Psychological decompensation

[Tahuti]

Occurs when your resources are frayed (tired, hungry, anxious, acutely sick etc) and your personality starts to disintegrate. Who's aware of this and who has good stories of it taking over or of overcoming it?

You don't overcome it. People usually don't see the difference between your actual you and your decompsating you. They then burn bridges (and say you did it).

If you survive decompensation, which I have done several times, it is likely just as much a matter of luck as it is a matter of personal psychological resilience. In the end, it boils down how understanding your environment is and to what degree your environment is able to provide you in your psychological needs. Psychological resilience alone is not enough, though it is highly useful in negotiating your way from a hostile environment to a respectful one.

It is a trail and error thing: If you were born in a psychologically barren environment, you will decompensate often. And it will probably take some time before you ever get there.

 

[Borachio]

At the very best of times, I'm extremely lazy.

When I get ill, or otherwise rundown, I become even more lazy. And hence, I suppose, even more myself.

 

[Tahuti]

At the very best of times, I'm extremely lazy.

When I get ill, or otherwise rundown, I become even more lazy. And hence, I suppose, even more myself.

Laziness is good; It breeds creativity.

 

[Borachio]

Does it? I've never noticed that.

I've been lazy all my life. And my creative output has been zero, so far.

 

[Lexicus]

Hell, even a regular venting post in Random Rants is often subject to at least a handful of people telling you it's your fault. I've seen people express something about their personal health only to have someone reply with "Good" or some quip about how their situation is merely a fabrication of their own design. CFC isn't a bastion of unerring compassion. A moderator can swing by and infract/delete those posts but the damage will have already been done. I say what I say because I've seen it happen personally on this very website over the years.

I see this happen all the time. There are a few posters who seem to take pleasure in telling people their problems are their fault. The truth or falsity of that is largely beside the point. This isn't how you deal with people in general, let alone people with mental illnesses who might be emotionally or otherwise unstable.

Occurs when your resources are frayed (tired, hungry, anxious, acutely sick etc) and your personality starts to disintegrate. Who's aware of this and who has good stories of it taking over or of overcoming it?

I have definitely had some moments in recent weeks where I felt stretched emotionally really thin and wasn't able to give certain people in my life the support they needed. I'm not sure I would describe it as my personality starting to disintegrate, but piled-up anxiety can really suck.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I'm not clear as to what the crossover is between "getting cranky" and personality disintegration. The latter sounds like a whole other thing really. Also not sure how the word "decompensation" fits either of these things, or how it even works as a word.

 

[The_J]

I actually read it exactly like this.
Basically what happens to you when you're exhausted/frustrated and cannot maintain a civilized personality anymore.
Didn't read anything deep psychological into it.

Just more like "stress was too much, I snapped at my boss".
At least that didn't happen to me.
I slept at various occurences in my office though, and some of it was due to stress.
Normally it exhausts me before I get cranky. The latter normally happens if I didn't get enough sleep, so I try to maintain somewhat of a sleeping schedule.
Not workout out though ^^.

 

[Lexicus]

I'm not clear as to what the crossover is between "getting cranky" and personality disintegration. The latter sounds like a whole other thing really. Also not sure how the word "decompensation" fits either of these things, or how it even works as a word.

de·com·pen·sa·tion
dēˌkämpənˈsāSH(ə)n/
noun
MEDICINE

1. the failure of an organ (especially the liver or heart) to compensate for the functional overload resulting from disease.
   • PSYCHIATRY
     the failure to generate effective psychological coping mechanisms in response to stress, resulting in personality disturbance or disintegration, especially that which causes relapse in schizophrenia

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Caffeine and conscious effort to resist it can last you a while. If you practice maybe you last longer/better, similar to a cognitive form of running.

Even the best runners can't go forever, though.

This sounds like one of those "ensure this situation does not come to pass" type of things.

Said as if such were consistently possible...

