Disintegrated Personality

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A Disintegrated Personality is a personality that is fragmented, inconsistent, unpredictable, unbalanced and made up of aspects that conflict each other. A person with a disintegrated personality is unpredictable and has a lack of unification when it comes to their behavior, attitudes, cognition, beliefs, traits and emotional patterns.

A disintegrated personality can occur as a trauma response and/or due to a lack of development in the brain. Anyone can develop a disintegrated personality, but those with trauma and psychiatric conditions such as borderline personality disorder (BPD) and complex posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) are at an increased risk for having one.

Adolescence Disintegration
Adolescence Disintegration is a theory that everyone begins with a disintegrated personality when they are born that will eventually integrate or be further fragmented as their brains develop.

This disintegrated state of childhood may also be referred to as toddler soup.

When children are born, they rely on other people to help teach them about their emotions, how to be more independent, and other important parts of development. As shown in the table, there are 3 main types of development.

Non-Constructive Development
Non-Constructive Development is when out of the two main goals, to be people oriented and internal locus of control, only one of those is met causing the individual to be okay. They haven’t reached the goal, but they’ve developed to a point where they are no longer disintegrated and are somewhere inbetween disintegration and integration.
 * Adaption: Friendly dependent / Depending daptive. People oriented with external locus of control. Too dependent, stagnant, but okay.
 * Self-affirmation: Internally dominant / Dominant-subject. Self-oriented with internal locus of control. Too independent, stagnant, but okay.
 * Self-affirmation: Internally dominant / Dominant-subject. Self-oriented with internal locus of control. Too independent, stagnant, but okay.

Constructive Development
Constructive Development is the goal where both goals of being people oriented and internal locus of control have been met. The individual is integrated and has a balanced and unified sense of self and personality.
 * Self-actualization: Autonomously self-sufficient / Harmonious (integrated). People oriented with internal locus of control. In control of own life and has a community.

Destructive Development
Destructive Development is where the two main goals of being people oriented and internal locus of control have not been met, causing a disintegrated personality to be kept and/or worsen. The individual is unbalanced and lacks unification.
 * Protection: Frustrated/crisis-stricken / Disintegrated (negative identity). Self-oriented with external locus of control. Has no control and is alone.

Adaptive Plurality
In adaptive plurality, especially traumagenic, failure to integrate various features of identity, memory, and consciousness may result in a system. Similar to disintegration of personalities in that the lack of integration caused a disintegration of identity with the result being a system and system members.

This type of disintegration may be a defense mechanism and a form of protection as a way to cope with trauma or any other reasons for adapting.

It is more complex compared to a disintegrated personality, but can have some overlap and similar qualities.

Theory of Positive Disintegration
The Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD) is one theorized by Kazimierz Dąbrowski about personality development.

Instead of being in stages like a lot of other theories, Dąbrowski puts an emphasis on the use of “levels” instead. Each level isn’t connected to a specific age or stage of development, and can happen at any time at any point in life. Not everyone is assumed to have gone through or will go through all of the levels.

Dąbrowski believed that anxiety and tension were needed for growth. The disintegration process instead being positive, because it caused growth. Failure to go theough TPD will result in someone staying in the first level, primary integration, where they lack true individuality.

The Theory of Positive Disintegration has five levels. Primary Integration, Unilevel Integration, Multilevel, Direct Multilevel Disintegration, and Secondary Integration.

Progressing through these levels is caused by emotional reactions such as anxieties and depression, helping people to develop an individual personality and ideals.

The Theory of Positive Disintegration is different from a Disintegrated Personality because it believes disintegration is needed to develop an individual, rather than separate their identity.