Posted by socialdeviantjeff on January 17, 2004, at 21:37:39
In reply to Re: Personality disorder as a character issue??? » socialdeviantjeff, posted by jay on January 16, 2004, at 17:18:22
Well, thanks for the input.
I think what jay said about the issue of "Academic Perception" hits the nail on the head. I also agree that the labeling can be prejudicial.
Over the years, I've had lots of labels, some that would appear true and some so far off the mark it really makes me wonder. Since childhood: ADHD (true), Asperger's Syndrome(Maybe), Conduct Disorder (What the h***?), Depression (Fer Sher), Schitziod Personality Type (Still up in the air for me), BPD (doubt it), Bipolar non-specified (Heh?) and so on. It really makes me wonder how many doctors sleep through their classes and how many pay attention. :(
I found an old discussion here: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991108/msgs/15163.html. Pretty interesting.
I also found a definion for Character Disorder.
"(character neurosis)
A personality disorder manifested by a chronic, habitual, maladaptive pattern of reaction that is relatively inflexible, limits the optimal use of potentialities, and often provokes the responses from the environment that the person wants to avoid. In contrast to symptoms of neurosis, character traits are typically ego-syntonic.
The old term for personality disorder."The consensus for the conventional spectrum of personality disorders (based on info I could find) would appear to be ego-dystonic, meaning that the person with the symptoms can recognize that behaviors or traits are maladaptive rather than normal and acceptable. Not to mention that many maladaptive behaviors are caused by an underlying biological problem.
So, I guess that is that. To me, it would seem that there is a clear difference between a "character issue" and a "personality disorder" (PD). Also, PD's do generally arise from biological complications.
A good example could be: 2 people, one is an unremourseful criminal with no conflict about his nature. He would have a character problem. The other person has a problematic background, recognizes there is a problem and battles with it on some level. Person 2 could have a personality problem.
Now I want to know all the more why my pdoc framed his opinion as he did. The info I found is what I can agree with, for now. There are sooooo many schools of thought on this, there is no obvious answer.
poster:socialdeviantjeff
thread:301494
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040109/msgs/302145.html