@2000 Sharon C. Ekleberry http://www.toad.net/~arcturus/dd/ocpd.htm Section 2 of 5
Issues With Authority
Individuals with OCPD are extraordinarily careful to pay proper respect to those in authority. Their conduct is beyond reproach. By allying themselves with those in power, individuals with OCPD gain considerable strength and authority for themselves. They obtain the protection and prestige of those with greater status and power. They also absolve themselves from blame if they associate their actions with the views of external authorities. By submerging their individuality, they lose personal identity but evade the potential negative impact of taking a stand of their own (Millon, 1981, pp. 228-229). Once the dominant people or the authority figures in the environment of individuals with OCPD are identified, they will follow orders from these people -- often to absurd lengths (Richards, 1993, p. 255). Even if, as suggested by Pollak (Livesley, ed., 1995, p. 279), individuals with OCPD do resist authority through furtive, withholding behavior, their inclination to disown their own responsibility through attribution of decision-making authority to others and to follow people in power with obsequious conformity can make them dangerous to people in subordinate positions. With individuals who are lower in rank, people with OCPD are uncompromising and demanding. Power over others provides them with a sanctioned outlet to vent their hostility (Millon, 1981, p. 229).
OCPD Behavior
OCPD is one of the passive personality disorders; individuals with OCPD fail to give direction to their own lives. They fear functioning independently and dread making mistakes or engaging in disapproved behavior. They become indecisive, restrained, and immobilized. These individuals are conflicted. They are socially compliant and interpersonally respectful. Underneath the conforming veneer are intense desires to rebel and assert themselves. They cannot because they remain trapped by their fear of intimidation and punishment. They experience severe physical tension and rigid psychological controls to inhibit their impulses and adhere to the expectations of others. Their prudent, controlled, and perfectionistic behavior derives from this conflict between hostility and fear of social disapproval. They can only partially resolve this ambivalence by suppressing resentment and engaging in overconforming behavior. Their disciplined self-restraint controls their intense, hidden oppositional and self-centered feelings. The powerful anger lurking behind their front of propriety and restraint occasionally breaks through into behavior (Millon & Davis, Clarkin & Lenzenweger, editors, 1996, pp. 290-309). Richards (1993, pp. 255-256) suggests that individuals with OCPD can and will behave in a passive-aggressive manner; they are just more successful than individuals with a passive-aggressive personality disorder at concealing their anger behind compliant behavior. Yet, for the most part, individuals with OCPD bind their rebellious and oppositional urges and defend against a behavioral breakthrough with excessive conformance and overt submissiveness. They manifest an extraordinary consistency; they show a rigid and unvarying uniformity in all significant settings. Not only do they follow the rules, they defend them. As a consequence, they can be seen by others as moralistic and self-righteous (Millon, 1981, pp. 217-225).
Individuals with OCPD are excessively devoted to work and productivity. Oldham (1990, p. 73) notes that these individuals invest all of their energy in work -- then become tense, strained, anxious, and overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to do. People with OCPD maintain control of their occupational demands through attention to regulations, details, procedures, and schedules. Unfortunately, they can be so focused on trivial details that they lose the major point of an activity. They are extremely careful and prone to repetition. They remain unaware that others become annoyed at the delays and inconveniences that result from their behavior. They may allocate time poorly, with major tasks being left to the last moment. Their perfectionism causes them significant distress. They may become so involved in making everything perfect that they are unable to complete major projects. Yet they are reluctant to delegate tasks. They stubbornly insist that things be done their way. They give detailed instructions about how things should be done and are surprised and irritated when others suggest creative alternatives. They may reject help, even when needed, because they believe no one else can do it right. Others become frustrated at their rigidity. People with OCPD often refuse to compromise even when they recognize that it is in their own best interests -- because of the principle of the thing (DSM-IV, 1994. pp. 669-670).
People with OCPD can be mediocre performers in situations that demand more than careful planning or attention to detail. Such situations trigger fear that their efforts will not be acceptable to themselves or others. They are also intolerant of situations that seem so lacking in structure that their need for control and orderliness will make them quite uncomfortable. They can find secure niches in bureaucratic structures where lines of authority are clear. They are inclined to impose many restrictions on others; they are perfectionistic and disciplined; they are harsh toward themselves and others when idealized standards are not met. They are usually attentive to ceremony and correctness; their style is constricted and lacking in confidence and variety (Richards, 1993, p. 256).
