Personality Disturbance Gathering, nr.36 (Mostly-Shakespeare Edition)

(key to possible disturbances)

Every person may be used only once, except for a single condition which will apply to three characters; there is also

one condition which is not represented at the party.

1. Adjustment Disorder – An adjustment disorder is characterized by the development of emotional or behavioral

symptoms in response to an identifiable stressor occurring within 3 months of the onset of the stressor.

2. Apotemnophilia / Body Integrity Identity Disorder – A neurological disorder in which otherwise sane

and rational individuals express a strong and specific desire for the amputation of a healthy limb or limbs

3. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder / ADHD – ADHD is a problem with inattentiveness, over-

activity, impulsivity, or a combination of these. For these problems to be diagnosed as ADHD, they must be

out of the normal range for the child's age and development.

4. Avoidant Personality Disorder – Characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of

inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation, and avoidance of social interaction.

5. Cotard Delusion / Cotard’s Syndrome – a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which people hold a

delusional belief that they are dead (either figuratively or literally), do not exist, are putrefying, or have lost

their blood or internal organs. In rare instances, it can include delusions of immortality.

6. Cyclothymic disorder – A mild form of Bipolar, it is characterized by mood swings from mild or moderate

depression to euphoria and excitement, but the patient stays connected to reality.

7. Delusional Disorder Grandiose Type / Jerusalem Syndrome – a delusion of having some special

relationship with a deity, such as receiving messages from God or being an agent of God. The phenomenon

is when a person who seems previously balanced and devoid of any signs of psychosis becomes psychotic

after arriving in Jerusalem. (The religious focus of the syndrome distinguishes it from other phenomena)

8. Delusional Misidentification Syndrome / Capgras Delusion – A rare disorder in which a person holds a

delusional belief that an acquaintance, usually a spouse or other close family member, has been replaced by

an identical looking impostor.

9. Delusional Misidentification Syndrome / Fregoli Delusion – A delusional belief that different people are

in fact a single person who changes appearance or is in disguise. The syndrome is often of a paranoid nature

with the delusional person believing themselves persecuted by the person they believe is in disguise. The

belief that seemingly different people seen at different times are in fact one person in disguise

10. Delusional Misidentification Syndrome / Intermetamorphosis – The belief that people in the

environment swap identities with each other whilst maintaining the same appearance.

11. Delusional Misidentification Syndrome – A person believes there is a doppelganger or double of him/her

carrying out independent actions. Depersonalization is a symptom.

12. Delusional Parasitosis – Falsely believing they are infested with parasites; may experience a hallucinatory

crawling sensation on the skin that they attribute to the presence of insects, mites, or other vermin.

13. Dementia – Impairment in short and long-term memory

14. Dependant Personality Disorder – Characterized by the surrender of responsibility to other people.

Affected people may submit to others to gain and maintain support.

15. Dermatillomania – an impulse control disorder and form of self-injury characterized by the repeated urge

to pick at one's own skin, often to the extent that damage is caused.

16. Eisoptropbibia – A fear of mirrors

17. Grooming Patterns – saying or doing things designed to make another person feel well of them.

18. Intermittent Explosive Disorder – Characterized by extreme expressions of anger, often to the point of

uncontrollable rage, which are disproportionate to the situation at hand.

19. Neurotic Indecisiveness – Characterized by a pattern of indecisiveness

20. Neurotic Trait / Anxiety – Characterized by a pattern of anxiety, including anxiety attacks

21. Neurotic Trait / Depression – Characterized by insomnia, difficulty concentrating, and general apathy.

22. Neurotic Trait / Midlife Crisis – Characterized by a sense of worry and second-guessing the direction

ones life has gone in. Often occurs in middle life, (40s) but may happen earlier.

23. Neurotic Trait / Mind Control – refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses

unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator(s), often

to the detriment of the person being manipulated".

24. Neurotic Trait / Sleep Disorder – Falling or staying asleep at odd times, or sleeping walking. This may

include interacting with others while in a state of sleep.

25. Objectophilia – A pronounced emotional desire towards particular inanimate objects. Those individuals

with this expressed preference may feel strong feelings of attraction, love and commitment to certain items

or structures of their fixation. For some, close emotional relationships with humans are incomprehensible.

26. Oppositional Defiant Disorder – An ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behavior toward

authority figures which goes beyond the bounds of normal behavior.

27. Pediophobia – An irrational fear of dolls

28. Picks Disease / Frontotemporal Dementia – Characterized by changes in character, socially inappropriate

behavior, and poor decision making, progressing to a severe impairment in intellect, memory and speech.

(Pick's disease tends to shrink the frontal lobe of the brain.)

29. Psychotic Delusions (unspecified) – Characterized by delusions or hallucinations which do not appear

connected to other preexisting conditions.

30. Reduplicative Paramnesia – The delusional belief that a place or location has been duplicated, existing in

two or more places simultaneously, or that it has been ‘relocated’ to another site.

31. Schizoaffective Disorder – Schizoaffective Disorder combines the symptoms of schizophrenia and a mood

disorder (bipolar disorder or depression). Schizoaffective disorder is considered when a psychotic patient

also demonstrates mood symptoms.

