Personality degradation is a reverse development, regression, loss of stability, weakening of activity, decline in performance and mental balance. Simply put, a personality loses its inherent traits simultaneously with the impoverishment of all skills and qualities: judgments, feelings, talents, activity.
We can identify such symptoms of personality degradation as increased irritability, narrowing of interests, dysfunction of memory and attention, and decreased adaptive capabilities. Also, the violation in question can be expressed in the development of carelessness, complacency, and weak character.
The most severe type of personality degradation is considered to be insanity, which manifests itself in carelessness, dementia, loss of contact with the environment, and complete indifference to the environment. A common cause of the described disorder is alcoholism, accompanied by severe somatic disorders and neurological dysfunctions caused by the abuse of alcohol-containing liquids. Alcoholics lose social connections, professional functioning and work activity also suffer.
What is degradation or disintegration of personality
Personality degradation is a collective term that implies the presence of psychological and physiological pathological processes that interfere with a person’s normal life and work.
Personality degradation in the definition refers to a decrease in activity and performance, personal regression as a result of mental imbalance and passivity. Degrading, a person loses socially significant qualities, his judgments and conclusions become primitive. He loses the ability to create something new, to generate ideas.
With a split personality, a person’s sphere of interests narrows, and he experiences difficulties in social adaptation. Mental processes malfunction, as a result of which a person becomes irritable. The characteristic features of the behavior of a degenerate are weakness of character, carelessness, insanity, and dementia. Gradually, a person loses contact with the world around him, the natural need for recognition and communication is replaced by indifference and a craving for loneliness. The pathological process also has a negative impact on a person’s professional activity.
Alcoholic dementia
The pathology develops over a long period of time (over fifteen to twenty years) and occurs due to constant exposure to alcohol, a toxic substance for tissues. Alcohol-containing drinks have an effect both independently and indirectly by reducing the performance of the liver and cardiovascular system.
Many alcoholics, during life or after death, have atrophic foci in the cerebral hemispheres, which indicates the last stages of a sluggish inflammatory process, in which there is an active proliferation of connective tissue.
The symptoms are almost the same as those of other types of dementia: deterioration of memory, attention, speech, motor activity, and perception of the outside world.
When diagnosing alcoholic dementia in the early stages, the reverse process is possible with complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. However, due to indifference to one’s own health and unwillingness to have patients themselves examined, such cases are quite rare.
The prognosis depends on the duration of the disease and the individual characteristics of the body. The disease usually ends in complete personality degradation and death.
Stages of development of personality degradation
Personality orientation - what is it in psychology, its types
In psychology, the pathological process of personal degradation includes several stages:
- Disappointment in loved ones as a result of conflict or quarrel. A person feels insulted and decides to become independent, to live for his own pleasure, regardless of the interests and needs of relatives and friends. A person is contemptuous of family and friendly ties, neglects the norms and rules of behavior established in society.
If attempts are not made to resolve the conflict situation, which served as a reason for disappointment, then the personal construct will continue to collapse, aggravated by such harmful feelings as anger, resentment and aggression. A person's character is rapidly changing for the worse. There are manifestations of cruelty and envy, the ability to admit one’s guilt and work on one’s shortcomings is lost.
- Spiritual degradation. As a result of anger towards loved ones and more successful people, a person becomes conflicted. He has clashes with work colleagues, conflicts with management, and is rude and insulting towards his loved ones. In the speech of a degrading personality, profanity appears, moral values and moral foundations collapse.
Spiritual degradation
- Complete degradation. Signs of the onset of the last stage of degradation are alcohol or drug addiction, depraved behavior, and loss of friendships.
Attention! The degradation process can be stopped at any stage. In order to regain the taste of life and receive joy from communicating with loved ones, a person must learn to forgive and sincerely repent.
— 10 tricks to prevent mental regression
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1) Look after yourself. If you suddenly feel discomfort because something is wrong (for example, your favorite website has changed its design or your favorite yogurt has disappeared from the store), grab this feeling by the tail and begin to “unwind” it. Why not try all the yogurts or start making your own?
