The above are presented as a business tool, not as medical
diagnosis or therapy. Each of these categories may be mildly
attributed to a personality type or severly attributed to a
disorder. There's a rather pernicious trend to ascribe all
psychological attributes to a serotonin-dopamine (even
carbohydrate-protein nutrition, hence farmer-hunter ancestry)
continuum. Not only are depression and obsession treated for
serotonin, but so are histrionicity and other behaviors. Some try to
link lithium response to dopamine, and treat bipolar, sociopaths and
even schizoparanoids with lithium and/or clozapene. While I feel such
a scale might be a useful heuristic, I worry it has gone too far,
simply because imaging and biochemical tools are more advanced than,
say behavioral, cognitive use of artificial intelligence to treat
disorders behaviorally. I'm curious of the eventuality that a
computer tool (however that might deal with the FDAs current, and
hopefully temporary, aversion to software substituting for the
physician) might offer. A few years, someone in the southwest had
actually written a software program to treat depression. I'm curious
about similar developments.
{vjp2's Psy Rules of Thumb: Observations, Heuristics& Wilder Generalisations}
Actors (& schoolteachers?) are typically schizo-histrionic
(Henry&Sims, 1970) Securities traders aren't just naturally narcissistic,
they are trained to be. (pp 167-179 Douglas, Disciplined Trader, NYIF 1990)
Politicians & academics are typically schizo-paranoid. When a Greek kills
someone, it's like he's defecating; German, copulating; Japanese,
masturbating; Brit, showering; Russian, regurgitating; Hindi, toenail
cleaning.
"Attila the Nun" masochistically brutalised her students because she
felt they didn't appreciate her sacrifices. Masochism is the result if
monasticism is carcinoidically grown too quickly for political motivations.
(Daniel Rancour-Lafernime claims Russian national character is masochistic,
NYU 1995 ISBN 0-8147-7458-x; Anita Phillips,A Defence Of Masochism, 1998
Faber&Faber ISBN 0-571-19042-1 p144, sees papal decoriousness as
counteracting "cankerous resentment, the martyr complex") Christian
psychology involves smothering, surrender, forebearance, renunciation;
obedience -> humility -> dispassion (praotis) ; food and sleep (and even
breathing) should be limited. (Metr Ieroth Vlahos of Navpaktos, Orthodox
Psychotherapy, 1994). Papal monasticism (eg, Gregorian Chant) emphasises
enmity towards "self-esteem" which is a term wrongly borrowed by Ware &
Williams for the Greek "kenodoxia". Schismatic excesses (old-calendar,
Amish, Hassidic) have their bases in neuroses.
It might be possible to reduce all personality disorders to these two
eignevector principal components: Serotonin (hi-carb? fish? nitrous oxide?)
dimension is ordered: Narcissist > Histrionic > Obsessive > Paranoid >
Masochist > Sociopath > Sadist > Passive-Agressive > Schizotypal > Schizoid >
Avoidant > Dependant. Dopamine (hi-protein? red meat? adrenalin?) dimension
is ordered: Sociopath > Sadist > Paranoid > Passive-Agressive > Borderline >
Avoidant > Schizoid > Schizotypal > Dependant > Narcissist > Histrionic >
Obsessive > Masochist
The direction of causality is indeterminate as to if serotonin
imbalance causes the skin irritation that makes obsessives want to wash or
vice versa. (James Claiborne) Obsessiveness is more generally dealt with by
asking "so what?", by response prevention and self-exposure, and by burning
up built-up serotonin by alternate "fight or flight" activities. Burnout is
a Maslovian process: if you fear hunger or invasion, you don't get burnout
(or depression?). (ad passitum, cf Pines&Aronson FP 1988 ISBN 0-02-925351-9)
Paranoia in the elderly should be dealt with by tactfully
disagreeing, changing the subject, and acknowledging the underlying feelings
while ignoring the subject through which they are manifest. (Holden & Woods,
1988). "Family Therapy with the Elderly" (Niedhart & Allen, 1992) involves
(indirectly) circular questions, positive conditioning and reframing,
paradoxical messages, ritual assignment, restorying, restraining change,
split messaging and (directly) providing information and advice, life review,
coaching alternate behaviors and rehearsing communications changes.
Genocidal racism (as contrasted with merely vocal racism) is the result of
oppressive/coercive extended families.
Most folks are "ordinary savants": they learn certain rules of thumb
and then only use their minds an hour a week. Earnest Karhu says genius is
perpetucognitive antisupersavantoid (Karhu this from "Surely You Are Joking
Mr Feynman" but assignes the term to vjp2-1989). Stanford's Chris Argyris
tells managers to intentionally schedule thinking time.
Freud postulated oral/anal/phalic & tranferance. Rogers postulated
actualisation & congruence. Learning involves conditioning, reinforcement and
desensitisation. Cognitive theory deals with the unrealistic and the
maladaptive. Goals should be understood and changed, gaining necessary skills
and changing anticipations and expectations.