Essay Example on Living With Personality Disorder: A Case Study of Jodie

Introduction

Personality disorders have a bad impact on the life of an individual especially when the disorders are associated with causing negative feelings and steer one to actions like suicide. It is always important to have the best done in order to understand the disorder a person is experiencing so that the best control measures can be applied to deal with the situation until it is resolved. From the case study of Jodie, it is true that she has gone through a lot in the past year because of the disorder she has always had. From the explanations she gives, it is clear that she is suffering from borderline personality disorder and this has always had very negative effects on her life. For example she has tried to commit suicide a number of times but has not succeeded. At the same time, she has had all her relationships broken because of the disorder as she ends up throwing objects at the boyfriends or just hitting them. This has gone to the extent of costing her marriage because she has been married and divorced a couple of times.

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Discussed here are the various aspects of the borderline personality disorder in the perspective of the psychological tests which would be applied to assist in dealing with the situation of Jodie, the applicable theories, biological traits which fit the patient, the sexual identity traits of the patient, the method that would be used to treat the problem whether behavioral, cognitive or humanistic, the prominent personality traits which the patients appears to have and lastly a treatment plan that would work best for this patient. All personality disorders require a deep analysis and understanding so that the problem can be identified before any measures are taken to control the situation. Only after identifying the exact problem can measures of control be applied as a remedy to the problem of the patient. Discussed here are the proper ways to deal with the Borderline personality disorder which has been facing Jodie and has affected her for a very long time and caused her pain in the relationship and marriage life as well as turned her into a shopper and eater.

Understanding the Disorder

The most important thing of all which needs to be done in the situation of Jodie is to identify the problem which she has been facing and come up with an answer of the exact disorder she is experiencing. This is only possible by looking at the things she has been doing in the past year, observing the moods and feelings of anger she has had and then the effects that have been experienced by her because of the problem (Linehan, 1993). From the psychological concepts, nearly all the behaviors and traits presented about Jodie in this case show that she is a victim of the borderline personality disorder. This is a disorder which is associated with affecting the overall behavior of a person and making them become aggressive of other people, feelings of anger and continuous feelings of committing suicide.

The above disorder is known for the impact it has on the way one thinks and feels about themselves and others and thus creating problems in everyday life of the individual. The main issues associated with it are the self-image issues, difficulties in management of emotions and behavior, and lastly continuous patterns of unstable relationships (Linehan, 2018). It is exactly the same with what she has been going through. Having known that Jodie's problem is the borderline personality disorder, the next step is to think about the way the problem can be dealt with. Dealing with the issue requires a proper understanding of various aspects of psychology.

Psychological Tests to Apply

The first thing is to identify the psychological tests which would apply most in the case of Jodie. This serves as the first step in trying to eradicate or manage the disorder affecting Jodie. There are so many psychological tests which are applied in the treatment of various disorders and each test varies depending on the disorder one has been faced with. In the case of Jodie, the best psychological tests that would help deal with the problem well are personality tests, attitude tests, achievement tests and lastly direct observation tests. These tests would be the best to administer to this patient because they will help understand the issue better and deeper. Personality tests will be used to measure how she interacts, associates and reacts to other people around her and she has been feeling her own self. This will help identify any defects in her behavior then draw valid conclusions on what the problem might be. The other test which should be administered to Jodie is the attitude tests and sees the various moods and feelings she has in various situations (Linehan, 2019). The reaction of Jodie to other people around her for example the boyfriends and husbands is a result of the Attitude she has developed out of the disorder. Achievement tests are a good way to identify that someone is being affected by a certain disorder because their achievement can be measured to see if they get to attain what they want to or not.

The achievement tests apply in the case of Jodie because as much as she loves the boyfriends and wants to have a stable relationship, she can't because of the disorder. This way, when measured with this test, she has not yet achieved the plan to get into a relationship and get married happily afterwards. Direct observation test is also important in this particular situation so that one can learn about any abnormal behavior and mode of conduct of Jodie silently (Linehan, 2018). Direct observation test is one of the best tests that will help learn more about the problem of Jodie before an action can be taken.