Actually, I'm probably a pretty good test case. Active in high school, near top of class + 9 varsity letters, community service etc. When I got to college, everything became gradually harder and I had less energy. I started keeping weird sleep hours too. People who I was close to turned on me because I wasn't as successful, and relatives started to think I was lazy/not trying...perhaps a fair assumption since my actual actions/performance declined. Emotionally, I was pretty resistant for a few years but eventually that caught up to me and it shaped my world view. Nothing is really unconditional when it comes to relationships, of any kind. I should know, I lost at least one of each standard kind across this period and only got some of them back later.

Later I had blood work and it turned out my thyroid was completely shot, one of the highest TSH values they'd ever seen. Magically I'm really strong academically in graduate school again (wonder why...), but still carry some lingering stigma from how I was in undergrad from people who knew me before/during, as if I just made a mistake then or something rather than fighting through a serious medical deficiency.

Does this influence your personality? No question. Both how others treat you and your own energy levels. I lost nearly all sense of direction in the space of two years, after that it was like starting over (but I was still not tested for another two years). I do know you can resist fatigue for periods. I think it's a little strange to have someone reach decompensation routinely just from being tired, but with non-descript "health issues"? Yeah, I can see it. Whether it's realistically controlled depends on the situation.

One can always do a little better, but the specifics influence whether it's more like asking someone to exercise sometimes or asking someone to chain marathons back to back rather than just running one.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Is your personality when you're tired/stressed/hungry/cold/etc any less "you" than your personality when all happy and relaxed?

 

[Kozmos]

Not since I've given up hope and most desires. I just notice things happening to me and say 'Yup, that just happened/is happening to us.'.

 

[Tahuti]

the failure to generate effective psychological coping mechanisms in response to stress, resulting in personality disturbance or disintegration, especially that which causes relapse in schizophrenia

Oh...

 

[Gori the Grey]

I've been lazy all my life. And my creative output has been zero, so far.

You've been storing up your energies and a burst of creative activity is right on the horizon. I can sense it.

When I made my first post in this thread, I didn't realize how serious was the topic that was being considered. I have absolutely noting for people who decompensate to the degree you're asking about Hygro. Hope your friend finds something that works for him.

 

[Hygro]

TBF my observations leading to the topic are much closer to "cranky" than "triggering schizophrenic episode"(!)

 

[Synobun]

TBF my observations leading to the topic are much closer to "cranky" than "triggering schizophrenic episode"(!)

The two are tied together, I think. The more taxed you are, the more likely you are to suffer a mental break (if you're predisposed to this/suffer from a mental illness that entails such an experience).

Hence the "kind person suddenly snaps" trope.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Is your personality when you're tired/stressed/hungry/cold/etc any less "you" than your personality when all happy and relaxed?

Objectively speaking, no. However, I believe the premise of this thread is more about how stressor states influence personality and what, if anything, can be done by a person to effectively resist variance under these conditions.

Knowing you're doing it and being able to recognize it for yourself would be the strongest step, because with that it's at least possible in principle to alter behavior on noticing.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

An aside, but... I find decompensation to be a really odd and clumsy word to describe "not enough compensation", given that the de- prefix is normally used for undoing, or taking away, rather than just a shortage of something.

Having said that, the first dictionary I looked at says it can also be used to mean "privation", so I can't fault it being technically correct, but it's not immediately apparent what it means if you've never heard it before.

A further aside - if de- can signify privation, then that makes deprivation an even odder word...

 

[Borachio]

Yes. Decompensation is one of those words that make little sense initially.

I felt the same way when I first heard of borderline personality disorder. I thought "What? How can anyone have a personality which is borderline? Borderline what? And either you have a personality or you don't."

But decompensation is used in physical medicine as well, I think, where it just means degradation of some organ.

 

[Lexicus]

Yes. Decompensation is one of those words that make little sense initially.

I felt the same way when I first heard of borderline personality disorder. I thought "What? How can anyone have a personality which is borderline? Borderline what? And either you have a personality or you don't."

But decompensation is used in physical medicine as well, I think, where it just means degradation of some organ.

See post 28

 

[BvBPL]

Occurs when your resources are frayed (tired, hungry, anxious, acutely sick etc) and your personality starts to disintegrate. Who's aware of this and who has good stories of it taking over or of overcoming it?

Stress does not disintegrate a personality, it reveals it.