A Personality Disorder

As children we often wondered why people were so different from each other. We wondered why they reacted differently to situations and sometimes we would even get mad when they didn’t enjoy something we liked. At a young age we were made aware that each individual has their own personality. We were made aware that not every individual will be just like us. Personality refers to the different tastes of individuals whether it is in thinking, feeling or behaving. As adults, we realize that there are immensely different and abnormal and there’s much more to them than a “personality.

” Some people are born with or develop a personality disorder. There are a variety of personality disorders, but they are all considered mental illnesses. There are people who have abnormal thought patterns that are considered unhealthy and unstable. People who struggle with these thoughts have a difficult time facing the world. To help those who suffer with personality disorders, professionals were trained to help find coping mechanisms. There is no real cause for one to develop a personality disorder, but it has been noted that genes and childhood experiences play a vital role. Just as we consider ourselves normal with our thought patterns, people with abnormal thoughts consider themselves to be the normal ones.

In the article A qualitative exploration of the experience of community mental health clinicians working with people with borderline personality disorder in the context of high risk of suicide or self-harm by Mary E. Hughes, Malcolm Bass, Mark Bradley & Sarah Hirst-Winthrop, the authors are writing to give the readers an insight as to what clinicians deal with in order to keep people with personality disorders sane. The article explains how clinicians consider the experiences of the people rather than just identifying them as sick. They are aware there are a variety of factors to their disorders. Clinicians try their hardest to keep a patient safe when it comes to being diagnosed with a mental illness such as Borderline Personality Disorder. They do not want to experience the feeling of losing a patient because it would affect them in their professional life along with their personal life. Clinicians take precautions and hospitalize their patients when they feel as if their patient is becoming unstable.

There was a study done with four clinicians to give an experience as to how personality disorders function from their perspectives. The researched had no clue as to who the participants were. The participants were made aware that they could stop the interview when they felt as if it was getting too personal. The interviews lasted more than an hour and included topics regarding suicide and self-harm. The researcher analyzed the interviews closely and tried to find meaning within each phrase or word. From this research, the results came out to three main themes which were stress, coping, and balancing. This allowed the researchers to understand that dealing with people who have borderline personality disorder can be draining and emotionally challenging in many aspects of the clinician’s life. It was noted that treating these disorders with a team can ease the situation by being surrounded by support.

The genetic background of a person plays a vital role when it comes to diagnosing with a mental illness. Genetics could potentially be the main cause for an individual to have a personality disorder such as BPD and clinicians are aware of that, but they rather much focus on the environment of the patient. If it were up to biological psychology, it would say that all personality disorders are caused by genetic factors since it is a mental illness and are more likely to be inherited. Studies of brain anatomy and chemistry have revealed how vital of a role genetics play when it comes to behavioral tendencies (Simone Hoermann, Corinne E. Zupanick, & Mark Dombeck, n.d.). When the genetic background is analyzed, it is easier to observe any connections from the mental state of an individual and the brain. There are clinicians who prefer to look at the genetics when it comes to patients, but many do choose a different route and lean more towards the behavioral approach. Those who prefer the behavioral approach make sure to take into consideration the traumatic experiences a patient has encountered in the past rather than classifying their problems as a mental illness (Mary E. Hughes, Malcolm Bass, Mark Bradley, & Sarah Hirst-Winthrop, 2017). There are behavioral psychologists who think the environmental factors play a much more important role when it comes to influencing one’s behavior (Mr. McNabb, n.d.). Everything that happens in one’s life along with how the person was born will affect the mental state of an individual, both behavior and biological factors play a role to shape an individual.

Sigmund Freud is considered the father of psychology and has had various accomplishments, one of them including his theory of Psychosexual Development. Within this theory there are 5 stages. The first stage being The Oral Stage which is from birth to 3 years old. The erogenous zone in this stage is the mouth because it is when children develop a fixation on things that are oral (Journal Psyche, n.d.). The next stage is The Anal Stage which is from 1 to 3 years old. This is considered the bowel and bladder zone because the child is learning to manage the needs for his body (Kendra Cherry, 2018). The third stage is The Phallic Stage ranging from 3 to 6 years old and focused on the genitals. At this age, children differentiate between boys and girls. Freud also noted that this is where boys feel a competition between their fathers to gain their mother’s affection (Kendra Cherry, 2018). Next comes The Latent Period which ranges from age 6 to puberty. This is where sexual feelings are inactive but are willing to be explored. Lastly comes The Genital Stage which ranges from puberty to death. This is considered the maturing sexual interests zone because the person was able to develop the feelings from all previous stages (Kendra Cherry, 2018).

The clinicians analyzed in the article for A qualitative exploration of the experience of community mental health clinicians working with people with borderline personality disorder in the context of high risk of suicide or self-harm, did not tie their patients to this theory, but they did focus more on the surrounding they grew up in. Freud’s theory relates to the article in many ways that need to be deeply connected. The clinicians that were analyzed in the experiment chose to analyze their patients based on their environment and childhood experiences. Freud’s theory shows how an infant learns to act a certain way based on what he does as a child which ties into what the clinicians in the researched experiment analyzed. Many psychologists today such as those who were researched in the article would take into consideration this theory.

A person who has a personality disorder is considered to have a mental illness although many psychologists would say otherwise. Not all psychologists agree with each other and they all believe in different theories. It is important to take into consideration the experiences a patient has dealt with in the past, but I think a personality disorder is mainly inherited. It can be proven wrong, but more knowledge will be gained if genetic factors are looked over before the experiences.

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