adversarial wrote:
Apart from Borderline Personality Disorder (DSM-IV TR, 2000), there doesn't seem to be much acknowledgement of a Misanthropic Personality Enhancement Subroutine (sorry, I meant Disorder of course),. I wonder why this is so?
Is Misanthropy popularly perceived to be a core component of other Personality Disorders, or is it simply that it can be subsumed under a pre-existing diagnostic criterion, perhaps comprising an 'amalgam' or pre-existing disorders, or a prominent display of traits from one Disorder, with collateral co-morbidity from others, depending on presentation of symptoms in a clinical setting?
Misanthropy is probably a common attitude in most of the personality disorders. For people with antisocial personality disorder, they perceive people who they deceive as fools who should have known better; and, when a person with antisocial personality disorder is feeling down, they immediately place all the blame squarely on someone else, or society as a whole if they're particularly "depressed" (some psychological literature questions whether psychopaths can experience actual depression; they call it the "zero state" or just self-pity that recedes once a sociopath is liberated from prison or found a new victim to trick or leech off). People with narcissistic personality disorder believe they're above everyone else and deserve only to socialize with their rarified peers equitably; everyone else is a mere servant or source of praise. People with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder believe just about everyone besides them is incompetent at all but the most trivial tasks. They believe others must learn the proper way of doing things or be met with contempt, loads of "constructive" criticism, or indifference. They take a miserly approach to other people's concerns, valuing duty above all else. People with paranoid personality disorder just don't trust others. People with avoidant personality disorder are fearful of interpersonal rejection and negative evaluations; they restrict their lives and may come to feel they are just misanthropes. People with schizoid personality disorder are largely indifferent to other people, and the rest of the world's existence is but a fleeting concern to them. People with schizotypal personality disorder are verging on schizophrenia and may behave sporadically and eccentrically; they may be somewhat paranoid but not necessarily hypervigilant.
People with dependent personality disorder I would not consider misanthropic; they view themselves as weak and in need of a stronger person to carry them through life. People with histrionic personality disorder are gregarious and dramatic; they are definite people persons. Underlying the friendliness, though, many histrions are contemptuous of others (comorbidity with narcissistic personality disorder) and may dislike them because of their compulsion to be the center of attention (thus hating others for this weakness which makes them emotionally dependent on others' approval and reassurance). People with borderline personality disorder have highly unstable emotions, and there's really no telling what their take on humanity will be at any particular moment in their lives.
30 Aug 2005, 11:08 pm
