Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hardin's trauma

“After”, is a 2019 teen romantic drama directed by jenny gage that revolves around the love of  Tessa, an inexperienced teenage girl, with Hardin, a mysterious ‘bad boy’ . Hardin, the main male character, never had a secure relationship with his father. When Hardin was young, his father used to be an alcoholic with a lot of debt. When he was just eight years old, intruders broke into his home looking for his father for money, however, there was only Hardin and his mother. The intruders forced themselves on Hardin’s mother, and Hardin, who was sleeping then, came downstairs to see what was wrong. To Hardin’s shock, his mother was being raped by three men, one by one. Hardin’s mother told him to leave, however, one man forced him to watch everything.  I would assume that Hardin has PTSD as a result of this incident, and in this paper I will try to prove it. Symptoms of PTSD and scenes that prove Hardin had it: The person subsequently re-experiences the event through both intrusive memori

Disorderly Delvian: A Deep Dive into "Anna Delvey" through the Lens of NPD

       A markedly thick accent, a mop of blonde hair, a magical array of unimaginably expensive clothing, and an air of calculated mystery mesh uncomfortably together to invent Anna Delvey, the centre of Netflix’s appropriately named documentary/drama series, “Inventing Anna”. This series tells or rather retells the fascinating story of how one woman deceived the creme de la creme of New York society as well as some prestigious financial institutions under the guise that she was a wealthy heiress from Germany. The series follows a journalist, Vivian Kent, as she tries to uncover the carefully constructed web of lies Anna spun around high society after her arrest, heavily interspersed by flashbacks, present-day court hearings, and interviews with the enigma herself (Shondaland, 2022). Anna as a character, infused with a troubling reality and a dramatised narrative, presents an interesting scope to study the symptomatology of Narcissistic Personality Disorder as presented in her behaviou

The Psychological Depth of Good Will Hunting

Shorya Sehgal Good Will Hunting revolves around the interaction of two rebellious characters, Sean Maguire and Will Hunting, who, to a certain extent, help each other to conform slightly. Will is a brilliant but troubled, young adult. He suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), inferiority complex, defence mechanisms and attachment disorder. A mathematical genius, Will had a complete disrespect for authority and for his own considerable talents. As the story progressed, I was able to see Will’s personal growth as he developed an extremely strong relationship with his therapist, Sean. Sean had fought his own battles in life which had made him tough. This significantly helped Will and Sean to connect to each other on a deep, emotional level. What struck me the most in the movie is how coherently Will's journey is tied together. His transition from an inexpressive, troubled young guy to a mature and responsible one is shown very exquisitely. By the end, he was able to be