Page 418 - Understanding Psychology

Personality Disorder
Period of Study: 1967
and died and I went to his funeral. Everybody else was crying and feeling sorry for them- selves and as they were praying to get him into heaven, I suddenly realized that I wasn’t feel- ing anything at all. He was a nice guy but what the hell. That night I thought about it some more and found that I wouldn’t miss my mother and father if they died and that I wasn’t too
Introduction: An actor and radio disc jockey, nuts about my brothers and sisters for that
Dan was highly successful in his professional roles, which required an entertaining and extremely outspoken personality. Although Dan had to maintain these personality
traits at work, sometimes traces of those traits leaked out into his private life. In one situation while Dan and a friend dined at a restaurant, Dan explicitly and loudly complained about the condition of the food. In actuality, according to Dan’s friend, the food was fine—there was no valid reason for Dan’s public display.
Dan’s friend, psychologist Elton
McNeil, described Dan’s reactions as inappropriate. When McNeil asked Dan why he had acted that way, Dan said he did it because “he wanted to show how gutless the rest of the world is.” Dan then said acting like that separates the classy people from the ordinary and that the next time he eats at that restaurant, he will be treated well. Concerned by his friend’s state- ments, McNeil asked Dan if he felt guilty at all about treating his fellow human beings that way. Dan’s answer was, “Who cares?”
Hypothesis: For those of us who are familiar with actors and radio disc jockeys, we know that their jobs require straightforward and sometimes confrontational behavior. An excess of these traits, though, can prove to be too much
for healthy functioning in life.
Method: McNeil encouraged his friend to take part in some sort of counseling or therapy. Dan agreed. During a therapy session, Dan disclosed:
I can remember the first time in my life when I began to suspect I was a little different from most people. When I was in high school my best friend got leukemia
matter. I figured there wasn’t anybody I really cared for but, then, I didn’t need any of them anyway so I rolled over and went to sleep.
(Davison & Neale, 2001)
Results: This description detail- ing the absence of emotion clearly indicated the possibility of a per- sonality disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) defines a personality disorder as an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that differs significantly from the individual’s culture, is extensive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment. An individual with a personality disorder is often capable of func- tioning normally in society, including holding a job, maintaining some personal relationships, and, on some occasions, showing signs of emo- tions. This is what makes discovering a person-
ality disorder so difficult.
Dan’s unusual behavior may have gone
unnoticed for so long because his occupations required a person to behave a certain way. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to actually know if a person is acting out a role or display- ing his or her own personality traits. In Dan’s case, his role was his personality.
Analyzing the Case Study
1. Why did McNeil encourage Dan to enter therapy?
2. Why do psychologists consider Dan’s behavior a dis-
order rather than just a personality type?
3. Critical Thinking Does everyone’s personality change depending on the role they are playing (for instance, as student, friend, son, or daughter)? Explain.
404 Chapter 14 / Theories of Personality