Disintegration
From Enpsychopedia
According to TPD personality disintegration is characterized by a disequilibrium of mental functioning and is common during periods of development like puberty and menopause, psychotic breakdowns, psychoneuroses, periods of extreme stress, etc. It refers to many processes ranging from emotional disharmony to the complete fragmentation of the personality structure.[1] Ordinarily seen as pathological, these states are necessary for the development of higher personality structures. Both heredity and the social environment (childhood, life difficulties, sources of support, etc.) can strongly affect these disintegrative processes.
Throughout the course of life various processes occur which gain an increasing role in the process of positive disintegration. Ordinary daily conflicts require some impulses to take priority over others, we experience various inhibitions based on social conventions, changes in life circumstances force a reappraisal of life’s values and a reorganization of one’s life.
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Types of Disintegration
Disintegration can be unilevel or multilevel, partial or global, permanent or temporary, positive or negative. In partial disintegration, only a narrow aspect of the personality undergoes disintegration while in global disintegration, the entire personality structure is affected. Permanent disintegration is found in psychoses and various bodily diseases, while temporary disintegrations are typical of periods of psychic stress.
Unilevel Disintegration
Unilevel disintegrations are those which have a relatively limited degree of self-control and self-awareness. They occur during developmental crises, psychoneuroses and neuroses, very stressful situations, and as a result of various forms of overexcitability. They are characterized by conflicting emotions and tendencies with no clearly defined hierarchy of values with which to choose a "way out". For example, during a developmental crisis during puberty, a young person may experience strong conflicting emotions towards her parents: hatred in response to some small annoyance, and love and respect soon after. At times she may feel confident and secure, others foolish and weak. However, during unilevel stresses, the individual is at the service of the disintegrative state. As such, she will most likely reintegrate at the same or a lower level, as her disposing and directing center is at a low emotional level. Unilevel disintegrations can thus lead to psychosis and suicide.
Multilevel Disintegration
In contrast to unilevel disintegration, multilevel disintegration occurs on more than one emotional level, thus giving a choice between lower and higher options. A disposing and directing center at a high level can thus choose the "higher path", based on an increasingly clear hierarchy of values. The dynamisms of multilevel disintegration are more conscious and less automatic than those of unilevel disintegration. For example, a multilevel version of a crisis in puberty will include feelings of dissatisfaction with the self and guilt. This is because the conflicting tendencies typical of unilevel conflicts make obvious the disparity between how a person "is" and how she "ought" to be. The young woman above, in a multilevel conflict, will feel dissatisfaction with herself and guilt for lashing out at others, for being controlled by automatic impulses. These dynamisms shake up a rigid personality structure in which positive and negative tendencies are mixed up, allowing the positive ones to be separated and consciously chosen over negative ones.