Psychology 167

Clinical Psychology
Robin Liepman

Clinical Model of Personality

Human Nature

All human beings enter the world as individual organisms with innate characteristics and

abilities. Before the onset of social conditions introduced by culture and society, and before the advent

of life-shaping experiences and education, the individual unit has an innate, individual self. That is to

say, the individual is his or her own agent, or actor, separate from other individual agents, and able to

interact with the world outside of its body. The self begins life with innate impulses to explore the

world and to seek sustenance that was immediately present in the womb. These in-utero needs include

nurture, attention, love, warmth, food, safety and protection, which carry on throughout the whole life

span. The self is innately curious and explorative, trying to figure out what it can and needs to do in the

world while reacting, both physically and emotionally, to newly encountered external stimuli. The self

is an individual's core, the base, innate, true self. The self is what feels, gives, and receives love,

emotions, and operational knowledge, or, information that the individual incorporates into its goals,

values and passions. The self has an innate need to be able to grow. The need to grow includes growth

to understand ourselves and the world one lives in, to adapt to the environment, to achieve goals and

standards, and a drive to self actualize, or experience living in a fully optimal, functional and happy

state, a state of being called a peak experience.

The self grows to adapt to its environment, to understand its environment and itself, and to

become who it wants to be and arrive where in life it would prefer to be. It innately desires to obtain

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knowledge about the world so that it can create goals and develop passions, morals and interests based

on the context it lives within. It then grows to become capable of achieving these goals and standards.

It eventually desire to grow to a level of self actualization, or a fulfillment of the self's desires, goals

and potentials that meet the requirements of the self's morals, passions and values. Self actualization

usually comes in the form of peak experiences, or experiences in which the individual is temporarily

fulfilled, happy, and satisfied with the present moment.

All human beings have a uniqueness to them, which is often called the personality. This unique

way of interacting with the world, of making decisions, and meeting needs and goals, is the individual's

personal style, or personality. This style is simply the way a person is in the world. The personal style

is innately programmed subconsciously, both at birth from genes, and through development from social

conditioning, but can be consciously reprogrammed by the agentive intervention of the self. This style

heavily operates on a system of two features: the need for control and the need for balance between the

indulgence of interest and doing what is required of the individual.

The balance between indulgence and requirements includes balancing conflicts of interests such

as the balance between exploring interests and following orders and the balance between recreation and

work. The persona is the mask put on by the self to “act in suit” within a social context, basically acting

the way one is supposed to act according to what society has taught them, or behaving in line with the

norm. The persona hides the amalgamation of an individual's interests and indulgences that are not

socially acceptable. The persona is a metaphor for the aspects of oneself that the individual wants

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people to see, that is socially acceptable and that is comfortably presented to the outside world. The self

strives for control of this balance between the social mask and the hidden indulgences. The self also has

a need to establish control of one's own mind, ability to make life decisions, and the ability to

overcome impulsiveness. Everyone has his or her own personal way of controlling this balance, which

is subconsciously programmed and can be consciously changed, which is referred to as the individual's

personal style, or personality.

The self, operating with a unique personal style, innately seeks to form connections. People

with strong, positive and healthy connections to both other people and ideas tend to be motivated,

excited and happy. Connections provide both incentives, expectations, and meaning because life

endeavors can be shared with others. This meaning provides a sense of importance because the

individual's life, if properly balanced, is lived for both themselves and others. Connections to family,

friends, groups and societies are important for the exchange of unconditional appreciation, attention,

and love. Peripheral affiliations to groups such as a school, job/organization or club keep people

connected to something bigger than themselves. Eventually, intimate, deeper personal connections are

sought. It is human nature to strive to form connections. Positive connections and interactions can help

an individual's self meet the needs for growth, and can help an individual to control his life and become

balanced.