2) Don’t re-read books you’ve already read. Don't rewatch movies you've already watched. Yes, it’s a very pleasant psychological feeling to plunge into that cozy little world, in the lives of already familiar characters, no surprises, you already know the ending and you can enjoy the little things that you didn’t notice the first time, having devoured the book in an hour (or watched the season over the weekend). But at the same time, you take away the chance from new books and films to reveal something fundamentally new to you, and deprive your brain of the formation of alternative neural connections.
3) Look for new routes. Try to look for new routes for your usual journey home and back, find alternative shops, cinemas and other infrastructure points on the map of your life.
4) Look for new music. Most often, we listen to 50–100 familiar tracks that are pleasant to us for the same reasons - we have adapted to them, and our brain does not need to spend additional resources to process and comprehend them.
5) Look for new friends and acquaintances. Yes, it’s, of course, great when you have friends with whom it’s nice to get together every Friday and discuss football or a new dress. But most of us live in big cities, why limit your circle to 4-5 people, and most often not chosen by us, and “imposed” by circumstances - school, college, work?
The social tools embedded in us greatly influence our way of thinking, and sometimes it happens that, under the influence of certain friends, we change our point of view, set of interests, and sometimes even our type of activity.
6) Have children. Children are a constant source of chaos and uncertainty in your life. They are living “concrete mixers” in your head, destroying all templates and reshaping your established routes in a new way.
They bring something new every day with their questions, behavior, inquisitive minds and continuous experiments with everything around them. You yourself will not notice how your thinking will liberate and you will begin to think differently. If you are unable to have children yet, then you can start with a dog. Firstly, it requires a walk (and fresh air is good for the brain). Secondly, it involves you in involuntary communication with other dog lovers. And thirdly, it can also become a source of chaos.
7) Stop criticizing. They are indicators of resistance to changes that unexpectedly occur in life. Changes that, most often, you cannot change. Or you can, but with a lot of effort that is not worth it. It will be much more beneficial for your own development to accept these changes and motivate your brain to continue living in the new reality.
Stop labeling people. This is very convenient - instead of understanding a person, thinking about why he did this, succumb to weakness and simply “brand” him, attaching him to one or another psychotype.
9) Experiment with flavors. Even though evolution has overshadowed our sense of smell, smells still have a huge impact on us. And if you have a favorite eau de toilette that you haven’t changed for years, then it’s time to change it. And do this with some frequency.
10) Learn foreign languages. Foreign words and their associated semantic fields are often different from your native language, and learning them is perhaps the most effective tool for training brain plasticity.
Also read the article on how to find a spiritual teacher.
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Possible reasons
Single people are more prone to personal disintegration than married or cohabiting people. Prolonged stay in depression leads to personal decline, sometimes to suicidal attempts.
Factors in human personality development - what they include
In addition, regression of personal development is one of the symptoms of various mental illnesses and neurotic disorders. Thus, regression of intellectual and personal development can be observed in schizophrenia, epilepsy and traumatic brain injuries.
Most often, personality deformation is observed in those who suffer from alcohol or drug addiction. In this case, personal degradation will be accompanied by somatic symptoms and problems in the functioning of the nervous system.
Additional Information. Alcoholism can be both a cause of personal degradation and a bitter consequence of the collapse of a person’s psychological structure. The same goes for gambling addiction.
Alcoholism and degradation
Apathy and personality disintegration can occur when a person has experienced severe emotional stress: the death of a spouse, loss of a job. Some regression in personal growth is observed among people after retirement: they lose their usual connections with colleagues, fall out of business communication and “lag behind” the pace of life of working friends and relatives. In addition, carelessness and the absence of daily work responsibilities will relax the brain and help reduce the expression of socially significant personal qualities of a person.
Spiritual degradation is becoming an urgent problem in modern society. It occurs as a result of devaluation of love, lack of compassion, disregard for moral standards, and self-centeredness. Young people today are degrading, since reading fiction has ceased to be an interesting activity for them. Their jokes are flat, their topics of communication are banal, their judgments are superficial and frivolous. They tend to destroy themselves with electronic cigarettes and spice.
