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50 shades of Personality Disorders

Shreya Singh 

An individual’s personality is a peephole into the possible situations and events that make up who they are today. It dictates how they react to situations, the coping mechanisms they develop and the relationships they form with those around them. Childhood and early adolescent experiences play a major role in this personality development.

The focus of this blog post is to discuss the increased risk of development of personality disorders due to childhood trauma and maltreatment. The post will start by discussing the positive correlation between abuse suffered during childhood and the development of personality disorders. Among those, this blog will be focusing on Schizoid personality disorder from Cluster A and Narcissistic personality disorder from Cluster B. It will then analyse Christian Grey’s character from the 50 shades trilogy and discuss the portrayal of certain aspects of his personality which come across as schizoid and narcissistic in context of his childhood trauma.

Research has shown that there is a positive correlation between childhood maltreatment and the increased risk of Personality disorders. It was seen that people with documented childhood abuse and neglect were 4 times more likely to be diagnosed with Personality disorders (PDs) during early adulthood (Johnson, 1999). It was seen that physical/ sexual abuse and emotional abuse/neglect was associated with elevated symptoms of all three personality disorder clusters (Tyrka, Wyche, Kelly, Price, & Carpenter, 2009)

Christian Grey from the 50 Shades trilogy suffered physical, sexual abuse and neglect at the hands of his mother and her drug addict, abusive boyfriend. He suffered physical abuse in the form of cigarette burns on his chest and neglect from his mother who failed to protect him. There was also the incident of Christian being found next to his deceased mother, who overdosed 4 days prior.
The defining characteristic of Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is the aversion to forming close personal relationships. People suffering from SPD prefer being alone, struggle with expressing emotions and reacting to situations appropriately, and sometimes come across as cold emotionally (Mayo Clinic, 2017).

Due to this childhood maltreatment, Christian developed maladaptive coping mechanisms resulting in certain personality traits analysed as schizoid and narcissistic. Christian dissociates himself from all relationships. He lives in a hyperregulated world of rules and contracts which help keep everyone at a distance and in check, allowing a sense of safety and control. He doesn’t express love or any emotions towards the family that adopted him. He indulges in solitary activities like flying and sailing where, again, he is in control and away from other people.
He gets background check on employees and loved ones. He loves his girlfriend but struggles with expressing emotions and refuses to have a normal relationship with her. He instead makes her sign a contract of ownership and makes her sleep in another room. Due to his trauma as a child he feels uncomfortable in situations where he is not in charge and goes as far as buying the company his girlfriend is working at just so that she is ultimately under his control.  

The only form of sexual activity he indulges in is BDSM with no emotional expectation. He struggles with trusting someone, especially a woman, due to the childhood trauma. His sexual preferences allow him to be in charge and keep woman at bay. He also admits that he finds women that look like his mother so that he can subconsciously punish her through BDSM. It is seen that he struggles with settling emotional differences and doesn’t understand how to function in a healthy relationship. It can be seen from these examples that certain facets of his personality are schizoid based on the description of SPD given above.

This paper will also look at Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) defined by a grandiose image of self in avoidance of deep seated insecurities. They are seen as cocky, manipulative and selfish. In relationships, they aren’t looking for partners but obedient admirers. They have a sense of entitlement and frequently belittle others (HelpGuide, 2019).

In the movies, Christian Grey considers himself flawless and orders everyone around as if his word is gospel. Throughout the movie he is seen to be looking for “obedient admirers”  that always look up to him. These instances shows that some of his personality traits are narcissistic.
In conclusion this paper shows the positive correlation between childhood maltreatment and the development of personality disorders. Further it discusses how certain traits of Christian Grey’s personality could be schizoid and narcissistic in nature.












WORKS CITED:
1.     Johnson, J. G. (1999, July 1). Childhood Maltreatment Increases Risk for Personality Disorders During Early Adulthood. Retrieved from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/205066.

2.     Tyrka, A. R., Wyche, M. C., Kelly, M. M., Price, L. H., & Carpenter, L. L. (2009, February 28). Childhood maltreatment and adult personality disorder symptoms: influence of maltreatment type. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2671800/.

3.     Narcissistic Personality Disorder. (2019, November 12). Retrieved from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-disorders/narcissistic-personality-disorder.htm.

4.     Schizoid personality disorder. (2017, August 17). Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizoid-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20354414.

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