SICK PERSONALITYBY:Sandeep Vats & Shashank Shekhar

Sick Personality: An Introduction

• Sick personalities are those in which there is a breakdown in the personality structure that results in poor personal and social adjustments.

• Scientist regard such person as “disturbed” or “disordered”. The layman says that he is “peculiar” or “nutty”.

• A “Normal Personality” may not be a “Healthy Personality”.

WHO IS A SICK PERSON ?• Characteristics of a sick person –:

–Short and frequent temper disorder–Transitory Lying–Stealing –Frequent Headaches.–Other psychological diseases.

CAUSES OF SICK PERSONALITY• Physical Causes

• A temporary upset in normal state of body , due to a headache or a digestive disturbance, may lead to a temporary pattern of unacceptable behavior.

• A persistent illness often affects the person’s characteristic pattern of adjustment to life.

• Brain disorder or diseases may cause personality disorder.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSE

• The fundamental psychological cause of personality sickness is inner conflicts which stems from self dissatisfaction.

• The person is unhappy about himself and dislikes himself to the point where he becomes self rejectent.

• Self rejection shows itself also in distrust of one’s own attitudes and feelings.

CATEGORIES OF SICK PERSONALITY

• There are two major categories :

– “Forms of behavior that are satisfying to the person but are socially unacceptable.”

–“Forms of behavior that are socially acceptable but are not satisfying to the person who engages in

them”

SOCIALLY UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR

• Some behavior are disapproved by members of the social group because they are annoying, boring or harmful to others.

• They satisfy some need or desire of person engaged in it which is not satisfied by pattern of behavior that are socially approved.

• Example: A person drives satisfaction from blaming others for his shortcomings.

Socially acceptable behavior• The behavior patterns which are socially acceptable

but which do not satisfy the needs and desire of the person who engages in them.

• Only when the person’s needs and desires are satisfied by his characteristic pattern of adjusting to life and only when this pattern is socially acceptable can he be regarded as psychologically healthy.

• Example: An introvert person may force himself to play a “Social Hero” role but it may not satisfy his own desires.

DANGER SIGNALS OF PERSONALITY SICKNESS

• Some Danger Signals of Personality Sickness are:– Immaturity– Regression– Cruelty– Anti-Social Behavior

IMMATURITY • A person is judged as “immature” if his

performance in some area of behavior falls below the standard set by his peers.

• Example: A child who is slower than his age mates in learning to speak in sentences and who continues to use baby talk long after the other children of his age are speaking well.

REGRESSION• Regression is an attempt, either consciously or unconsciously,

to return to an earlier stage of development in which the person felt happier and more secure.

• It signifies that he lacks confidence in his ability to cope up with the situation in which he finds himself.

• Example: Many young children who are jealous of new sibling attempt to return to the helplessness of an earlier age in the hope of regaining the sense of emotional security and the confidence they formerly enjoyed.

CRUELTY• Cruel person take pleasure in inflicting pain on other people

and on animal.

• When the target of their cruelty cries in pain, this intensifies their pleasure and makes them feel that they are in charge of the situation.

• Cruelty may arise in childhood from feeling of inadequacy which children feel experience from because of their inferior size and strength.

ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR• Behavior is anti-social if it is hostile or damaging, either

physically or psychological, to the welfare of members of social group.

• Only if it is conscious can it be regarded as a danger signal.

• Example: If a person intentionally parks his car in front of another person’s garage so that person cannot back his car.

DEFENSE MECHANISM• A defense mechanism is a constellation of

related ideas by means of which a person maintains, enhances, and defends himself.

• In spite of satisfaction defense mechanism provide, the satisfaction is only temporary; it does not actually correct the problem.

Common FORMS OF DEFENSE MECHANISM

• PROJECTION: In Projection, the person tries to explain or excuse behavior that falls short of his and others’ expectations by thrusting the blame onto something or someone else.

• DISPLACEMENT: In Displacement, the person directs his resentments, stemming from feelings of inadequacy or inferiority, against a person or situation which is unrelated to the origin of his resentments.

CONTINUED…..• COMPENSATION: It is an ego defense which

reduces the person’s feeling of self rejection in two ways: first, by doing something in which he can achieve success and secondly, diverting attention of people from activity in which he failed.

• REPRESSION: The person forgets either consciously or unconsciously, those things which remind him of his adequacies.

COPING UP WITH SICKNESS• Proper diagnosis to discover the cause of

illness.• Creating awareness in person about his/her

personality disorder.• Fundamental cure is change in “SELF

CONCEPT” not in drugs.• Change in environment and Psychological

treatments are more helpful.• Society acceptance in curing the person.