Rants, Raves, Reviews & Reflections: November 2018

The 10 personality disorders mentioned in the DSM-5 involve pervasive and enduring personality styles that differ from cultural expectations and cause distress and/or conflict with others.

Defining Personality Disorders

According to the DSM-5, “personality disorder” refers to when an individual displays a personality style (i.e., patterns of cognition, behavior, and emotion) that:

differs significantly from the norms and expectations of their culture in two or more of the following areas: cognition, affect, interpersonal functioning, or impulse control;
causes them and/or others around them “clinically significant” distress and impairment in important areas of functioning;
is pervasive (i.e., applies across many contexts, such as school, work, and home) and enduring (i.e., has been exhibited over a long duration of time, since at least adolescence or early adulthood); and
cannot be better explained by another mental disorder or be due to the direct physiological effects of a substance or general medical condition (e.g., head trauma).

The patterns found in personality disorders develop early and are inflexible. Someone diagnosed with a personality disorder may experience difficulties in cognition, emotion, impulse control, and interpersonal functioning. That said, though personality disorders are typically associated with significant distress or disability, they are also ego-syntonic, which means that individuals do not feel as though their values, thoughts, and behaviors are out of place or unacceptable. In other words, their thoughts and behaviors are consistent with their own ideal self-image.

The DSM-5: Grouping Personality Disorders

To be fully diagnosed, an individual must meet both the DSM-5’s general diagnostic criteria for a personality disorder (provided above) as well as the criteria for a specific disorder.

The DSM-5 lists ten different personality disorders, grouped into three clusters based on common features. Personality disorders are often researched within these clusters, since the disorders in a cluster exhibit many common disturbances.

Cluster A (odd and eccentric)

Paranoid personality disorder: Characterized by a pattern of irrational suspicion and mistrust of others and the interpretation of motivations as malevolent. The person is guarded, defensive, distrustful, suspicious, and always looking for evidence to confirm hidden plots and schemes.
Schizoid personality disorder: Characterized by a lack of interest and detachment from social relationships, and restricted emotional expression. The individual is apathetic, indifferent, remote, solitary, distant, and humorless. They neither desire, nor need, human attachments, and withdraw from relationships and prefer to be alone.
Schizotypal personality disorder: Characterized by a pattern of extreme discomfort interacting socially, and distorted cognitions and perceptions. One is eccentric, self-estranged, bizarre, absent, and exhibits magical thinking and strange beliefs.

Cluster B (dramatic, emotional, or erratic)

Antisocial personality disorder: A pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others, rooted in a lack of empathy. The person is impulsive, irresponsible, unruly, inconsiderate, and sometimes violent. They comply with social obligations only when they see personal benefit.
Borderline personality disorder: A pervasive pattern of instability in relationships, self-image, identity, behavior, and affect, often leading to self-harm and impulsivity. One is unpredictable, manipulative, unstable, and frantically fears abandonment and isolation. One shifts rapidly between loving and hating.
Histrionic personality disorder: A pervasive pattern of attention-seeking behavior and excessive emotions. One is dramatic, seductive, shallow, stimulus-seeking, and vain. One overreacts to minor events and is exhibitionistic.
Narcissistic personality disorder: A pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.

Cluster C (anxious or fearful)

Avoidant personality disorder: Pervasive feelings of social inhibition and inadequacy, and extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation. One is hesitant, self-conscious, embarrassed, anxious, and sees self as inept, inferior, or unappealing.
Dependent personality disorder: A pervasive psychological need to be cared for by other people. One is helpless, incompetent, submissive, immature, and sees self as weak or fragile.
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: Characterized by a rigid conformity to rules, perfectionism, and control. One maintains a rule-bound lifestyle, adheres closely to social conventions, sees the world in terms of regulations and hierarchies, and often follows directions and rules to the point of missing the purpose of the task.

Lumen: Intro to Psychology: Personality Disorders

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Psychodynamic & Neo-Freudian Theorists

I. Psychodynamic/Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939, was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.(1)

LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

To explain the concept of conscious versus unconscious experience, Freud compared the mind to an iceberg ([link]). He said that only about one-tenth of our mind is conscious, and the rest of our mind is unconscious. Our unconscious refers to that mental activity of which we are unaware and are unable to access (Freud, 1923). According to Freud, unacceptable urges and desires are kept in our unconscious through a process called repression. For example, we sometimes say things that we don’t intend to say by unintentionally substituting another word for the one we meant. You’ve probably heard of a Freudian slip, the term used to describe this. Freud suggested that slips of the tongue are actually sexual or aggressive urges, accidentally slipping out of our unconscious. Speech errors such as this are quite common. Seeing them as a reflection of unconscious desires, linguists today have found that slips of the tongue tend to occur when we are tired, nervous, or not at our optimal level of cognitive functioning (Motley, 2002).

