I just wanted to do a brief post about Cluster B Personality Disorders and the expectation of them changing there behaviors.
Personality disorders and Mental Retardation are coded on Axis II while all the others, such as Bipolar, ADHD, are coded on Axis I. There is a reason for this and it may be obvious just from seeing the two together like that.
Mental Retardation and Personality disorders are pervasive and permanent. Expecting a psychopath or a narcissist to change is much like expecting someone with MR to stop being MR. Does anyone really expect that? No.
Dr. Liane J. Leedom, M.D. and Sandra Brown M.A., makes this very point in their book, Women Who Love Psychopaths, when they say the following:
One other type of pervasive (which means "no way to change it") disorder is mental retardation. Both mental retardation and personality disorders are permanent. No one expects the mentally retarded to overcome being mentally retarded. Yet, women consistently think one day a permanently and pervasively personality-disordered psychopath will suddenly not be that. He can no more undo his disorder than a mentally retarded person.
And they are right. The psychopath and narcissist make it a point that it is not their problem, they don't have a problem, the problem is someone else's fault. Always.
And people with Cluster B personality disorders may end up in counseling but usually do so because they have been forced in one way or another. They may even temporarily try to act differently but that is all it is, an act to get someone off their backs and to draw out that false hope of change.
Dr. Leedom and Ms. Brown makes an especially chilling statement for those of you that think you are involved with a psychopath or narcissist. Again from her book, Women Who Love Psychopaths, is this:
Why don't people with personality disorders get better?
The fact is people with personality disorders are incurable and only minimally treatable. Treatment largely consists of teaching them socially appropriate behavior. A women will say, "He was diagnosed narcissistic and I am just waiting for him to change or 'get it' about his behavior." We hope she has a lot of time to wait, because, by the nature of what is wrong with him, he is hard-wired to resist change. Even the best treatment will not turn him into the loving man she wants.
This applies to both genders. I would recommend Women Who Love Psychopaths to everyone. There is a lot of good information contained in this book and one very nice feature is the plain language explanations they have written.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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