At
the least serious level, a person with a character disorder may flunk out of
school because he can't make himself care about studying. While this may
trouble his family a great deal, the problem may not be considered socially
very serious, since basically he alone is the real victim and because, too,
there is some likelihood he may outgrow his immature behavior. On the other
hand, a person with a more serious character disorder may cause harm to others
as well as to himself. He may lie, cheat, or steal even when he has no
realistic need to do so. Or he may become a drug addict, alcoholic, or sex
deviate. Unlike most other emotionally troubled people, those with character
disorders often feel no great anxiety or guilt about their behavior.
Those who lack any normal sense of guilt or anxiety about socially destructive
acts-whose passions enjoy free rein, who can tell right from wrong but pay no
attention to the distinction-are called psychopaths. Exactly why psychopaths
act as they do, rejecting social criteria is not clear. Several reasons have
been suggested. Perhaps a psychopath has not yet developed an effective
conscience but remains like a child: selfish, impulsive, and short-sighted.
Perhaps a psychopathic personality emerges as the result of growing up in a
subculture or minority group that may not have the same values as society in
general. This may be the case with some juvenile delinquents who believe that
violent acts indicate man- hood. Because of the difficulty sometimes in
determining whether an individual with a character disorder is really emotionally
sick or healthy, but antisocial, some authorities use the term sociopath
instead of psycho-path. Unlike the neurotic individual whose unconscious
conflicts carried over from childhood may show themselves in specific symbolic
symptoms such as compulsive hand-washing, the psychopath is affected throughout
his entire personality.
To
him, everyone else may appear to be wrong. The psychopath or sociopath may
really believe that anyone who tries to live honestly and to maintain good
relationships with other people is stupid. Alcoholism and Drug Addiction
Alcoholics and drug addicts are chronically ill people whose ailments are
manifested in their behavior. Unlike many people with mental conflicts, they
have turned to something outside themselves to find in- adequate but
temporarily satisfying easement. Far from solving their conflicts, they add
extra, and serious, problems that result from excessive drinking or drug
taking. Much of the progress in treating alcoholism and drug addiction has been
made possible by the recognition that the victims are sick people, not
criminals (although crimes often are committed by addicts in order to obtain
the funds needed to maintain their habit).