According to Freud, our personality develops from a conflict between two forces: our biological aggressive and pleasure-seeking drives versus our internal (socialized) control over these drives. Our personality is the result of our efforts to balance these two competing forces. Freud suggested that we can understand this by imagining three interacting systems within our minds. He called them the id, ego, and superego ([link]).

ID, SUPEREGO, EGO

The unconscious id contains our most primitive drives or urges, and is present from birth. It directs impulses for hunger, thirst, and sex. Freud believed that the id operates on what he called the “pleasure principle,” in which the id seeks immediate gratification.

Through social interactions with parents and others in a child’s environment, the ego and superego develop to help control the id. The superegodevelops as a child interacts with others, learning the social rules for right and wrong. The superego acts as our conscience; it is our moral compass that tells us how we should behave. It strives for perfection and judges our behavior, leading to feelings of pride or—when we fall short of the ideal—feelings of guilt.

In contrast to the instinctual id and the rule-based superego, the ego is the rational part of our personality. It’s what Freud considered to be the self, and it is the part of our personality that is seen by others. Its job is to balance the demands of the id and superego in the context of reality; thus, it operates on what Freud called the “reality principle.” The ego helps the id satisfy its desires in a realistic way.

The id and superego are in constant conflict, because the id wants instant gratification regardless of the consequences, but the superego tells us that we must behave in socially acceptable ways. Thus, the ego’s job is to find the middle ground. It helps satisfy the id’s desires in a rational way that will not lead us to feelings of guilt. According to Freud, a person who has a strong ego, which can balance the demands of the id and the superego, has a healthy personality. Freud maintained that imbalances in the system can lead to neurosis (a tendency to experience negative emotions), anxiety disorders, or unhealthy behaviors. For example, a person who is dominated by their id might be narcissistic and impulsive. A person with a dominant superego might be controlled by feelings of guilt and deny themselves even socially acceptable pleasures; conversely, if the superego is weak or absent, a person might become a psychopath. An overly dominant superego might be seen in an over-controlled individual whose rational grasp on reality is so strong that they are unaware of their emotional needs, or, in a neurotic who is overly defensive (overusing ego defense mechanisms).

DEFENSE MECHANISMS

Freud believed that feelings of anxiety result from the ego’s inability to mediate the conflict between the id and superego. When this happens, Freud believed that the ego seeks to restore balance through various protective measures known as defense mechanisms ([link]). When certain events, feelings, or yearnings cause an individual anxiety, the individual wishes to reduce that anxiety. To do that, the individual’s unconscious mind uses ego defense mechanisms, unconscious protective behaviors that aim to reduce anxiety. The ego, usually conscious, resorts to unconscious strivings to protect the ego from being overwhelmed by anxiety. When we use defense mechanisms, we are unaware that we are using them. Further, they operate in various ways that distort reality. According to Freud, we all use ego defense mechanisms.

Defense Mechanisms include:

Denial

Displacement

Projection

Rationalization

Reaction Formation

Regression

Repression

Sublimation

While everyone uses defense mechanisms, Freud believed that overuse of them may be problematic.

STAGES OF PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

Freud believed that personality develops during early childhood: Childhood experiences shape our personalities as well as our behavior as adults. He asserted that we develop via a series of stages during childhood. Each of us must pass through these childhood stages, and if we do not have the proper nurturing and parenting during a stage, we will be stuck, or fixated, in that stage, even as adults.

In each psychosexual stage of development, the child’s pleasure-seeking urges, coming from the id, are focused on a different area of the body, called an erogenous zone. The stages are:

Oral

Anal

Phallic

Latency

Genital.

II. Neo-Freudians

Freud attracted many followers who modified his ideas to create new theories about personality. These theorists, referred to as neo-Freudians, generally agreed with Freud that childhood experiences matter, but deemphasized sex, focusing more on the social environment and effects of culture on personality. Four notable neo-Freudians include Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Carl Jung (pronounced “Yoong”), and Karen Horney (pronounced “HORN-eye”).(3)

ALFRED ADLER

Adler founded a school of psychology called individual psychology, which focuses on our drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority. Adler (1937, 1956) proposed the concept of the inferiority complex. An inferiority complex refers to a person’s feelings that they lack worth and don’t measure up to the standards of others or of society. Adler’s ideas about inferiority represent a major difference between his thinking and Freud’s. Freud believed that we are motivated by sexual and aggressive urges, but Adler (1930, 1961) believed that feelings of inferiority in childhood are what drive people to attempt to gain superiority and that this striving is the force behind all of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.(3)

