Personality disorders
Disorders of personality are difficult to define. A person who drinks too much, for example, may have his problem under partial control and be considered a neurotic. He may be a psychopath, practically without a conscience. Or alcoholism itself may be his most serious problem, so serious that he can hardly function in society and may eventually have to be hospitalized. Because I feel that the following personality disorders are so serious that they affect a person’s mind and personality completely, I have included them in this section. In a very real sense, such people are crippled, but they need not always be treated in hospitals. Their illnesses are often difficult to diagnose and to treat, but modern psychiatry has new techniques and new drugs that make the outlook for these unfortunate persons much brighter.
Alcoholics and drug addicts are chronically sick people whose ailments show themselves in their behaviour. Unlike many other maladjusted individuals, they have turned to something outside themselves to find an inadequate but temporarily satisfying solution to their problems. As in the case of other maladjusted people, this does not solve their difficulties. In addition, they face the problems that result from excessive drinking or from taking drugs. In advanced cases, their physical conditions are very poor; in fact, deterioration often sets in. In many cases, hospitalization is necessary if a cure is to be effected.
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