For your information. A rare visit to cultural events, theater, cinema, and concerts can provoke spiritual degradation.
Alcoholic syntonic type
A person who drinks develops optimism, cheerfulness, and is usually in an upbeat mood. To himself he seems beautiful, worthy, prosperous, and those around him are also usually assessed complacently. Everything would be fine if such an approach helped limit alcohol intake and contributed to a person’s personal growth. But that's not true.
Such a person is sociable, but indiscriminate in contacts. He can easily talk about himself, but such frankness is perceived as excessive, intrusive, and is often directed at unfamiliar people.
Example. Anton, “alcohol experience” – 14 years. Likes to visit establishments and events where you can eat and drink deliciously, and sit at the table. If possible, does not miss birthdays, celebrations, holidays, anniversaries of relatives, acquaintances and colleagues.
Talkative, sociable, not averse to gossip, tries to look caring and helpful. Offers toast and pours more for the neighbors at the table. He disturbs guests, “pulling” them out to dance, participate in competitions, etc. He usually has a naive and benign appearance.
After drinking, he becomes clingy, obsessively asks questions, compliments women, tries to joke, not noticing that some of his jokes are frankly vulgar and greasy. Confident in his rightness, the correctness of his conclusions, he becomes caustic and verbally aggressive when someone doubts the truth of his judgments, cheerfulness or goodwill.
He really doesn’t like to admit he’s wrong. Sincere repentance after “extra” words or actions was not noticed behind him. However, he never crosses certain boundaries in aggressive behavior and is not prone to fights. He can bring new casual acquaintances home, introduce them as his friends, and give them money.
Methods of influence should be based on the cheerfulness of a person of this type. Joy is always an opportunity to get rid of illness. If a person feels that his joy is needed, that he can realize himself in this area, there is a real chance for change.
These people need to be captivated, preferably by example, they need to be taught etiquette, conversation, methods of argument, shown the prospects and possibilities of reason and knowledge. Such people, as a rule, love enthusiasts, but more “punchy” and enthusiastic than themselves. They respect good specialists, masters of their craft. They can forgive such people both tediousness and severity.
Characteristic symptoms and signs
Volitional personality traits - what is it in psychology, their formation
The process of personal disintegration can be detected by the following symptoms and signs:
- In character, such traits as deceit, anxiety, grumpiness, and stubbornness come to the fore.
- Untidy appearance, neglect of personal hygiene rules.
- Loss of faith in one's strength and importance. A person is convinced that everything is decided by the stronger. He believes that life depends on circumstances, and not on his own activity. It is useless to argue with fate; you should not try to change something.
- Apathy and indifference. Human activity is aimed only at satisfying physiological needs.
- A clear division of people into “us” and “strangers”. The circle of contacts is sharply narrowing.
- Lack of tolerance for other people's opinions. The degenerate considers his point of view to be undeniably correct.
- Limited vocabulary. A degrading person has difficulty in describing an object or phenomenon in detail. There are few adjectives in his speech. He has difficulty describing his emotional state and makes mistakes in understanding the expression of emotions and moods in other people.
- Presence of alcohol, gaming or drug addiction.
Alcohol personality distortion
Important! Attentive attitude towards a person and a timely response to changes in his behavior can stop degradation.
The essence of the concept
Personality degradation is the gradual loss of human appearance. When irreversible changes occur for the worse in character, habits, inclinations and hobbies. The development of such traits as irritability, passivity, and then aggressiveness is manifested.
What does degradation include?
Signs of degradation
A degraded person does not come to his condition in one moment. Sometimes regression takes several decades to develop. The main distinguishing signs by which one can suspect a decline in personality include the following symptoms:
Gradual loss of the ability to think soberly and reason sensibly. The ability to concentrate on any one task/goal disappears. There is a attenuation of all feelings exhibited by a person in a normal state. One notices a gradual withdrawal into oneself, into one’s inner, artificially created world. Conversational and familiar speech becomes more primitive and incoherent. Busyness in business and work decreases sharply. The circle of human communication is also narrowing. An apathetic state occurs in which the person stops showing any care and attention to others.