Innately, human beings are born as individuals with an agentive self that needs to grow to

understand itself and the world it lives in, to adapt to conditions in its environment, and to achieve

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goals and standards, ultimately seeking self-actualization and experiencing peak moments. The self has

and develops a personal style, or unique way of interacting with the environment. This style

constitutes one's personal way of striving to be in control of the self, striving to have authority over

one's own life and one's ability to make decisions. It also constitutes how one maintains the

psychological balance between doing things for oneself and doing things for other people, or between

the indulgence of interest and the meeting of requirements. Control and balance effect the self's ability

to grow. Additionally, the self can't function optimally in isolation, and requires positive and healthy

connections, both peripheral and intimate, with other people, which may help the individual meet his

or her needs. The growth of the self to understand, achieve, adapt and self actualize is determined by

the individual's control and balance of their personal style which effects the social connections, which

in turn effects the ability for the self to grow and have control and balance. At their best, human beings

are healthily balanced and in control of their own lives, maintaining healthy and positive connections,

both peripheral and intimate, and experiencing a state of being in which they are able to understand

themselves and the world, have achieved their goals and are maintaining their morals and values, can

easily adapt to new situations, and are happy, fulfilled and self actualized.

Socialization and Development

Aspects of personality can be derived from looking at a person's current life situation and their

stage in the spectrum of development. The self inherently exists throughout an individual's whole

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lifetime. The inherent drive for growth is essential to human development and personality

development, but though it always plays a role, it is not apparent during every stage of development.

Humans always are adapting, but not always having to achieve or understand. The unique personal

style of an individual begins in utero due to genomic differentiation, and develops throughout the

lifetime based on experiences and the individual's way of dealing with the experiences. Connections are

always important, at every stage, for healthy and functional development. For healthy development at

each stage, growth of the self, balance and control of the personal style, and healthy positive

connections are necessary. An individual can experience peak moments at any stage of development,

and at their best, humans live in a state of self-actualization in which they are well balanced and in

control, able to grow and growing, and well connected, both intimately and peripherally.

At the infant stage, ages 0-2, connections are the most important factor. The active role of

parents or caretakers are necessary to look after the child, and account for their lack of control. Parents

are required to work to maintain the balance of the infant. Infants are explorative and immediately are

driven to grow, explore, and adapt. At this time, intimate connections are vitally important to the well-

being and survival of the infant.

As the infant grows to early childhood, ages 2-6, he begins to gain independence, and control

over himself, which makes him slightly responsible for maintaining his own balance, and for his

efficiency of growth. He begins to want to understand himself and the world and develops the capacity

to do so. Their intimate connections are crucial, as they are still dependent on guardians. during this

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time, people start to form relationships and peripheral connections, which are also important for their

development and socialization.

During middle and later childhood, ages 6-13, individuals most often go through the school

system, which heavily influences the drive for growth, and initiates many personal connections. This is

also the time that the personal style is heavily developed, and when many challenges for control and

balance are faced. The individual's goal during this time is to learn how to control their personality

which will help them build connections and grow to adapt to their new life situation and begin a life

path that will help them achieve intended life outcomes.

The next stage in life is adolescence, ages 13-18, which is primarily spent in junior high and

high school. During this time, there is an accentuated drive to grow. Individuals become very curious

about themselves and the world, and driven to lead important and meaningful lives, most often for the

sake of and influenced by their connections. Individuals at this time are strengthening their current

connections as they grow to develop new levels of personality, and are constantly creating new

connections, typically driven by what will help them grow and what will support the balance and

control of their personality.

During young adulthood, ages 18-22, individual's are constantly trying to grow to discover

themselves and their place in the world, to adapt to new lifestyles and anticipate the future, to figure out

how to achieve their goals, and to develop a consistent personal style that will help them adapt and

achieve these goals while maintain their values, and wil help them form strong connections, which are

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also important at this time. Intimate connections become very important, because the individual is

moving closer to an age of being a parent, or moving closer to being independent and doesn't want to

end up living alone. The socialization that is formed with personal connections are primarily what drive

individuals to maintain control and balance of their personality's, and to continue to grow.

During adulthood, ages 22-70, individual's are mostly focused on maintaining their way of life,

and maintaining control and balance of their personal style, as well as maintaining their already

established connections. During early adulthood, development and socialization looks very similar to

young adulthood, the main difference being that there is more focus on control of the personal style. In

later adulthood, individual's are mostly concerned with maintaining a stable life, though some

personalities are always interested in growing, making new connections, and trying to achieve their

goals as a lifelong project.

