Personality and Psychological Disorders
Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving. Psychological disorders are patterns that cause distress or impairment. The AAMC outline expects the major personality theories (psychoanalytic, humanistic, trait, social-cognitive, biological) and the DSM-5 categories of disorders along with the biomedical vs biopsychosocial models of illness.
Theories of Personality
Personality has three structures: the id (unconscious, pleasure principle), the ego (reality principle, mediates), and the superego (morals, ideals). Anxiety is managed by defense mechanisms (repression, denial, projection, displacement, sublimation, regression, reaction formation, rationalization). Psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital. Neo-Freudians include Jung (collective unconscious, archetypes) and Adler (inferiority complex).
- Humanistic
- Carl Rogers (unconditional positive regard, self-concept, congruence) and Maslow (self-actualization) emphasize growth and free will.
- Trait theory
- The Big Five (OCEAN): Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. Eysenck proposed extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism.
- Social-cognitive
- Bandura’s reciprocal determinism — behavior, cognition/person, and environment interact. Includes self-efficacy and locus of control (Rotter).
- Biological
- Temperament and heritability of traits; twin studies show a strong genetic component.
Psychological Disorders (DSM-5)
Disorders are diagnosed using the DSM-5. Deviance, distress, dysfunction and danger guide classification.
| Category | Examples / features |
|---|---|
| Depressive | Major depressive disorder (≥2 weeks low mood/anhedonia), persistent depressive disorder |
| Bipolar & related | Bipolar I (mania), bipolar II (hypomania + depression) |
| Anxiety | Generalized anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety |
| Obsessive-compulsive | OCD (obsessions + compulsions), body dysmorphic disorder |
| Trauma/stressor | PTSD, acute stress disorder |
| Schizophrenia spectrum | Positive symptoms (hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech) & negative symptoms (flat affect, avolition, anhedonia) |
| Dissociative | Dissociative amnesia, dissociative identity disorder |
| Somatic symptom | Excessive thoughts/behaviors about physical symptoms |
| Personality | Clusters A (odd/eccentric), B (dramatic — antisocial, borderline, narcissistic), C (anxious) |
Understanding Disorders
The biomedical model attributes disorders to biological causes (genetics, neurotransmitters, brain structure) and favors medical treatment. The broader biopsychosocial model integrates biological, psychological and social/cultural factors. Neurotransmitter links to know: low serotonin and norepinephrine in depression; excess/dysregulated dopamine in schizophrenia (dopamine hypothesis); low GABA in anxiety.
Related sociological concepts: the medicalization of deviance, the sick role (Parsons — rights and obligations of the ill), and how illness experience is shaped by culture and social epidemiology.
Worked MCQs
Five MCQs covering the high-yield testing patterns for personality and disorders.
Q1. In Freud’s model, the component operating on the "reality principle" that mediates between desire and morality is the:
The ego operates on the reality principle, balancing the id’s pleasure-seeking impulses against the superego’s moral demands and the constraints of reality.
Q2. Which of the following is one of the Big Five personality traits?
The Big Five (OCEAN) are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Self-efficacy and locus of control are social-cognitive concepts, not Big Five traits.
Q3. A person redirects anger at their boss by yelling at a family member. This defense mechanism is:
Displacement redirects an impulse from a threatening target to a safer one. Projection attributes one’s own feelings to others; sublimation channels impulses into acceptable activities.
Q4. Flat affect and social withdrawal in schizophrenia are classified as:
Negative symptoms represent a reduction or absence of normal functioning (flat affect, avolition, alogia, anhedonia). Positive symptoms are additions such as hallucinations and delusions.
Q5. Bandura’s concept that behavior, personal factors and environment mutually influence each other is called:
Reciprocal determinism is Bandura’s social-cognitive idea that behavior, cognitive/personal factors and the environment continuously interact to shape personality.
Quick Recap
- Freud: id (pleasure), ego (reality), superego (morals); defense mechanisms manage anxiety.
- Humanistic (Rogers/Maslow) emphasizes growth and unconditional positive regard.
- Big Five = OCEAN (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism).
- Bandura: reciprocal determinism; self-efficacy; locus of control (Rotter).
- Schizophrenia: positive (hallucinations/delusions) vs negative (flat affect) symptoms.
- Personality disorder clusters: A (odd), B (dramatic), C (anxious).
- Biomedical vs biopsychosocial models; neurotransmitter links (serotonin, dopamine).