REBROADCAST: The New Elephant in the Room: Personality Disorders
Aug 17, 2023
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Podcast explores personality disorders, their impact in everyday life and relationships. Discusses the confusion surrounding them, prevalence of misinformation online, and the concept of confirmation bias. Explores the connection between personality disorders and criminal behavior. Emphasizes the importance of understanding and supporting individuals with personality disorders. Examines a recent murder case and the possibility of the accused having antisocial personality disorder. Highlights the relationship between personality disorders and high conflict behaviors.
Personality disorders primarily manifest in close relationships and during crises, and individuals may distort their perceptions, blaming others for their own actions.
Approximately 10% to 15% of adults have personality disorders, which are often misunderstood and little discussed.
Deep dives
Personality disorders as a type of mental illness
Personality disorders are classified as a type of mental illness in the diagnostic manual of mental disorders. While other mental illnesses like depression and anxiety are viewed as separate from the individual's environment, personality disorders manifest primarily in close relationships and during crises or encounters with authority figures. People with personality disorders may exhibit all or nothing thinking, unmanaged emotions, and unusual behaviors towards others. It is essential to understand that they are in touch with reality but may distort their perceptions, resulting in blaming others for their own actions.
Prevalence of personality disorders
Research indicates that approximately 10% to 15% of the adult population has personality disorders. While diagnosing personality disorders in children can be challenging due to their ongoing development, it becomes more evident as individuals reach adulthood and display persistent patterns of dysfunctional behavior. This prevalence is higher than that of alcoholism, yet personality disorders remain little discussed and understood. It is crucial to recognize the significance of personality disorders and increase awareness surrounding them.
Understanding high conflict personalities
Not all individuals with personality disorders exhibit high conflict behavior, but approximately half of high conflict individuals are likely to have a personality disorder. High conflict behavior is characterized by blame, all or nothing thinking, and extreme behaviors. While personality disorders can manifest in various settings, high conflict behavior is predominantly observed in close relationships. It is important to remember that high conflict personalities do not possess self-awareness and struggle to connect their behavior to its consequences. Engaging in arguments or blaming them often worsens the situation, while empathy and clear communication strategies can be more effective in managing relationships with high conflict personalities.
Personality disorders are mystifying to those unfamiliar with them, and even to some in the mental health profession, although with copious amounts of information online about them these days, everyone acts like an expert and the terminology is bandied about with authority.
It’s sticky and fascinating information. Unexplainable behaviors can quickly be explained away as narcissistic personality disorder or other personality disorder types. Once that thought happens, it’s easy to develop confirmation bias, which we talked about in the last episode. But it can be dangerous information, information that must be treated with respect and caution.
In this episode, Bill and Megan discuss:
Are personality disorders a type of mental illness? What is different about them? How common are they?
How do they appear in everyday life? Would I know if someone had one? Examples?
What questions should be asked in relation to personality disorder and criminal behavior, including the current tragic case of the Idaho murders?
Are all people with personality disorders high conflict people?
If I think someone has a personality disorder should I tell them?
If I want to explain to a friend or family member what a personality disorder is, what should I say?