Understanding Personality Disorders and Substance Abuse Disorders - Prof. Kathleen T. Bonn, Study notes of Abnormal Psychology

Download Understanding Personality Disorders and Substance Abuse Disorders - Prof. Kathleen T. Bonn and more Study notes Abnormal Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! #1 Personality Disorders: Personality consists of the unique and enduring patterns of inner experience and behavior that each person displays. Personality disorders are defined as inflexible traits which impair social and occupational functioning, however, the individual still has contact reality (although their reality may be distorted). In other words, someone with a personality disorder does not experience delusions or hallucinations under normal conditions (unless they are taking drugs, etc.) When thinking about personality disorders, remember the bell curve. We all have traits or characteristics that make up our personality. Someone with a personality disorder has these same traits/characteristics that we all have, however, their traits/characteristics are much more extreme. Example: Most people like to occasionally be the center of attention, yet someone with a histrionic personality always wants to be the center of attention. Most individuals with "personality disorders" are not any more dangerous than the average person, with the exception of antisocial (sociopath) and borderline personality disorders. #2 Substance Abuse Disorders: A drug is any substance other than food that changes bodily or mental functioning. Some of our most dangerous drugs happen to be "legal". The leading cause of preventable death in the US results from cigarette smoking. The second leading cause of preventable death in the US results from alcohol, and the third... from second-hand cigarette smoke. Doesn’t that make you think about "your rights" as a smoker or non-smoker? Second- hand smoke is especially harmful to the young and the old, creating many respiratory disturbances in these individuals. It is a good idea to not allow people to smoke around your children or your grandparents. Even the residual smoke left on a person’s clothing can trigger an asthma attack in persons who have asthma. In other words, another person’s addiction (or disorder) can affect your life.