The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

By: Christine Hammond, LMHC, NCC For the last ten years, I have made working with people who have a personality disorder and their family members the main part of my practice. I made this choice for several reasons. First, there are numerous family members within my own family that have a personality disorder and I have a natural talent for handling this population. Second, this is an area of care that most therapists avoid and therefore there is limited help. Third, I believe that everyone can get better and seeing that change in this population is wholly satisfying. Having said that, there are several mistaken assumptions many people make when dealing with a person who has a personality disorder. Here are ten examples: Personality Traits = Personality Disorder. A person can have the traits of a personality disorder without being fully diagnosed. For instance, they may demonstrate narcissistic behavior at work but not at home. In order to be a personality disorde...

By: Christine Hammond, LMHC There really isn’t any job a psychopath wouldn’t do so long as it benefits them in some way. Psychopaths can be business owners, surgeons, lawyers, data entry clerks, waste managers, salesmen, politicians, waiters, and even therapists. They don’t have to be serial killers or mob bosses to be a psychopath. The term psychopath is over used in our culture and has come to mean something that it doesn’t. Episodes of Criminal Minds highlight the extreme violent behaviors of the disorder. However, many psychopaths do not commit heinous crimes. Some are involved only in white collar crimes while others don’t do any obvious criminal behavior. What is a psychopath? The term is encompassed under the definition of Anti-Social Personality Disorder along with sociopath. However, psychopath and sociopath are not interchangeable terms. Think of them as two separate parts of a whole personality disorder. A psychopath has the ability to create an entire persona in ...

By: Christine Hammond, LMHC Pop quiz: what word is similar to “schizotypal”?   If you said “schizophrenia,” then you are right.   Schizotypal is derived from the two words schizophrenia and genotype.   Schizophrenias see, hear and believe things that aren’t really there.   Genotype is the genetic makeup of an individual, think DNA.   So putting the two together a Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD) is someone who has may seem schizophrenic but is not a full-blown schizophrenic.   Confused yet?   Good because that is precisely what it feels like to speak to a SPD.   So what is SPD?   Here is the technical DSM-V definition: ·       Identity:   Confused boundaries between self and others ·       Self-direction:   Incoherent goals, no clear set of standards ·       Empathy:   Difficulty understanding impact of behavior on others ·...

By: Christine Hammond, LMHC Is it normal or abnormal if your spouse… 1.        Does the exact same routine every morning and is resistant to any variation or change.      2.        Losses their temper over minor traffic infractions and threatens harm.   3.        Craves being the center of attention and is constantly seeking recognition. 4.        Shuts down and refuses to speak for days with no explanation as to why. Answer:   it could be either.   Frustrated?   Me too, but hang in there.   It might help to define normal personality traits from abnormal personality traits and then apply each of the four incidents to the definitions.   This will clarify the difference between the two and help you to know where the line between normal and abnormal personality traits lies. Normal Personality Traits ...

By Chris Hammond Yes, no and maybe.   Remember the Hulk?   A normal looking man who turn into a green monster in a matter of seconds.   As a man he seems kind, understanding, logical, sympathetic, and systematic but given the right opportunity, he becomes unreasonable, angry, aggressive, spontaneous, and violent.   In a very simplistic way, this illustration clearly describes what happens to a violent shooter.   Yes, there are personality profiles, addictions, disorders, environments, and relationships that all contribute to the likelihood that a person will become a shooter but the bottom line is there is still a willingness to become the monster that lurks deep inside. Who does this happen to?   Be honest for a second and recall your last monster like appearance.   Were you ranting and raving about something meaningless, were you throwing something across the room, were you crying uncontrollably, or were you wishing harm on someone? ...

  By Chris Hammond You understand your personality profile and can now see how the pieces fit together to form a whole functioning group.   So now the struggle becomes how to communicate effectively with each other.   Effective communication is difficult under normal circumstances but try complicating it with different strengths, weaknesses, needs and motivations and you are likely to feel a bit overwhelmed.   Worse yet, do this for an entire team of different profiles and watch your time disappear.   Instead of resorting back to the way things were before you learned all of this information, try incorporating a couple of these tactics the next time you have a team meeting.   Remember you can meet the needs of all your personalities in one meeting at one time which in the end will save you time and energy while reducing stress and frustration. Project Outline. In order to better understand effective communication, the same exam...