At old age, individuals mostly try to maintain control over the habits they have formed and

maintain balance in their personality. In terms of balance, elder individuals tend to have a personal

hobby or interest, but also tend to follow the rules of society and are less interested in rebelling or

pushing the limits of the system that they are in. The aim to maintain control over their connections,

usually tending mostly to close family and close friends, is of great importance at old age. Elder

individuals are usually done growing, and find comfortable lifestyles so that they don't have to keep

adapting to new situations. Because they have settled down, some individuals become curious again,

and continue to seek understanding of themselves and the ever-changing wold around them. Those

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individuals who have not satisfied their lifelong goals may also continue to grow in knowledge in order

to achieve these goals, resulting for some in unfinished projects or theories at the time of death. This

indulgence in interest may also be a way to balance out a life that is primarily occupied with working

for a certain system and for other people, and to compensate for not having enough time to explore

one's own interests.

Motivation

Passions and values are key factors in motivating people to do what they do. They are formed

by the connections that people make. Passions are tied to growth, because people become passionate

about the things they enjoy and want to excel at, to balance because of the balance between duty and

passionate enjoyment, and to connections because people have to be passionate about something or

someone in order to have the incentive to propel them forward and encourage them to grow. Values are

created by the connections people have as well, form more as they grow, and create a personal code for

what they think is and isn't acceptable to do. Passions and values create goals which motivate people to

act. People in general are initially motivated by a need to maintain personal stability, by a desire to

grow to an ideal state of self actualization, and by connections that prompt them and encourage them to

behave the way they do and move towards their goals, dreams and desires. The experiences that

individuals have and the connections they make influence their beliefs and standpoints and attract them

towards certain enjoyable aspects of other people and situations which eventually influence what

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activities the individual is motivated to participate in. When people form strong intimate connections,

they also form empathy towards those connections and are motivated to act in ways that will benefit

and help the one's they love. When peak moments and experiences of self-actualization occur, an

individual gets to taste what life is like at an optimal level, when everything feels good and everything

feels right in the world and with the individual's self, and when that individual is fully balanced and

fully in control. This experience motivates the individual to try and recapture these feelings, and to live

a lifestyle that is very frequently and hopefully constantly at the “peak,” or the best that it can possibly

be. Motivation comes from experience that is influenced by an innate drive for balance, growth and

connections.

Dysfunction

Dysfunction results from either the inability to meet essential and inherent needs, or negative

and distorted experiences of meeting these needs. Disrupting balance for a prolonged period of time,

not being able to control one's personality, stagnation of growth, including inability to achieve goals

and maintain values, to be capable of understanding oneself and the world one lives in, or to adapt to

new circumstances and situations, and lack of connections, both intimate and peripheral, or too may

negative connections can lead to dysfunction.

For example, consider Mr. A, a dysfunctional character who experiences attacks of dizziness, is

depressed, and doesn't connect well with his family. Mr. A's dysfunctionality most likely results from

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the negative connections that he has with his daughters, and the lack of intimacy that he shares with his

wife. These negative and weak connections make his desire to grow stagnant, and his ability to control

his self is beginning to collapse under his lack of balance between following the orders of society and

enjoying life truly for himself, a problem that is manifesting in the form of drug abuse and thoughts of

suicide. Mr. A is currently incapable of experiencing peak moments and reaching a level of self

actualization due to his strong inhibitions that prevent him from being able to grow.

Another example is the case of Muriel, an adult lady who has recently suffered a psychological

attack that has left her anxious, paranoid, schizophrenic, and hypomanic. Muriel has spent her whole

life following orders and living for her parents, not at all for herself, and thus has no sense of balance,

and no control over her own life. She therefore has not been able to explore many areas of personal

growth such as understanding herself or her world, because she has been following orders blindly. She

has some friends and connections, but she does not have any sort of intimate experience to connect

deeply to. For all of these reasons, Muriel is unable to reach a level of self-actualization and has rarely,

if ever, experienced a peak moment. She lacks the ability to let herself be free, to freely explore and

grow.

Dysfunction occurs for many different reasons, but can often be traced to either dysfunctional

levels of balance, dysfunctional inability to grow to adapt, achieve, understand, or self actualize, and

dysfunctional connections including negative/harmful connections, weak connections, or lack of

connection.

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