For individuals with OCPD, even vacations or leisure activities, if they engage in them at all, are serious tasks requiring planning and organization. Often, if going on a vacation, these individuals take work with them so time will not be wasted (DSM-IV, 1994, p. 669).
Individuals with OCPD are inclined to be pack rats. They hold tight to their possessions and regard discarding objects as wasteful. These individuals will hoard and protect their belongings against all intrusions even if significant others complain about the space taken up by what they have accumulated. Feeling deprived of so many wishes and desires in childhood, they protect what they have achieved as adults. This results in miserly, ungiving, and ungenerous behavior. They may live below their means so that spending can be controlled to provide for any mischance in the future (DSM-IV, 1994, p. 670) (Millon, 1981, p. 229).
Affective Issues
Despite their elaborate defenses, individuals with OCPD tend to have one of the most troubled personality styles in terms of psychiatric symptoms. Their cognitive and behavioral organization make them susceptible to the full range of affective disorders. They are plagued by both their own exacting standards and the high expectations they perceive others to hold for them (Millon, 1996, p. 205).
Individuals with OCPD are vulnerable to distress in situations in which they are unable to maintain control over their physical or interpersonal environment (DSM-IV, 1994, p. 670). Even if they are in a benign and accepting environment, they will either undo their chances for satisfaction or simply be unable to experience contentment. They are beset by a severe internal conflict that they can neither escape nor resolve. They believe they must find a place in society that is judged by others as responsible and productive; on the other hand, the more they adapt, the more they feel angry and resentful (Millon, 1981, p. 216). Their anger is often expressed indirectly, sometimes through rumination (DSM-IV, 1994, p. 671).
Individuals with OCPD proceed through each day meticulously following their routines. The rigidity of their behavior is necessary if they are to successfully control their seething antagonism. If they deviate from absolute adherence to rules and regulations, their anger may burst out of control and they risk exposing to others the resentment they really feel (Millon, 1981, p. 218). Richards (1993, p. 255) also suggests that people with OCPD are emotionally restricted because they fear an uncontrolled outburst of their own aggression -- leading to rejection by significant others. McWilliams (1994, p. 282) believes that the basic affective conflict in the OCPD is between rage and fear - rage at being controlled and fear of being punished.
Sperry (1995, p. 138) describes the OCPD emotional style as grim, angry, frustrated, and irritable. Individuals with OCPD are prone to depression, especially as they get older (Frances, et.al., 1995, p. 379). Millon (1996, pp. 205-207) also notes the OCPD vulnerability to major depression in later life. These individuals, who are conscientious, hardworking, and well-integrated into society are vulnerable to loss; they are sharply aware of their declining abilities and decreasing productivity as they age. They respond to these changes with self-punitive and self-denigrating thoughts. As they face the final years of their careers or approach retirement, they are confronted by the realization that they will not attain their all of their life goals nor will they meet their own standards of excellence. Another potential issue in the late onset of depression for individuals with OCPD is the barrenness of their existence after giving up so much of themselves to their rigid conformity. Major depression in individuals with OCPD tends to have an agitated and apprehensive quality.
Individuals with OCPD are also quite vulnerable to anxiety. They fear making mistakes and facing punishment for being less than perfect. They appear to have learned that there is a sanctioned but limited sphere of acceptable conduct. Benjamin (1993, pp. 246-251) suggests that OCPD developmental history may have included relentless coercion to perform correctly and follow the rules, regardless of the personal cost. As children, individuals with OCPD were punished for failure and were given few, if any, rewards for success. The most they could hope for was to avoid criticism or punishment. It was an environment of little warmth; the emphasis was on control. As adults, these individuals have learned to reduce their level of anxiety by incorporating this control. They restrict their activities to those that are permitted by the more powerful and potentially rejecting others. They adhere carefully to rules so that they do not engage in unacceptable behavior (Millon & Davis, Clarkin & Lenzenweger, editors, 1996, p. 299). Part of the reason that unstructured activities or situations are so anxiety-provoking for individuals with OCPD is the lack of safety involved in not knowing the rules of conduct or what behavior will ensure safety.