A person, being in the developing stages of regression, eventually loses mental stability. All manifestations of activity and performance are stopped. They are replaced by nervousness, global disturbances of attention and memory. All interests disappear, giving way to lack of initiative, lack of will and carelessness.
Degradation can also follow the spiritual path
Human degradation and Abraham Maslow
A medical psychologist who lived in America last century, he devoted his life to the study of human nature. A psychiatrist has compiled a hierarchy of personal needs. The world-famous scientist noted the main qualities that manifested themselves in all people walking along the road of degradation. According to the psychologist, people with regression tend to have the following perceptions:
- The degenerate considers himself to be a “pawn.” That is, I am sure that his actions, as a conscious individual, depend entirely on someone: other people or external forces. This phenomenon is called “learned helplessness.”
- The priority of degraded people becomes survival, only the desire to achieve all the needs necessary for the functioning of the body. Food, sleep, natural needs.
- The regressed personality divides the entire society into two camps: bad/strangers and good/our own.
- He is fully confident that his opinion is not subject to any discussion/criticism and is the only correct one.
- The brain of such a person stops expending active efforts on the implementation of verbal functions. Therefore, those who are degraded will have a poorer vocabulary.
Personality degradation in alcoholism
The first signs of personal destruction in alcoholism become noticeable 6-8 years after the development of addiction. With alcoholism, personality destruction manifests itself in a gradual loss of self-control and a decrease in self-criticism. Increased irritability and aggressiveness are noted in those moments when there is no opportunity to drink. Such people are prone to causeless grievances and provoking scandals. An alcoholic’s thinking is superficial, intellectual processes are dulled, coordination of movements is weak, and criticality of perception sharply decreases.
In the later stages of alcoholism, personality disintegration manifests itself in the fading of social contacts. Severe ataxia is noted. A person becomes self-confident, rude, soulless, cynical, behaves tactlessly and incorrectly.
With personality degradation as a result of alcoholism, a person loses a sense of duty and responsibility, a sense of shame and guilt.
Attention! Alcoholism is a severe form of addiction that leads to complete personality degradation. The result of this process can be compared to the social death of the individual. That is why the timely reaction of loved ones to this problem and the adoption of urgent measures to help a degenerating person are so important.
Types of alcoholic dementia
Depending on the location of the dead areas of nerve tissue, several types of dementia are distinguished, each with its own distinctive characteristics.
Subcortical
The main manifestations include a violation of cause-and-effect relationships, fixation on imaginary problems, the inability to sensibly assess life situations, the so-called tunnel (narrowed) consciousness.
A person with such a pathology falls into dementia slowly. In the first stages, even for those closest to him, changes in his intelligence are not obvious
Frequent disturbances in the emotional state, pettiness, and irritability are noteworthy. The patient freaks out for no apparent reason, is offended like a child, and may cry for no reason. Possible sleep disorders, withdrawal, fearfulness, lethargy, depression, depressed state
During conversations, the meaning of what was said takes a long time to reach a person. In severe cases, inappropriate behavior appears: fear of being in an empty room, uncontrolled gluttony, causeless aggression, hostility, prolonged insomnia. Memory functions are usually the last to be affected in this type of dementia.
Possible sleep disorders, withdrawal, fearfulness, lethargy, depression, depression. During conversations, the meaning of what was said takes a long time to reach a person. In severe cases, inappropriate behavior appears: fear of being in an empty room, uncontrolled gluttony, causeless aggression, hostility, prolonged insomnia. Memory functions are usually the last to be affected in this type of dementia.
