Could this really be true?

            According to the implications of many school’s of thought personality disorders is an explanation off why criminals commit crime. It is my job as researcher to find out in depth if any of the implication is true.  Also to see if there is any breaking or triggering points that will cause the disorder to have a negative affect on the way they react towards others. If caught in enough time can the disorder can it be prevented or at least treat (even possibly cured)? Lastly are their ant third variables such as poverty, inequality added to the personality or the cause of why they commit crime? There are many disorders that can attribute to criminals reasoning for committing crime, but I have chosen certain ones to relate to the criminal behavior and mind. While researching my topic I found twelve sources that would help us as a society better understand just what is going on with the personality disorder,

            The author from Multiple Personality Disorder says that, “Before we go worrying about how to metaphysically explain one or hundred selves in one body, or one self in a hundred bodies, we might want to consider that phenomenological analysis of behavior which takes that behavior at efface value .Or which attributes it to nothing, but brain structure and biochemistry may be missing the most significant element in the creation of the self: the socio-cognitive context in which our idea as self, disease, personality, memory, etc.. emerge”. The author of this article breaks down the elements of the MPD, so that it helps you as a reader or (researchers) receive a better understanding of the disorder (http://skepdic.com/mopd.html).

            Another source that would be good to use when dealing with multiple personality disorder to view would be Ross, Colin A., Dissociative Identity Disorder; Diagnosis Clinical Features, and Treatment of Multiple Personality (John Wiley and Sons, 1996).

            The next author from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD): How to Recognize a Narcissistic stated that a lifetime of mistreatment typically instills a lack of confidence in your judgment. Going along with habitual shame at ever getting it right or being good enough to deserve the air that you breathe. It is impossible for a narcissistic to realize that their inability to please others is not a unique and special, but that they have symptoms of a personality disorder. This article shows you how you could have the traits of a personality disorder and you not know it. It explains how the personality disorder really is and the possibility of relating them to other third variables of why a criminal commits crime (http://www.halycyon.com/jmashmun/npd).

            When looking at the Borderline Personality Disorders information it is overwhelming. The borderline personality is considered to be one of the most controversial diagnoses in the psychology today! When it was introduced in the DMS psychologists and psychiatrists   have tired to give the somewhat amorphous concepts behind borderline personality disorder a concrete form.  In the article it lets you know the causes of the borderline personality disorder. Then it gives you two expert concepts and there analysis of the disease (the experts are Kernburg and Gunderson’s). Lastly it gives you the traits that are involving the emotions, behavior, and identity. Also how there are miscellaneous attributes of people with the borderline personality disorder (http://www.palace.net/llama/psych/bpd.html).

            The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition Revised (American Psychiatric Association, 1987, pp. 372-374) for our researcher convenience, calls masochistic personality disorder as the “self-defeating disorder”. This is a pervasive pattern of self-defeating behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts. This disorder will ignore pleasurable experiences or situations for those that causes pain! Looking further into the article it breaks down into three main categories which are diseases, dimensional and the behavior of the disorder.

            Another source that you can look at while looking at this topic that is very informative would be Masochistic Personality Disorders, the DSM-IV Personality Ed. W. John Wesley.

            Sadistic Personality Disorder is a pervasive pattern of cruel, demanding, and aggressive behavior, that oddly enough beginning by your early adulthood, ad indicated by the repeated occurrence of several of different violent acts. The most important part of this article is the break up of the disorder as a disease and the behavior how it is affected (http://www.geocities.com/ptyprs/sadistricpd.html).

            Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder has a negative attitude. Also when looking at this disorder the passive aggressive person has a resistance to demands for adequate performance. This personality incorporates four or more of the following:

·         passively resists fulfilling routine social and occupational tasks;

·         complains of being misunderstood and unappreciated by others;

·         is sullen and argumentative;

·         unreasonably criticizes and scorns authority;

·         expresses envy and resentment toward those apparently more fortunate;

·         voices exaggerated and persistent complaints of personal misfortune;

·         alternates between hostile defiance and contrition

http://www.geocities.com/ptypes/passive-aggpd.html.

            What is Dissociative Identity Disorders (DID)?  The author of this article tells you what dissociation is, how it develops. It also lets you know the symptoms of the dissociative identity disorder. Oddly enough it tells you who gets it. Why dissociative disorders are are often misdiagnosed. Can DID be cured? All these topics are discussed in this article (http://www.sidran.org/didbr.html).

Those who can do, and those who can’t bully.  This particular article identified the psychopath and sociopath. This gives many identities of both the personality disorders.

            Psychopathic and Antisocial personality disorder: a case of Diagnostic confusion Robert D. Hare, Ph.D. says “You can fall two clusters when dealing with these personalities. Cluster one is referred to as factor 1, reflects core interpersonal and effective characteristics, the other cluster, Factor 2, consists of items that reflect a socially deviant and nomadic lifestyle. Break down is how they camouflage in society, problems that occur with the disorder and DSM-IV perspective. (www.psychiatrictimes.com/p960239.html)

            Historic Personality Disorder: the author in this article breaks up just what a historic personality is. Explains in detail how it occurs and is it treatable or not. (www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/g2699000/62/pl.jhtml).