Theories to Apply

In dealing with personality disorders, there are several theories which govern and describe the personality defects and the best ways to deal with each. In the case of Jodie, Jung's theory of personality will be the best to apply. This is because it is so much into the observation the feelings and emotions of an individual and how these result into the negative interactions with other people, continuous feelings of emptiness, low self-esteem among other things. In addition, this theory majors on the explanation of thinking and feeling of an individual, sensation and intuition as well as the various life attitudes which are extraversion and introversion all being associated with the resulting human behavior and the way they interact with other people (Linehan, 2019). This theory describes most of the areas that are associated with the borderline personality disorder affecting Jodie. Therefore applying the concepts of the Jung personality theory will easily cover and explain everything about the behavior of Jodie thus clearly proves whether she has the disorder or not.

Biological Traits

Biological traits explain clearly the causes of a certain behavior of an individual as linked to the biological aspects of their inner selves. It is most of the times influenced by the mind, thinking and reasoning of an individual as well as their perceptions about various aspects. The biological traits which fit the patient Jodie most are things like the typological, biological habits and evolutionary or lineage concepts. In other words, the behavior of Jodie can have been influenced by the three main traits of biology. The typological ones are known to have been shared from close relatives and friends. Behaviors are easily shared and there is a big influence of the behaviors of one person by another. The biological behaviors depend on the breeding of a particular person or rather how they have been brought up since their child and this one of the most sensitive areas when it comes to the personality disorders. A behavior one grows up with from their childhood is not an easy thing to overcome (Linehan, 2019). The evolutionary traits or behaviors are the ones inherited from close lineage ties. The trait that applies best of the patient Jodie according to her behavior and the way she deals with other people is biological. She has grown up with a problem of not knowing the proper ways to use to solve problems and relate with people. The effect of this has caused her to have a negative attitude towards people as well as have a poor problem solving habit.

Sexual identity also matters a lot in the life of an individual and has so many effects on the way one feels about her/ him or feels about others. The females are associated with a problem of sexual disorder traits most of the times. There are feelings and perceptions with people which make them feel unworthy or inferior in the presence of others just because of their sexuality or gender. It is known from the early times that women have always been considered inferior in the presence of men and they have adopted that feeling that their sex is inferior. This has affected the thinking and reasoning as well as achievement of the women in so many fields of life (Linehan, 2018). For example there are so many ladies who believe that there are jobs or things they cannot do by themselves because they are known to be predominantly for men. In the case of Jodie, it is likely she has a negative feeling about her sexuality. She feels inferior before all the men she has ever been in love with and she finds herself feeling like she wants to commit suicide and get rid of herself. This shows that she is not happy with her sexuality and this has resulted to her even not respecting the other sexuality of the men she has been dealing with.

Treating the Disorder

The borderline personality disorder of Jodie can be treated and controlled in so many ways according to concepts from psychology about the same. The treatment of the borderline personality disorder of Jodie needs a combination of ways but it largely depends on the measures that will change the behavior. In this regard therefore, the disorder can be treated behaviorally because it will help address the problem directly to foster a positive behavior of the woman. This will involve training the woman on the various ways through which she can keep herself happy and avoid thinking of the negative things (Linehan, 2018). At the same time, she can be shown how to continuously speak to people positively and learn the importance of respecting other people like the boyfriends and husbands she used to fight with and throw objects at. At the same time, it will be important to use a humanistic approach in the dealing with and control of the problem with Jodie. Humanistically, she can be helped deal with the feelings and attitudes she has towards other people she interacts with and be trained on the proper ways to maintain good and healthy relationships at all times.

Applying the above behavioral and humanistic approaches will help deal with the issue once and for all and shape the behavior, feelings and emotions of Jodie towards the positive way. This will improve how she deals with people in times of disagreements, how to understand and deal with issues of sexuality as well as how well she can manage her relationships and marriage. The expected result is that after this she will improve the way she has been living and begin living a better life where she does not think of any negative things like suicide, fighting with people among others (Linehan, 1993). The humanistic and behavioral approaches address the woman's problem better than the way it would be cognitively addressed and they offer effective solutions to alter and control the behavior of this individual.

Prominent Personality Traits

Despite the disorder, she has got two prominent personality traits which are openness and agreeableness. She was so open to share her whole story and whatever she has been going through. She agrees with the situation she has been in...