We recommend reading Personality degradation in alcoholism in men
Cortical
It has a severe course. The main symptom is memory impairment. A sick person completely loses the ability to remember new information and cannot remember many events from the recent past. Memory loss due to damage to parts of the cerebral cortex affects the most important areas of life: a person becomes distracted, stops recognizing loved ones, forgets his own place of residence, his name, and loses everyday skills. The condition is often accompanied by clinical signs of Korsakov's syndrome: the appearance of false, including the most fantastic, memories. The patient realizes that he is a different person or talks about events that actually did not happen.
Multifocal
Necrotization of areas in most parts of the brain - thalamus, cerebellum, myoclonus - is manifested by disturbances in perception, thought processes, and behavioral reactions. At first, the person becomes distracted and sloppy, starts talking, and behaves strangely. Then he gradually loses the ability to navigate in the surrounding space, speak coherently, write, and serve himself. There is complete degradation of personality. This form of dementia progresses very quickly - the patient can completely lose intelligence within a few months.
The line between types of brain damage is very thin - starting with behavioral disturbances and aggressiveness characteristic of subcortical dementia, the disease can develop into a multifocal form with disruption of all parts of the central nervous system.
Is it possible to avoid personality degradation?
Personality destruction can be avoided. However, this will require effort. First of all, you need to take care of yourself and your appearance, observe the norms and rules of behavior in society, and eradicate bad habits. An excellent measure to prevent personal degradation is reading both fiction and scientific works, followed by discussing what you read with friends or loved ones. At the same time, you need to learn to express your opinion in a reasoned manner, defend your point of view, and at the same time be able to change it if the interlocutor’s arguments turn out to be convincing.
Self-development
Turning to philosophy and thinking about the meaning of life can help a person set a goal and outline ways to achieve it. If you have a life guideline and active attempts to do everything possible to achieve your goal, personal degradation cannot happen.
Attention! Any manifestations of creativity are a guarantee against personal disintegration and regression in development.
On the importance of strong willful efforts
In fact, it is easy not to become a degenerate. Just volitional efforts must be feasible. It wouldn’t occur to you to lift 100 kilograms in the gym when you yourself weigh 50, right? You need to take a feasible weight. It is much easier to implement a small habit than a large one. And when it already becomes a part of you, then it can be cultivated. The main thing is to plant the seed and constantly water it . And then it will become a huge tree that will bear very tasty fruits. And remember - willpower is a muscle that can and should be trained.
In the world, a huge number of people die due to lack of self-control (they drink themselves to death, commit suicide, die from a heart attack due to eating food rich in cholesterol), do not repeat their example. Indeed, the body will not thank you if you abuse anything. This is precisely the first symptom of degradation.
Methods to combat personality destruction
There are many ways to combat personal destruction. In the early stages of degradation, to prevent it, a person’s personal efforts will be sufficient, subject to the obligatory support of loved ones. If a person is in a state of deep decay, it is necessary to seek the help of specialists.
Self-medication or professional help
“What should I do if I am deteriorating as a person?” - the man, who realized the problem, racks his brains. Before taking measures to combat degradation, you need to understand its causes. Self-medication lies in the desire to constantly learn something new, to master new types of creativity. You can resort to auto-training or sign up for personal growth courses. Making new acquaintances and communicating with different people enriches the spiritual and social experience of the individual.
The main thing in self-medication is that a person should feel needed and significant for loved ones, find something worth living for. By expanding his horizons of possibilities, learning new things, the individual heals.
However, if, in addition to personal degradation, there is one or another type of dependent behavior, then you cannot do without the help of specialists. If the case is severe, hospitalization and inpatient treatment may be necessary.
No matter what happens, no matter how neglected the case may seem, you should not give up. Support, attentive attitude and participation of loved ones, personal positive example are the ladder along which a person who has once stumbled can again get on the right path in life.
Coped with degradation
How to help a degraded person
It is very difficult for people to watch their loved ones deteriorate. I want to help, but it’s not clear how. Indeed, in such a situation it is very easy to cause harm and aggravate the situation. Let's look at a strategy for how to behave if a loved one is falling into a hole.
