Written by: Nyama Amat
Edited by: Eindrea Myaing
Childhood comprises some of the most crucial and formative years of our lives, characterized by ongoing brain development and exposure to countless novel emotions and experiences. As children, our brains are at their most adaptable and impressionable state, marking a pivotal time for our overall cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. Most of our personalities and emotional dispositions are established during childhood, when we experience our first social and learn to interact with with the world and other humans. However, for many, childhood experiences can play an impactful role in the development of mental disorders later on in life, specifically personality disorders.
“Personality” refers to an individual’s unique and enduring characteristics as well as their emotional and behavioral patterns, influenced by both nature and nurture. The DSM-5 defines a personality disorder as “an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture” (American Psychiatric Association). A personality disorder typically onsets in adolescence or early adulthood and causes distress and impairment within one’s everyday life and functioning. A person with a personality disorder experiences turmoil within one’s social and romantic relationships. Behavioral patterns are manifested in two or more of the following areas: cognition, affectivity, interpersonal functioning, and impulse control. While this disorder is typically diagnosed in adulthood when an individual is at least 18 years old, its roots can nearly always be attributed to childhood upbringing and experiences. The environment and circumstances in which a child grows up can significantly alter the trajectory of one’s adulthood and overall psychological and emotional well-being. While not all who experience an adverse childhood will develop a personality disorder, these early life events mark a significant correlation between these experiences and the manifestation of maladaptive symptoms and conditions.
Personality disorders are grouped into three clusters with descriptive similarities. Disorders within cluster A include paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal, which are characterized by behaviors which may appear “odd or eccentric.” Cluster B includes antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic, which manifest in “dramatic, emotional, or erratic.” Lastly, cluster C includes avoidant, dependent, and obsessive compulsive personality disorders, with individuals often appearing “anxious or fearful.” Individuals with personality disorders differ in the severity and characteristics of their symptoms and conditions, but typically all endure interpersonal conflicts and have difficulty forming and maintaining interpersonal relationships. Many factors can be attributed to the development of a personality disorder, but there are several notable and ubiquitous markers within one’s childhood experiences and upbringing that may play a role. Childhood traumatic experiences are an important risk factor, specifically events such as emotional and physical abuse, as well as neglect and sexual abuse. Longitudinal studies have shown that young adults with a history of childhood abuse or neglect “have a four-fold increased risk” of developing a personality disorder (Back, S. N., Flechsenhar, A., Bertsch, K., & Zettl, M). The emotional dysregulation and impaired trust that results from early traumatic experiences can hinder healthy development and contribute to the development of a personality disorder. An individual may resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms and develop and carry learned dysfunctional patterns into adolescence and adulthood.
Inconsistent or unreliable parenting from a caregiver can have detrimental effects on a child’s upbringing, which can follow one into adulthood, contributing to emotional instability and difficulty in regulating one’s emotions.Inconsistent parenting is also a typical precursor to personality disorders, specifically borderline personality disorder. Individuals with borderline personality disorder are marked by a “pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity” (American Psychiatric Association). Those with borderline personality disorder make frantic efforts to avoid “real or imagined abandonment,” a symptom that stems from the feelings of abandonment one experienced from the caregiver they were dependent upon as a child. Attachment styles in childhood, “a biopsychosocial model referring to a person’s characteristic ways of relating in close relationships,” also contribute significantly to the diagnosis of a personality disorder as an adult (Lorenzini, N., & Fonagy, P.). These manners of relating to others are learned during early infancy based on interactions with caregivers and loved ones and form the foundation of an individual’s intimate relationships later in life. Adults with secure attachment styles, an “internalized…reliable relationship to his/her caregivers in infancy,” are able to healthily maintain close relationships and seek out comfort and support from a partner and other loved ones. This attachment style indicates that, as a child, they had a reliable caregiver with whom they could seek out consistent comfort and care.
However, adults presenting a preoccupied or anxious attachment style will feel insecure in a relationship and are prone to fear of abandonment and rejection. This style indicates that, as children, they may have felt abandoned or neglected by an unreliable caregiver. Adults with this attachment style are thus more prone to histrionic, avoidant, and borderline personality disorders. A borderline personality disorder is especially associated with the preoccupied attachment style, especially “in the presence of unresolved trauma and with unresolved attachment patterns.”
Our individual upbringing holds a profound influence on the evolution of mental disorders, shaping our cognitive, emotional, and behavioral foundation and development. The connection between our early life experiences and the emergence of personality disorders is discernible, with factors such as childhood trauma and the relationship with one’s caregiver leaving lasting impacts on one’s psychological well-being. An attentive and supportive familial environment can help foster a child’s healthy psychological development and mitigate any issues before they escalate. Therapeutic interventions such as dialectical-behavioral therapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy can also aid significantly as they are both highly effective in treating personality disorders. The dialectical-behavioral therapy approach, a form of talk therapy, is especially beneficial in managing an individual’s emotional regulation to better identify and understand their emotions. It is also helpful in improving interpersonal relationships to build and maintain healthy connections with others, as well as fostering healthy coping mechanisms and mindfulness skills. Experiencing substantial hardships and turmoil during one’s childhood does not always lead to the development of a personality disorder. However, there is an undeniable correlation between these experiences and the likelihood of developing such disorders. Encouragingly, thanks to the ongoing research and progress in therapeutic models over the years, help and improvement of these symptoms is available to aid an individual in leading a healthy and fulfilling adult life.
References:
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Back, S. N., Flechsenhar, A., Bertsch, K., & Zettl, M. (2021). Childhood Traumatic Experiences and Dimensional Models of Personality Disorder in DSM-5 and ICD-11: Opportunities and Challenges. Current Psychiatry Reports, 23(9).
Lorenzini, N., & Fonagy, P. (2013). Attachment and Personality Disorders: A Short Review. FOCUS, 11(2), 155–166. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.11.2.155
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