They have things like this... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder Doesn't this describe almost all female and some male teenagers? Yes I know it's not all. But this thing must account for at least 50% of all teenagers in developed countries. Right??
Psychology helps you understand where people come from. Yes, most teenagers have some of the symptoms of this "disorder", but you have to look at the extent to which these symptoms are displayed by comparing them with their peers. And once you establish certain psychological conditions, it explains alot about them going into the future and why they make certain decisions/committ certain acts. Psychology and perception are beautiful things.
Instead of realizing that you live in a society of mentally ill people and figuring out how to help them, you rationalize it to mean that psychology has no value?
No I'd love to help, I just don't think labelling a huge portion of teenagers with one disorder makes sense. As Ronny said, it should be compared to their peers (which makes sense to me). It makes sense to me that teenagers will behave more child-like because marriage is being pushed further up in age, as is work life etc... while the media is projecting to them that they should be acting like grown ups now... Also kids are leaving their homes much sooner than they used to and living on their own, being more independent... The people they idolize are more and more corrupt... The transition causes these things. I know that, but it's normal for those set of circumstances.
I think the implied standard for any personality disorder is that you exhibit those traits to a destructive or fundamentally anti-social degree. And your statement about teenagers may be less observant than you think.
That's a funny observation. The point is that someone with HPD would present with all of those symptoms based on what is normal for that age. So, if a teenager is normally excessively dramatic than someone with a histrionic personality would go even beyond what is normal for a teenager. In my high school I can think of two people that I knew that would probably be borderline HPD. One was really into drama (acting) which is not a surprise. The other one that I knew well had faked a pregnancy, faked being raped, and who knows what else. The one that I knew well had such an extreme personality that it directly affected her life. I don't know if she was ever diagnosed, but when I think of HPD I think of her and the other girl that was in Drama. I'm sure that if most of you think about high school there were one or two people that had 10x the drama of the average teenager. This is what they are talking about.
You said two things here that seem inconsistent to me. First, kids are pushing back the point in life where they begin working. But at the same time, they're also becoming "independent" at an earlier age? I'm pretty sure the part about leaving home earlier and becoming independent sooner is wrong.
Oh God, I thought that said Hispanic Personality Disorder, and then I read the rest of it trying to figure out what it all had to do with Hispanics. I'm like, this sounds like every teenager. This is how wars start, y'know.
Psychology by itself is just a study of personality and behavior. Its how its used that matters. Such as lazy parents who want to "diagnose" their children and drug them up instead of fully raising them. Or screw-up people who want to be diagnosed with something instead of being accountable. Psychology as a shortcut. A disorder is not a generalization of common everday behavior. I believe most all catagorized disorders are for extreme cases. I'd prefer we not make every human head a case study toward some scientific or political aim. But what if its proven that a large number like 50% exhibit some behavior now, when 25 years earlier that behavior was UNcommon? Do you diagnose all those people with a disorder?
Very few people have HPD, despite the seeming ubiquity of the diagnostic features. Many have personality "styles" that head in this direction, but this is sub-pathological, as they are not so rigid in attention-seeking behavior that it interferes with their lives. Further, only young adults and older can qualify for a diagnosis.
I thought this was going to be a joke... _________ I have one problem I have with psychiatry/psychology... I'm a patient
