On Personality and Character

A healthy person is a whole person. A healthy person is not of a different character depending on his altered circumstance or position.  A healthy person is the same person whether with kings or commoners, whether in want or in plenty, whether being praised or criticized.

A healthy person displays the same self in every room in the house, and whether at home or abroad. His identity and morally sensitive values are clear to him and to others.  A healthy person is of an honest and steady character. He is most often able to be relied upon to behave prudently and tends to inspire confidence.

This is not to say he has a perfect character, it is to say he possesses a stable, socially acceptable character. The healthy person is human and will experience a wide range of emotion. He will make his share of mistakes, commit his sins, however he will generally respond to his mistakes and to his sins by taking ownership of them, and by attempting to correct or atone in a responsible manner wherever possible, no matter his personality or temperament.

Some people are unheahlthy, as they have made their way through life never forming a solid identity of their own. They have failed to develop a cohesive sense of self or a coherent system of belief and values. These people are unpredictable at best. They have great difficulty in making decisions- generally either making them too hastily or tending to avoid decisions altogether. They find it complicated to be consistent from day to day.

These people are usually reacting to the moment, behaving in whatever way the hour appears to dictate. Their behavior tends to inspire or at the least contribute to chaos. To be emotionally out of control is more normal than not for these persons as they are routinely fluctuating between emotional flooding and an emotional void. Many are labeled by the mental health field as clinically neurotic and often as disordered personalities.

Then there are those who form a definite identity of their own, including a system of belief and values, but the identity is for one reason and another a socially or morally unacceptable identity. These people are nearly always on stage- acting- pretending to be whatever the moment requires as they do not wish to make their true identity apparent.

They are often difficult to discern as they are highly manipulative and are usually largely engaged in managing impressions and outcomes, regularly leaving little time for anything else. They are most concerned with managing the thoughts of others and ultimately the behavior of others, especially those closest to them.  It may be rightly perceived as a highly sophisticated form of bullying.

Mental health professionals are easily occupied with clients and patients who have spent too much time in the company of someone of this type. This type is recognized to have a disturbed or disordered personality and is increasingly known by the mental health field as CHARACTER disturbed. These are the essentially psychotic. Once recognized, others do best to distance themselves from these people, immediately if possible.

Surely, it is evident and we must admit that the stream of mental health must grapple with every other brook of study and with all academic disciplines ultimately converge to form a river running straight into the ocean of Theology.

To read more on this topic please see, Character Disturbance by George K. Simon, Jr., Phd, also see, People Of The Lie by M. Scott Peck, MD, and Lies, Lies, Lies by Charles V. Ford, MD.

Copyright 2017.  L.L.  Shelton.