mental-health


Addiction And Personality Disorder

Addiction and Personality Disorder

Substance abuse and dependence (alcoholism, drug addiction) is only one form of recurrent and self-defeating pattern of misconduct. People are addicted to all kinds of things: gambling, shopping, the Internet, reckless and life-endangering pursuits. Adrenaline junkies abound.

The connection between chronic anxiety, pathological narcissism, depression, obsessive-compulsive traits and alcoholism and drug abuse is well established and common in clinical practice. But not all narcissists, compulsives, depressives, and anxious people turn to the bottle or the needle.

Frequent claims of finding a gene complex responsible for alcoholism have been consistently cast in doubt. In 1993, Berman and Noble suggested that addictive and reckless behaviors are mere emergent phenomena and may be linked to other, more fundamental traits, such as novelty seeking or risk taking. Psychopaths (patients with Antisocial Personality Disorder) have both qualities in ample quantities. We would expect them, therefore, to heavily abuse alcohol and drugs. Indeed, as Lewis and Bucholz convincingly demonstrated in 1991, they do. Still, only a negligible minority of alcoholics and drug addicts are psychopaths.

What has been determined is that most addicts are narcisstic in personality. Addictions serve his purpose. They place him above the laws and pressures of the mundane and away from the humiliating and sobering demands of reality. They render him the center of attention - but also place him in "splendid isolation" from the maddening and inferior crowd.

Such compulsory and wild pursuits provide a psychological exoskeleton. They are a substitute to quotidian existence. They afford the narcissist with an agenda, with timetables, goals, and faux achievements. The narcissist - the adrenaline junkie - feels that he is in control, alert, excited, and vital. He does not regard his condition as dependence. The narcissist firmly believes that he is in charge of his addiction that he can quit at will and on short notice.

 

 

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Mental Health


Antidepressants In Mental Health

... burying the problems underneath. Some antidepressants are dangerous if stopped abruptly. Antidepressants such as Effexor XR if stopped abruptly will increase symptoms such as, suicidal tendencies/thinking, violent outbursts, enraged attitudes, impulsive behaviors and so. The person obviously has something ... 

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Practices In Mental Health

... are the practices in mental health? Most people believe that mental health experts merely sit and discuss problems with patients. The fact is these experts have more to contend with than merely discussing problems. The experts are responsible to keep notes, evaluate the patient s problems carefully, and ... 

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Avoidance Disorders In Mental Health

... be explored. The system alone and how others treat others sometimes is enough to make anyone want to avoid public. It is important to examine all aspects of the symptoms before coming to the conclusion that the person has avoidant personality disorder. Most all (rather all) individuals with a mental disorder ... 

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Two Herbs That Help With Mental Distress

... herbs, can help increase the effectiveness of the body's immune system. Mental distress is often caused by an imbalance in part of the brain. While no herbs can completely cure a mental disorder, there are some that can help alleviate the most distressful symptoms. Following are two herbs commonly used ... 

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What Is Trichotillomania

... grows may be conditioned over a long period of time. This time can be over a person's entire lifetime causing the person to not know its origins or can arise within as little time as a year. This conditioning seems to cause the perception of pain to be changed into pleasure. There has been notice of similar ... 

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