Disturbed character
The phrase disturbed character refers to a variety of serious anti-social, dysfunctional, or psychopathic personality defects. Common speech and folklore are filled with many other terms for such people: neurotic, psychotic, crazy, nuts, wacky, and many more. There are subtle and not-so-subtle differences in meaning among these terms.
Such people are often unencumbered by qualms of conscience and passionately pursue their personal goals with indifference to - and often at expense of - the rights and needs of others, and cause all sorts of problems for others and society at large. Character-disordered personalities lack self-restraint when it comes to acting upon their primal urges. They have too little conscience or in extreme case no conscience at all. They typically resist making concessions to societal demands, may have some antisocial tendencies, and may have diminished capacities for experiencing genuine shame or guilt. Erroneous thinking patterns and attitudes underlie dysfunctional behaviors they display. These problematic behavior patterns may be habitual and automatic, but they may also be conscious and deliberate. These distorted characters resist changing their attitudes and core beliefs despite having plenty of insight and awareness. What they need and can benefit from are:
- limits placed on their behavior from external sources
- confrontation, where necessary
- and most especially correction.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapeutic approaches are the most appropriate in this regard.
When dealing with disturbed characters, it is however also important to craft win-win scenarios so that they do not feel like they have to lose.[1][2]
Brief Summary of Problematic Patterns of Thinking of Disturbed Characters[1]
- Self-focused/self-centered thinking
- Possessive thinking
- Extreme 'all-or-none' thinking
- Egomaniacal thinking
- Shameless thinking
- Quick and easy thinking
- Guiltless thinking
The aggressive personalities
Among the most character-disordered personalities are covert-aggressive personalities, the more extreme cases of which are[1]:
- the tele-evangelists,
- cult leaders,
- political extremists,
- Sunday night TV "success" peddlers and
- militant social activists
- They use the tactics of manipulation in their overall modus operandi and seek to rise to position of substantial power and influence. They gravitate toward and exploit the excellent opportunities for self-advancement and the wielding of considerable power under the guise of service available in such endeavors.
Examples
Examples of these kinds of conflicts may be found in all areas of human endeavor.
Science
One example of such a conflict may be drawn from the history of science.
In his historical lecture at Sorbonne University in 1864, Louis Pasteur denounced the doctrine of spontaneous generation, supported by many scientists of his day, as error. Georges Clemenceau was among those who, instead of accepting the new scientific discoveries by Pasteur, strongly opposed Pasteur and never reconciled with him. He became Pasteur's fierce opponent. For twenty years Clemenceau waited for an opportunity to thwart Pasteur and his methods. What was at stake here was the very future of Pasteur's work on vaccines. In 1886 Clemenceau joined Pasteur's adversaries, who were trying to discredit his method of antirabies vaccination whenever a death of patient occurred, and who were ready to unleash hostile campaigns at every opportunity. The French press, and the scientific press in particular, facilitated this by their tendency to look for scandal wherever they could, and by the important position they had gained in society since the first half of the nineteenth century. Pasteur however had no doubts about the effectiveness of his vaccine, and he made sure to respond to every one of these hostile articles based on manipulative, aggressive and false accusations, whether in the general press or in specialized journals, defending his findings and his conclusions. Instead of using underhand means, Pasteur showed science in action, personifying the march of progress and at the same time casting his aggressive adversaries, along with other archaic opponents of his method, "into the shadowy realm of the wicked".[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 George Simon (1996, 2010). "8 The Manipulative Child", [/sheep.htm In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and dealing with Manipulative People]. Little Rock, USA: Parkurst Brothers, 34-35, 55, 66. ISBN 978-1-935166-30-6.
- ↑ George K. Simon. [/tag/disturbed-character/ Dealing with manipulative people: Disturbed character]. Retrieved on December 8, 2013.
- ↑ Patrice Debré (1998). [/books?id=RzOcl-FLw30C&printsec=frontcover&dq=ouis+Pasteur+Patrice+Debr%C3%A9&hl=en&sa=X&ei=R6mwUfe1Cuqw4QSS64GYAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=analogy&f=false Louis Pasteur]. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 454-456. ISBN 978-0801-865299. “Pasteur...went up to ... offer his criticism:...Analogy cannot serve as proof.”