ERIK ERIKSON

Erikson proposed a psychosocial theory of development, suggesting that an individual’s personality develops throughout the lifespan—a departure from Freud’s view that personality is fixed in early life. In his theory, Erikson emphasized the social relationships that are important at each stage of personality development, in contrast to Freud’s emphasis on sex. Erikson identified eight stages, each of which represents a conflict or developmental task ([link]).(3)

CARL JUNG

Carl Jung ([link]) was a Swiss psychiatrist and protégé of Freud, who later split off from Freud and developed his own theory, which he called analytical psychology. The focus of analytical psychology is on working to balance opposing forces of conscious and unconscious thought, and experience within one’s personality. According to Jung, this work is a continuous learning process—mainly occurring in the second half of life—of becoming aware of unconscious elements and integrating them into consciousness.

Jung’s split from Freud was based on two major disagreements. First, Jung, like Adler and Erikson, did not accept that sexual drive was the primary motivator in a person’s mental life. Second, although Jung agreed with Freud’s concept of a personal unconscious, he thought it to be incomplete. In addition to the personal unconscious, Jung focused on the collective unconscious.

The collective unconscious is a universal version of the personal unconscious, holding mental patterns, or memory traces, which are common to all of us (Jung, 1928). These ancestral memories, which Jung called archetypes, are represented by universal themes in various cultures, as expressed through literature, art, and dreams (Jung). Jung said that these themes reflect common experiences of people the world over, such as facing death, becoming independent, and striving for mastery. Jung (1964) believed that through biology, each person is handed down the same themes and that the same types of symbols—such as the hero, the maiden, the sage, and the trickster—are present in the folklore and fairy tales of every culture.

Jung also proposed two attitudes or approaches toward life: extroversion and introversion (Jung, 1923) ([link]). These ideas are considered Jung’s most important contributions to the field of personality psychology, as almost all models of personality now include these concepts. If you are an extrovert, then you are a person who is energized by being outgoing and socially oriented: You derive your energy from being around others. If you are an introvert, then you are a person who may be quiet and reserved, or you may be social, but your energy is derived from your inner psychic activity. Jung believed a balance between extroversion and introversion best served the goal of self-realization.

KAREN HORNEY

Like Jung, Horney believed that each individual has the potential for self-realization and that the goal of psychoanalysis should be moving toward a healthy self rather than exploring early childhood patterns of dysfunction.

Horney’s theories focused on the role of unconscious anxiety. She suggested that normal growth can be blocked by basic anxiety stemming from needs not being met, such as childhood experiences of loneliness and/or isolation. How do children learn to handle this anxiety? Horney suggested three styles of coping ([link]). The first coping style, moving toward people, relies on affiliation and dependence. These children become dependent on their parents and other caregivers in an effort to receive attention and affection, which provides relief from anxiety (Burger, 2008). When these children grow up, they tend to use this same coping strategy to deal with relationships, expressing an intense need for love and acceptance (Burger, 2008). The second coping style, moving against people, relies on aggression and assertiveness. Children with this coping style find that fighting is the best way to deal with an unhappy home situation, and they deal with their feelings of insecurity by bullying other children (Burger, 2008). As adults, people with this coping style tend to lash out with hurtful comments and exploit others (Burger, 2008). The third coping style, moving away from people, centers on detachment and isolation. These children handle their anxiety by withdrawing from the world. They need privacy and tend to be self-sufficient. When these children are adults, they continue to avoid such things as love and friendship, and they also tend to gravitate toward careers that require little interaction with others (Burger, 2008).

(1) Wikipedia: Sigmund Freud

(2) Lumen: Intro to Psychology: Freud and the Psychodynamic Perspective

(3) Lumen: Intro to Psychology: Neo-Freudians

Monday, November 19, 2018

Psychology of Selfies

What Do #Selfies Say About The Psychology Of You?

Cliff-notes:

-What does this say about what they are trying to achieve with their selfies, and ultimately, their real intentions? It quickly becomes clear that one thing many people are looking for via their selfies is a boost to their self esteem.-Every like, share and positive comment is a boost to their confidence, and this works to fuel the desire for more selfies.

- Selfies help people portray a version of themselves to the world. It is a statement to the world. It allows people to stand out among the masses.

-There has been a recent trend of “no makeup selfies” calling participants to post pictures of themselves online without makeup as a way to call attention to cancer awareness. While many people got involved as a way to support a good cause, efforts such as these have another positive effect, in that they help people feel like they are a part of something. On an evolutionary level, this is important because being part of a group means safety and comfort.

Are Selfies a Sign of Narcissism and Psychopathy?

