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Antisocial personality disorder is a chronic mental health condition characterized by persistent patterns of disregard for the rights and well-being of others. Individuals with antisocial personality disorder exhibit behaviors that include deceitfulness, impulsivity, irresponsibility, aggression, and a profound lack of empathy. These traits often manifest early in life and persist into adulthood, leading to significant personal, social, and legal consequences.
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Personality Disorders: Paranoid and Schizoid01:22

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Personality Disorders: Schizotypal and Histrionic01:20

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[Personality and somatic disorders].

J-M Darves-Bornoz1

  • 1Unité ambulatoire de psychiatrie de liaison, hôpital Beaujon (Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris), 100, boulevard du Général-Leclerc, 92110 Clichy, France.

L'Encephale
|June 13, 2018
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Existential wounds, not personality traits, can cause somatoform disorders and personality changes. Somatic illnesses may also alter personality, but no specific premorbid personality predisposes to them.

Keywords:
AlexithymiaAlexithymieDissociation somatoformePersonalityPersonnalitéPsychosomaticsPsychosomatiqueSomatic disorderSomatoform dissociationTrouble somatique

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Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry and Psychology
  • Psychosomatic Medicine
  • Trauma Studies

Background:

  • Historically, psychological factors were considered causal in somatic disorders, often linked to personality traits.
  • Recent research re-evaluates the mind-body relationship, particularly concerning trauma and its effects.
  • Previous assumptions about personality predisposing to somatic illnesses are increasingly challenged by negative study results.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To reassess the relationship between psychological factors, personality alterations, and somatic disorders.
  • To investigate the role of existential wounds versus premorbid personality in somatoform disorders and personality changes.
  • To differentiate between predisposing personality factors and consequences of trauma or chronic illness.

Main Methods:

  • Review and reinterpretation of historical and contemporary research on psychosomatic disorders and trauma.
  • Analysis of findings from retrospective and prospective studies, including those on war veterans and assaulted subjects.
  • Examination of concepts such as alexithymia, pensée opératoire, and dissociative hysteria in light of new evidence.

Main Results:

  • Existential wounds are identified as a significant cause of long-lasting personality alterations and somatoform disorders.
  • Somatic diseases themselves can lead to personality changes, but no specific premorbid personality traits predict their onset.
  • Conditions like alexithymia and pensée opératoire are likely effects of illness chronicity, not predisposing factors.
  • Dissociative hysteria and its somatic symptoms are primarily responses to existential wounds, reflecting a "drop in Psychological Tension".

Conclusions:

  • Somatization and personality changes are often primitive responses to overwhelming existential wounds or severe illness.
  • The concept of 'fixed ideas' by Pierre Janet helps explain these responses as archaic automatisms triggered by 'unspeakable terror'.
  • Personality modification can occur following traumatic experiences or the diagnosis and course of a somatic illness, irrespective of prior personality.