A personality disorder is identified by a pervasive pattern of experience and behavior that is abnormal with respect to any of the following two : thinking, mood, personal relations , and the control of impulses. Depending on the specific personality disorder , age of onset can vary widely; some conditions,such as borderline personality disorders, can statr as early as age 5.
Personality is the total of a person's internal and external patterns of adjustment to life, determined in part by the individual's genetic make-up and by life experiences. Thus, the dynamics of personality development become increasingly complex throughout the lifespan as one continually interacts with the environment and experiences various stages of physical and psychological maturation. Factors in fluencing psychological maturation include genetic endowments such as inheritedtraits, potentials, and characteristics; environmental stressors including parental relationships, peer relationships and cultural and social experiences; individual accomplishments that are the results of learning and adaptation; and one's mental health status at each developmental stage. Thus, a newborn or infant reacts differently to a given environmental stimulus than doed an adolescent, a young adult , or and elderly person.
In his psychosexual theory ,Freud also describes five phases of the psychobiologic process that have a great impact an personality development; oral, anal, phallic or oedipal, latency , and genital.
- The oral phase ( O to 18 mos) is a period in which pleasure is derived mainly through the mouth by the actions of sucking or biting.
- During the anal phase ( 18 mos ti 3 years) , attention focuses on the excretory function , and the foundation is laid for the development of the superego.
- In the phallic or wedipal stage ( 3 to 7 years) , a stage of growth and development, the child identifies with the parent of the same sex, forms a deep attachment to the parent of the oppositesex , develops an sexual identity of male or female role, and begins to experience guilt.
- During the latency phase ( 7 years to adolescence) , the person learns to recognize and handle reality, has a limited sexual image, develops an inner control over aggressive or destructive impulses, and experiences intellectual and social growth.
- In the genital phase ( puberty or adolescence intoadult life) , the final stage of psychosexual development , the induvidual develops the capacity for object love and mature sexuality and establishes identity and independence.