Cliff-notes:

-A new study appearing in an upcoming issue of Personality and Individual Differences examined the relationship between selfie-posting, photo-editing and personality...In this study, the authors examined self-objectification, along with three personality traits, known as the “Dark Triad”: narcissism, psychopathy, and machiavellianism.

-Narcissism: Extreme self-centeredness and a grandiose view of oneself. Narcissists have an excessive need to be admired by others and have a sense of entitlement. They’re likely to agree with statements like: “I’m more capable than most people,” and “I will usually show off if I get the chance.”

Psychopathy: Impulsivity and lack of empathy. Those high in psychopathy are likely to agree with statements like: “Payback needs to be quick and nasty."

Machiavellianism: Manipulative-ness without regard for others’ needs. Those high on this trait tend to have little concern about morals.

Self-objectification: This is a tendency to view your body as an object based on its sexual worth. Those high in self-objectification tend to see themselves in terms of their physical appearance and base their self-worth on their appearance.

-Results showed that both narcissism and self-objectification were associated with spending more time on social networking sites, and with more photo-editing. Posting numerous selfies was related to both higher narcissism and psychopathy, controlling for the overall number of other types of photos posted. Machiavellianism was unrelated to photo behavior when taking these other variables into account.

Obsessive Selfie-Taking

Cliff-notes:

-We empirically explored the concept of selfitis across two studies and collected data on the existence of selfitis with respect to the three alleged levels (borderline, acute, and chronic), and ultimately developed our own psychometric scale to assess the sub-components of selfitis (the 'Selfitis Behaviour Scale').

-Our study began by using focus group interviews with 225 young adults with an average age of 21 years old to gather an initial set of criteria that underlie selfitis. Example questions used during the focus group interviews included ‘What compels you to take selfies?’, ‘Do you feel addicted to taking selfies?’ and ‘Do you think that someone can become addicted to taking selfies?’ It was during these interviews that participants confirmed there appeared to be individuals who obsessively take selfies —or, in other words, that selfitis does at least exist. But, since we did not collect any data on the negative psychosocial impacts, we cannot yet claim that the behavior is a mental disorder; negative consequences of the behavior is a key part of that determination.

-The six components of selfitis, tested on the further participants, were: environmental enhancement (taking selfies in specific locations to feel good and show off to others), social competition (taking selfies to get more ‘likes’ on social media), attention-seeking (taking selfies to gain attention from others), mood modification (taking selfies to feel better), self-confidence (taking selfies to feel more positive about oneself), and subjective conformity (taking selfies to fit in with one’s social group and peers).

-Our findings showed that those with chronic selfitis were more likely to be motivated to take selfies due to attention-seeking, environmental enhancement and social competition. The results suggest that people with chronic levels of selfitis are seeking to fit in with those around them, and may display symptoms similar to other potentially addictive behaviors. Other studies have also suggested that a minority of individuals might have a ‘selfie addiction.’ (See ‘References and further reading’ below.)

Friday, November 2, 2018

Self Defense - Australia

Gun Laws in Australia
Gun laws in Australia are mainly the jurisdiction of Australian states and territories, but were largely aligned in 1996 by the National Firearms Agreement.

A person must have a firearm licence to possess or use a firearm. Licence holders must demonstrate a "genuine reason" (which does not include self-defence) for holding a firearm licence and must not be a "prohibited person".(1)

Other weapons

Laws concerning other weapons vary depending on the states and territories but generally speaking, it is illegal to purchase, carry or use ANYTHING specifically intended for self defence. Hence, even items like pepper spray, tasers and stun guns are illegal.(2) Regarding pepper spray, there looks to be one exception. While it's illegal to bring it into Australia, with import permits only issued for police or government use, Western Australia is the one state where it's legal to carry pepper spray. There it is considered a' controlled weapon' similar to crossbows and swords. As such, it can be carried if you have reasonable grounds to do so. Unfortunately, determining what reasonable grounds are is ambiguous.(4)

Self Defense

The approach generally adopted in Australia differs significantly from the “stand your ground” approach to self-defence that has been influential in the US. “Stand your ground” generally encourages “self-help” by removing any requirement of retreat. It permits a person who is threatened or attacked to stand their ground and claim self-defence even where an avenue of retreat or other means of avoiding the conflict was safely available.

Approaches to self-defence in Australia still tend to emphasise reasonable necessity and discourage vigilantism. Police advise Australian homeowners against keeping weapons for protection and instruct them to immediately contact police if they suspect an intruder is in their home.(3)

(1) Gun laws in Australia

(2) Quora: What are some examples of legal self-defence weapons in Australia?
(3) How far can you go to lawfully protect yourself in a home invasion?

(4) The one place in Australia where it's legal to have pepper spray for self-defence

The Daily Telegraph: n assault on our right to self-protection