult to obtain evidence that
people are consistent in their dispositions and perceptions across different
situations. To say that someone suffers a dependent personality disorder, for
example, is to say that they manifest the traits of passivity and dependence.
Laboratory experiments, naturalistic studies, and longitudinal surveys all
converge to support the existence of the antisocial personality disorder. On a
variety of specific criteria, individuals with the disorder are demonstrably
different from normal people. However, the legitimacy of the other personality
disorders is far more problematic. No matter how convincing the descriptions
of these disorders seem to be, the documentation for their existence as reliable
and valid syndromes is, at bottom, anecdotal. It has grown out of clinical lore,
and while it is not to be lightly dismissed for that reason, neither can it be easily accepted.
For despite the effort that has gone into tightening the various categories of personality disorders
they are still particularly prone to a variety of errors that easily erode their usefulness.
ALTERNATIVE VIEWS OF THE PERSONALITY DISORDERS
Because personality disorders are characterized by the presence of enduring
traits that often originate in childhood or early adolescence, evidence for
their existence needs to be accumulated across a considerable period of
time. As a result, distortions of memory and failure to obtain and properly
assess facts are powerful potential sources of error for these diagnoses. Consider
Seymour who was held to be suffering from a paranoid personality
disorder. The behavioral facts relating to his difficulties were
quite accurate, But subsequently, a careful investigation of the sources of his
difficulties yielded a quite different picture. It turned out that Seymour had
been experiencing a marked hearing loss. He had not mentioned it during
his early interviews both because he underestimated its extent and because he
dreaded wearing a hearing aid. He had difficulty getting dancing partners
because, while he heard the music, he often missed the instructor's calls and
was commonly out-of-step. In the discussion group, he often repeated comments
that had already been made by others or, worse, misheard others'
comments, such that his own were inappropriate and disruptive. Similar
difficulties pervaded his experience in the ceramics class. Moreover, his
seeming distrust of others, which had been manifested in the locking of his
study and in not talking about his work, takes on a somewhat different
meaning when one learns that as a physicist, he had spent his entire career
working on classified military problems. In addition, like many professionals
of the 1950s and 1960s, Seymour had moved a great deal. Making
new friends in each new location required a heavy expenditure of time and
energy. Precisely because he had a close relationship with his wife and be-.
cause he was deeply involved in his work, Seymour was simply unwilling to
invest himself in new, but transient, relationships.
Thus, the potential for misinterpreting lifelong behaviors is a potentially
dangerous one because the contexts in which those behaviors developed
may not be readily retrievable now. But even when considerable information
is available, therapists of different theoretical persuasions may arrive at
different diagnostic conclusions as far as the personality disorders are concerned.
Consider Laura who appeared to have all of the characteristics
of a compulsive personality disorder. Might not a feminist therapist
who is sensitive to the conflicts that arise from the competing demands of
gender and work roles, see the case differently? Laura, who was traditional
in her attitudes toward family and home, was simultaneously ambitious in
her professional life. In attempting to fulfill both roles with excellence, she
unwittingly aspired to the impossible: to be a "superwoman." She wanted
her house neat, her children at the top of their class, and herself at the top of
her male-dominated profession. Her carping and her insistence that the
house be spotless reflected this competition between roles, for if the house
was not spotless, to whom would it fall to clean it up? Similarly, in her refusal
to take: holidays and her long working hours, she was behaving like the
ambitious men in her profession.
In much the same way, it is possible to view Joyce's behavior as
the result of economic and social factors, rather than as evidence of a dependent
personality disorder. With two small children and no marketable
skills, it was extremely difficult for her to extract herself from an abusive situation.
Her father's strict notions about a woman's place prevented her
from returning home, while her husband's jealousy prevented her from developing
a network of reliable friends who might extricate her from her
present difficulties.
Poverty, isolation, and despair provide explanations for
the dependent behavior of abused women, which may be more cogent than
the explanations that arise from the personality disorder diagnoses.
Finally, there are theorists who question whether the traits that presumably
underlie the personality disorders really exist and, therefore, whether
the personality disorders themselves are real (Mischel and
Peake). Although the notion that traits exist is nearly as old as the notion
Of personality itself, it has proved quite difficult to obtain evidence that
people are consistent in their dispositions and perceptions across different
situations. To say that someone suffers a dependent personality disorder, for
example, is to say that they manifest the traits of passivity and dependence.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE THERAPY APPLIED TO PERSONALITY DISORDERS HAS BEEN PROVEN SUCCESSFUL.
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For the Treatment method I recommend click here:
http://theliberatormethod.com/Welcome.html