SOME PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS THAT IDENTIFY PERSONALITY AND CHARACTER DISORDERS
Abstract
The findings suggest the central core problem in the development and function of the personality and character disordered group which centers around ego function and structure. First there is the problem of an arrested ego development. This has many of the characteristics of ego weakness. Yet it has a different quality than the type of ego weakness that one sees, for example, in the psychoneurotic although many of the symptoms are the same. There are the strong dependency needs, as evidenced in the projected wish expressed in the percentage of personality disorders who worried about parents. There is the delay in social development, there is the problem with schooling and enuresis which are symptomatic of ego weakness. However, in the neurotic these occur sporadically and fluctuate with the stresses and level of anxiety that the individual is experiencing. By contrast, for the character and personality disordered group those are habitual modes of acting. In anticipation of a future report on the dynamics of the character and personality disordered group on which we have collected data, it appears that they experience minimal anxiety and/or guilt feelings. Secondly, there is the problem characteristic of the personality and character disordered group not to be found to such a great degree in the other psychological disorders; namely the lack of opportunity for establishing an ego ideal. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 15, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0264317
Entities
People
- John H. Rohrer
Organizations
- Georgetown University