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Character is an indispensable element of human personality. It is shaped by many different factors, both internal and external. It can be defined as a set of psychological features that determine what norms are adopted and how a given individual behaves. The ways of coping with difficult situations, developed in childhood and adolescence, are also intended to help you find yourself in adult life. How effective they are greatly influences the susceptibility to personality disorders. How does human character develop? What personality disorders might affect him?
Character – development and shaping
Character has been considered by mankind since the dawn of civilization. Hippocrates, the Greek father of medical ethics, distinguished four types of characters at the turn of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries BC. Its division is still popular today. Hippocrates distinguished sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic. The former is characterized by great openness, self-confidence, directness and sensitivity. He can be self-centered and unstable in feelings.
Choleric, on the other hand, is consistent and has a lot of constipation, but is also characterized by hyperactivity, impulsiveness and quickly ending patience. Melancholic is a type with a rich world of internal experiences, who has a tendency to perfectionism and often artistic skills. He is modest in showing emotions but steady in feeling. The phlegmatic, on the other hand, is a steady, calm and balanced person. He is usually prepared for various circumstances. He does not like risk and changes, but he conscientiously carries out the tasks set before him.
The shape it takes depends on many factors. The main role in its development is played by genetic predispositions, as well as environmental factors – that is, the social and cultural norms of a given person’s environment. This is important because each community has norms that it considers to be valuable, as well as those that it does not follow. The influence of the environment may cause the strengthening of positive character traits, while the negative ones expire.
An inherent element of character shaping is also the influence of parents. They have a long-term and long-term influence on their offspring – they determine how their offspring perceives the world. Their image in the eyes of children is key, and the parents’ behavior will largely determine the set of standards that their descendants will adopt. However, it is worth bearing in mind that personality is shaped throughout life, and life priorities, preferences and aspirations may change under the influence of many factors.
In general, positive character traits are considered to be guided by one’s own principles, not succumbing to negative influences from outside, as well as assertiveness in actions undertaken in accordance with one’s conscience. It is worth mentioning that the phenomenon of character deals with characterology, which, inter alia, creates as well as analyzes typologies of character.
Also read: Personality test. Find out which personality type you are
Character and personality disorders
Character disturbances are not uncommon. Their appearance may be due to the lack of a well-established set of standards of conduct. However, it can also result in too strong attachment to one’s own principles, which does not allow you to find yourself in the world.
Character disorders can be the result of improper upbringing. This may be influenced by the difficult conditions in which the child grew up or the inadequate educational methods of its guardians. Fixing norms accepted as negative may in the future result in the inability to find one’s place in society and, consequently, problems with the law, but it may also lead to the development of mental disorders.
However, a properly developed and stable character may also be exposed to personality disorders. This can happen as a result of a mental illness or a trauma caused by some unfortunate event.
A very characteristic phenomenon related to character disturbances are neurotic disorders, commonly known as neuroses. Neurosis is a disease caused by emotional difficulties. Its appearance is fostered by internal conflicts caused by sticking to one’s own rules too rigidly, which in turn may lead to problems with finding oneself in the world.
Other diseases and conditions that may result from abnormal child development are, for example, sociopathy, ACoA, DDD or depression.
Read more about it: Personality disorder – definition, types of personality disorders
Character and temperament and personality
Many people find it difficult to distinguish between the concepts of temperament, personality and character. Besides, not only ordinary people have a problem with it, because even specialists interpret these concepts in various ways.
As far as the concept of personality is concerned, many definitions are known to science, and the same is the case with the concepts of character and temperament, because it results from the concept adopted by the author of a given definition and his scientific approach. It is assumed that the term personality means a specific way of thinking, acting and feeling each person, usually constant, lasting throughout his life.
Temperament, on the other hand, is an innate, purely biological human trait (it concerns, for example, resistance to discomfort or explosiveness). Character, on the other hand, is strongly related to ethical or moral premises as to human behavior (i.e. honesty, truthfulness, kindness).
It is worth adding here that character and temperament are a very important part of the personality of every person, because it is the personality that takes its shape thanks to temperament and factors such as, for example, personal experiences of a given person, their history and the history of their relatives or culture, in which the person grew up with.
See also: Are you toxic? Maybe it’s a brain-building effect
Character – the development of the concept of character traits
Therapists working in the Freudian tradition in the XNUMXs observed two trends. First, psychoanalysis did not seem to work as well as it should, given the proven validity of many of its elements. Second, certain patterns of presenting problems seemed to go hand in hand with certain patterns of resisting the proposed interpretations.
There was also the question of whether the first trend has anything to do with the second? These observations became the impetus for the development of the concept of character. Character would be a personality construct that would explain the ineffectiveness of mere “discovery” in creating change.
Wilhelm Reich noted that character patterns were more than “belief systems” – they included physical appearance and posture. In some cases, when reaching the blind spot, Reich has resorted to having clients move seemingly fixed areas such as the jaw to loosen the situation. Often times, the researcher could observe a surge of feelings and memories, which caused the therapy to progress again. Reich became convinced that the issue of character was central to psychotherapy.
Reich called the physical manifestations “armor”, emphasizing character as an obstacle, he did not create or emphasize the exact typology of characters. Reich believed it was important to “bend” the customer’s armor, segment by segment.
Alexander Lowen, however, made the concept of character more visible in thinking about change. While Reich considered character more “thematic” in terms of early trauma, Lowen saw character more as a coherent, predictable set of alternative developmental pathways initiated by negative or inappropriate environmental responses at critical moments in early life.
Based on extensive natural and clinical observations, he created a “strict” typology of character that included physical, psychological, family and social aspects. It is this system that underlies how character is now thought of in this tradition.
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