Stop babying him
Very often, loved ones try to “treat” a person with care and patronage. They see, for example, that a person lives in dirt, and come to the rescue with buckets and rags. It seems like a noble impulse to help, but the effect is the opposite.
A person becomes convinced that being weak is beneficial, and degradation begins to gain momentum. If earlier he simply did nothing and decayed, then after regular help from compassionate relatives he begins to believe that everyone owes him for his inferiority.
Don't read notations
A degraded person already knows very well that he is living wrong. Simply inertia, lack of motivation and fear do not allow him to move forward. If you remind him of this every day in an edifying tone, it will only cause rejection and protest. Or maybe even drive you deeper into depression.
Encourage any useful activity
A person who has realized his degradation faces a serious problem. He wants to return to normal life and take the path of development, but he does not have enough internal resources. Energy is at zero, knowledge and skills are lost, he does not know what to take on and how to act.
This is where the help of loved ones will come in handy. If you see that a person has really come to his senses and reconsidered his way of life, help him take the first steps on this path.
Advise him on what training courses to take, how to organize his daily routine, what to change in himself to be more productive. Moderate material assistance can also be provided, preferably not with money, but with targeted payment for some goods and services for self-development.
Be an inspiration
In almost every article about self-development, I advise people to communicate with those who are smarter, more successful, and more motivated than them. Having a positive example before your eyes helps you achieve results faster, gain motivation, learn from invaluable experience and put it into practice. You too can become such an example for your loved one.
Demonstrate activity, energy, and determination around him. Try to involve him in various activities that you yourself enjoy, take him out of the house more often. He will see that living an interesting and rich life is cool.
Provide psychological support
All degraded people are deeply unhappy and depressed. They may even have thoughts of suicide. Sometimes they just need someone to talk to without fear of receiving a portion of condemnation in return. Give him this opportunity sometimes.
During the conversation, listen carefully and encourage him. But don't regret it under any circumstances. And don't let him wallow in self-pity.
Deterioration in physical health
There is a strong connection between addiction and physical health.
In addition to psychological instability, the patient experiences frequent ailments, loss of strength, high blood pressure, and panic attacks. All this prevents him from functioning normally as a healthy unit of society. To put it bluntly, a person acquires an “animal” image, where the main task is to satisfy his need for a stimulating substance, and then move away from this state. Those who struggle with addiction are so obsessed with their pursuit of euphoria that their first priority in life becomes finding new drugs that will help them achieve the desired state. They lose concentration, which prevents them from doing even the most basic things, such as eating, sleeping, working, hobbies and activities they love. All this together greatly weakens the immune system.
Weakened relationships with family and friends
Relationships with family or friends are the most important area of life. A bad habit leads to weakening or breakdown of relationships. Few people want to have a friend who constantly hides his identity. The life partner also cannot stand the unhealthy environment for a long time, and breaks off the relationship. The Institute of Marriage insists that one of the most common causes of divorce is drug addiction. Relatives try to support in every possible way at first, but when a person does not try to fight on his own, they also give up and keep their distance.
Inhibition of intellectual activity
Two of the most noticeable features of mental decline in men and women struggling with addiction are lack of concentration and loss of interest in everything. This is especially pronounced in adolescence. Schoolchildren and students suffer from declining academic performance and ultimately drop out of school or higher education. People’s memory also suffers greatly, which makes it difficult to develop and expand their knowledge base. Thinking abilities become primitive. Often a drug addict can be distinguished by his superficial and empty conversations, which will be understandable to his degrading environment.
Loss of personal reputation
Drug addicts very quickly lose their reputation due to lies, irresponsibility, unreliability, sloppy appearance, manipulative, aggressive and secretive behavior. People tend to distrust them and are often disrespectful.
Marriages in such families quickly fall apart. Although the patient acts badly, he still feels shame and guilt from what is happening. Self-esteem gradually falls, standards of decency and morality are lowered, and not a trace remains of the good old qualities. Each of them, deep down in their souls, understands that there is nothing left to lose, so they live one day at a time.