            Here are some graphs that I found while researching this topic. Hopefully these graphs will help you as a reader and me as the researcher to better understand what is going on about these disorders.

            Fig.1 displays the symptom profile for a typical borderline patient (female, age 29). The global symptom index (GSI) is on the average for all the patients and so is the reduction during treatment. As for the typical borderline patient the interpersonal sensitivity, hostility and paranoid ideation (PSI, Personality Severity Index, Karterud et al 1995) are relatively high. The reduction in PSI is less than of GSI, which also is typical for a severe personality disorder. The reduction of phobic anxiety is especially large for this patient, who has a phobic anxiety disorder as well.

            Fig.2 shows perception of interpersonal problems. The mean score (IIP = 1.61) is a little less than for the average borderline patient (1.87). This patient perceives a substantial reduction of the socially avoidant and non-assertive subscale. This means that the patient has got a rise in their self confidence, which is important for them as a very vulnerable person.

• The book once again provides "tools" for thinking critically about abnormal psychology. It helps! Readers grasp the logic underlying research and assessment; the connection between a model's principles and the studies, assessment tools, and treatment approaches used by its proponents; and their weaknesses and strengths of various theories and interventions. Readers acquire an ability to assess and question current beliefs, process new knowledge effectively, and remember it accurately. Each chapter ends with a "State of the Field" section that provides a sense of perspective about where the clinical field is today, where it came from, and where it seems to be going.  This is a book about everyday people and what percentages of them have a disorder.

I have broadened the coverage of some of the models in accord with current trends in the field. For example, current psychodynamic models such as object relations theory and self-theory are given attention throughout the book (see Chapter 2). Similarly, the influential cognitive-behavioral view of obsessive- compulsive disorders is presented (see Chapters 6 and 7).

This figure from Chapter 20 summarizes the nature and state of physical changes that occur in the aging brain. The changes affect memory, learning, and reasoning and are found to an excessive degree among people with Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of dementia.

            Personality disorders are pervasive chronic psychological disorders, which can greatly affect a person's life. Having a personality disorder can negatively affect one's work, one's family, and one's social life. Personality disorders exists on a continuum so they can be mild to more severe in terms of how pervasive and to what extent a person exhibits the features of a particular personality disorder. While most people can live pretty normal lives with mild personality disorders (or more simply, personality traits), during times of increased stress or external pressures (work, family, a new relationship, etc.), the symptoms of the personality disorder will gain strength and begin to seriously interfere with their emotional and psychological functioning. There are as many potential causes of personality disorders as there are people who suffer from them. They may be caused by a combination of parental upbringing, one's personality and social development, as well as genetic and biological factors. Research has not narrowed down the cause to any factor at this time. We do know, however, that these disorders will most often manifest themselves during increased times of stress and interpersonal difficulties in one's life. Therefore, treatment most often focuses on increasing one's coping mechanisms and interpersonal ski.

      People with personality disorders have difficulty dealing with everyday stresses and problems, and they often have stormy relationships with others. These conditions vary from mild to severe and tend to be difficult to treat.

The exact cause of personality disorders is unknown. However, numerous genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role. Personality disorders have their onset in late adolescence or early adulthood. Doctors rarely give a diagnosis of personality disorder to children on the grounds that children's personalities are still in the process of formation and may change considerably by the time they are in their late teens. But, in retrospect, many individuals with personality disorders could be judged to have shown evidence of the problems in childhood.

It is difficult to give close estimates of the percentage of the population that suffers from personality disorders. Patients with certain personality disorders, including antisocial and borderline disorders, are more likely to get into trouble with the law or otherwise attract attention than are patients whose disorders chiefly affect their capacity for intimacy. On the other hand, some patients, such as those with narcissistic or obsessive-compulsive personality disorders, may be outwardly successful because their symptoms are useful within their particular occupations. It has, however, been estimated that about 15% of the general population of the United States suffers from personality disorders, with higher rates in poor or troubled neighborhoods. The rate of personality disorders among patients in psychiatric treatment is between 30% and 50%. It is possible for patients to have a so-called dual diagnosis; for example, they may have more than one personality disorder, or a personality disorder together with a substance-abuse problem.

By contrast, DSM-IV classifies personality disorders into three clusters based on symptom similarities:

• Cluster A (paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal): Patients appear odd or eccentric to others.
• Cluster B (antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic): Patients appear overly emotional, unstable, or self-dramatizing to others.
• Cluster C (avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive): Patients appear tense and anxiety-ridden to others.

You see that a personality disorder can cause you to do many things that you normally would not do. So, it is very possible that personality disorders could play a part in why criminals commit crime. Many people who go to be treated for the disorder are not always cured. Some don’t even know that they have a personality disorder, so what they don’t know something is still increase increasing their wanting to do wrong! If you’re not careful they could sneak up on you.

This paper hasn’t really proven that personality disorders are a reason why criminals commit crime. What it does do is open your mind to the possibilities that having a personality disorder can contribute to why a person commits crime. Many schools of thought feel that is statement would be true. Many have tried to prove that having a personality disorder can affect any part of you and your everyday routines. Some to it with your ever knowing or realizing it. This opens the door to many avenues that scientist haven’t quite figured out just how they play out in our society. There will be many more researches that will work to prove that the personality disorder can affect your life.