Monday, May 2, 2011

Mental Disorders at the Office




I have suspected for a long time that almost every one of the characters in NBC’s TV series “The Office” has a psychological disorder - even if it is a slightly subclinical one. Each character has a flaw that causes them to consistently make the same types of misconstruals, misapprehensions or misjudgements.  Often these mistakes lead the characters to commit serious social or occupational blunders making my favourite show on television a madhouse confined within the four walls of second story, Scranton, Pennsylvania office space.  In my Mom's opinion, the writers either intentionally modelled their characters after common psychiatric or psychological disorders or else at least a few of them have an uncanny sense of how and where everyday people can go wrong. What follows is a list of the characters and the psychological disorders that I think they are supposed to represent.
Few of the characters deserve a full blown diagnosis, rather most have tendencies or habits that are characteristic of a specific disorder. Further, some of the characters' patterns of behavior don’t map onto a true disorder but to a personality trait. A person usually only receives a diagnosis if their disorder consistently and adversely affects their well-being, their social life, their economic status or the people around them. On these criteria, you be the judge. Characters are listed in an order that reflects the severity of their disorder, with the first being the most severe. Most of the descriptors below are symptom criteria coming straight out of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

Michael Scott:
ADD: Inattentive, impulsive, inattention to detail, careless mistakes, does not follow through, difficulty organizing tasks and activities, forgetful, easily distracted by extraneous stimuli
Dwight Schrute:
Aspergers Syndrome: Impaired social and emotional interaction, impaired empathy and sympathy, forced to compensate for deficit of empathy by memorizing social patterns, idiosyncratic communication, make-believe inappropriate to developmental level, intense asocial preoccupations, obsessed with details that have no social consequences, other symptoms of autism
Creed Bratton:
Schizophrenia or Schizotypy: Disturbance of consciousness, poor clarity of awareness of the environment, reduced ability to sustain or shift attention, disorientation, memory impairment, frequent derailment of thought, incoherent, odd, eccentric or peculiar,
Angela Martin:
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: recurrent and persistent thoughts about maintaining structure and order despite anxiety and stress that they may cause, preoccupied with lists, details and organization, feels driven to behaviors that are subject to rigid rules, overconscientious, scrupulous and inflexible about matters of morality, ethics or values. Hyperfrontality: habits pertaining to hygiene or social conventions are clearly excessive
Ryan Howard:
Narcissism: grandiose sense of self and inflated ego, arrogant and egoistic, is interpersonally exploitative and opportunistic, takes advantage of others, exaggerates achievements and talents, preoccupied with fantasies of success and power, has a sense of entitlement, lacks empathy
Erin Hannon:
Avoidant: avoids interpersonal activities that involve social contact in an effort to avoid criticism, disapproval or rejection, unwilling to become involved unless certain of being liked, shows restraint within intimate relationships for fear of shame, ridicule, inadequacy or embarrassment
Kevin Malone:
Mental Retardation: Does not meet the standards of his age group for pragmatics, communication, or self direction.
Kelly Kapoor:
Dependent Personality Disorder: pervasive and excessive fear of separation leading to clinging behavior, necessitates advice and reassurance from others, false veil of openness, extraversion and sociability.
Mr. Mifflin:
Alzheimer’s Disease: Significant memory impairment and advanced cognitive deficit, forgetfulness, disorientation
Toby Flenderson:
Depression: depressed mood throughout the day, feels sad or empty, low self esteem, feelings of hopelessness or melancholy, diminished interest or pleasure in most activities
Meredith Palmer:
Alcohol Dependence, Substance Abuse, Addictive Personality, Hyperactive Sexual Desire
Jan Levinson:
Neurotic: Impelled by distressed, anxious or angry energy
Stanley Hudson:
Antisocial / Psychoticism: failure to be apprehensive of aggressive acts, irritability, lack of remorse, indifference
Andy Bernard:
Intermittent Explosive Disorder: several episodes of failure to resist aggressive impulses that result in harm or destruction of property. Degree of aggressiveness is out of proportion to the precipitating psychosocial stressor, age inappropriate displays of anger
Jo Bennett:
Histrionic: uncomfortable in situations in which she is not the center of attention, uses physical appearance to draw attention, inflated ego, has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic
Phyllis Lapin-Vance:
Eating Disorder
Oscar Martinez:
Conscientious
Pam Halpert:
Low Self-esteem, but she is much better now
Jim Halpert:
Procrastination, Sarcasm, Competitiveness
Darryl Philbin:
Surgency
Holly Flax:
I guess she is just a bit nerdy



20 comments:

  1. I have say that I have always thought Michael was a narcissist. I mean the lack of empathy, the "all about me" attitude that is displayed on several occasions, the constant pull for praise and admiration,the way he expects the office workers to go along with his plans, despite a better plan being provided by others, the jealousy, the unhealthy relationships, the unrealistic goals that could he could never achieve, the fragile self esteem and over susceptibility to criticism or rejection. It's all there. He's a total text book narcissist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mental illness doesn't discriminate, it can affect any one of us at any time regardless of our age, gender or social background, and yet the stigma attached to mental illness still persists. alcoholic

    ReplyDelete
  3. You posting are wonderful and informative.
    office desk

    ReplyDelete
  4. To the degree that service users are partnered by services they must partner - say, befriend - themselves and each other, and partner services, with a new sense of capacity, responsibility and potential.Mentalism Minds

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey friend, it is very well written article, thank you for the valuable and useful information. Keep up the good work! FYI, please check these depression, stress and anxiety related articles:

    Depression Cure

    Catatonic Schizophrenia

    What is Schizophrenia

    Schizophrenia Myths And Facts

    Schizophrenia Symptoms

    Schizophrenia Symptoms Causes and Treatment


    You can also contact me at depressioncure.net@gmail.com for link exchange, article exchange or for advertisement.

    Thanks

    Victoria

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very nicely explained article. Psychology disorder is now a days very common problems for all ages. Pro psychiatrists who know Mental health is an important factor of life. Back in school we all face this kind of metal distress. I saw only those got top in the ladder who knew the tricks for
    Tricks for Mind Reading should be consulted without delay

    ReplyDelete
  7. Perpetually logical and an outstanding contribution to the world of bloggers.
    Manhattan

    ReplyDelete
  8. Really enjoyed this article post. Much thanks again. Great.
    Neurological Physiotherapy

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sometimes, our eyes can be injured by different factors. Eye injuries are in most cases caused by carelessness or sports. And there are many sports-related eye injuries each year in US. Basically, most of these problems are not very serious and can be healed within certain period of time automatically. But it is essential for us to give better protection to our eyes- some can be bothersome; some can lead to blindness, etc. https://visualaidscentre.com/service/eyes-specialist-delhi/

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great article and very true. We need to learn how to deal with stress and anxiety at the office and how to stay calm and focused. This is not an easy task as it may seem to be, but it is possible to fix many anxiety related problems with right breathing patterns and myofascial release exercises, especially for the face. You can remove most of the facial tension and remove the long term pain signals from your face that constantly disturb our nervous system. Check this face workouts You will be amazed. Do the exerices 3-4 times a week for 2 months. You will be self composed, focused and your face will look 10 years younger. Here you will find more face workouts

    ReplyDelete