32. Separation Anxiety Disorder – Recurrent excessive distress when separation from home or major

attachment figures occurs or is anticipated

33. Stendhal Syndrome / Hyperkulturemia / Florence Syndrome – A psychosomatic illness that causes

rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art,

usually when the art is particularly beautiful or a large amount of art is in a single place.

34. Voyager Syndrome – Characterized by a number of psychiatric symptoms such as acute delusional states,

hallucinations, feelings of persecution, derealization, depersonalization, anxiety, etc. It is basically a severe

form of culture shock, as tourists who expect an idyllic view of a city are confronted with the reality of a

modern, busy metropolis.

Name: _______________________________

Period: ______ Date: ___________________

Personality Disturbance Gathering, nr.36

Please write the name of the person whom you think the condition best describes. All may be ascribed to

only one person, and there is one condition which is not represented at the party.

1. Adjustment Disorder –

2. Apotemnophilia / Body Integrity Identity Disorder –

3. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder / ADHD –

4. Avoidant Personality Disorder –

5. Cotard Delusion / Cotard’s Syndrome –

6. Cyclothymic Disorder –

7. Delusional Disorder Grandiose Type / Jerusalem Syndrome –

8. Delusional Misidentification Syndrome / Capgras Delusion –

9. Delusional Misidentification Syndrome / Fregoli Delusion –

10. Delusional Misidentification Syndrome / Intermetamorphosis –

11. Delusional Misidentification Syndrome –

12. Delusional Parasitosis –

13. Dementia –

14. Dependant Personality Disorder –

15. Dermatillomania –

16. Eisoptrophobia –

17. Grooming Patterns –

18. Intermittent Explosive Disorder –

19. Neurotic Indecisiveness –

20. Neurotic Trait / Anxiety –

21. Neurotic Trait / Depression –

22. Neurotic Trait / Midlife Crisis –

23. Neurotic Trait / Mind Control –

24. Neurotic Trait / Sleep Disorder –

25. Objectophilia –

26. Oppositional Defiant Disorder –

27. Pediophobia –

28. Picks Disease / Frontotemporal Dementia –

29. Psychotic Delusions (unspecified) 1 –

30. Psychotic Delusions (unspecified) 2 –

31. Psychotic Delusions (unspecified) 3 –

32. Reduplicative Paramnesia –

33. Schizoaffective Disorder –

34. Separation Anxiety Disorder –

35. Stendhal Syndrome / Hyperkulturemia / Florence Syndrome –

36. Voyager Syndrome –

Which three of these characters would you most like to meet?

Which three would you most like to avoid meeting?

Personality Disturbance Gathering, nr.36

BERKELEY has been

experiencing an odd array

of emotions. He is

engaged to a woman who

is carrying their child, yet

he finds himself stressed

with an undercurrent of

depression. While he has

much to be happy for, he

finds his thoughts

preoccupied by concerns

about the uncertainty of

the future, such as how

the life he has known will

change. It is this

unknown future which he

finds disconcerting

ANASTASIJA believes that her husband

had been replaced by another man (who

looks identical to him). She refuses to be

with the impostor, locks her door at night,

asked her sister for a gun to defend

herself, and fought with the police when

attempts were made to hospitalize her.

She easily recognized other family and

would misidentify her husband only.

Paranoia was very pronounced

BEATRICE feels that animals are

spying on her. Anywhere she goes,

they seem to be there, as if they

know her destination before she

does! Birds, cats, dogs,

mosquito’s, even ants…they seem

to be unavoidable. Once she tried

to challenge one, confronting and

demanding answers of it, but this

seagull remained secretive. Yet

BEATRICE knew from its grin that

the animal was choosing to not

disclose what it knows. While at

times detached from the moment,

she also experiences extreme mood

swings

ADRIANNA is having

difficulty sleeping.

She is physically tired,

but once she lies down,

while her body may

suddenly feel rested

she nevertheless can

not actually go to

sleep. She is apathetic,

and her mind starts to

race, reflecting on the

philosophies of

Nietzsche and Locke

CLEOPATRA has been

feeling awkward of late.

She will look around

anxiously, pondering

whether she has seen before

those who are around her.

She suspects she is being

stalked by someone who

changes their appearance

through disguises. There

are just too many people on

the streets who ‘look

familiar’ to her. For

instance, she thinks that

ROMEO, SHYLOCK and

BERKELEY (who she has

not seen all at one time in

one place) are, to her, the

same person.

COLVILLE often allows the needs of

other people whom he depends on to

supersede their own. He lacks self-

confidence and feels intensely

inadequate about taking care of himself.

He believes that others are more

capable, and is reluctant to express

views for fear that the perspective will

offend the people he needs.

DAUPHINE feels that there

is an exact copy of her

somewhere who is the same

in appearance but with

different, possibly more

nefarious (evil) personality

characteristics and behaviors.

She has a conviction that this

doppelganger is trying to

unsettle DAUPHINE’s life,

by trying to pass herself off

as DAUPHINE to friends,

coworkers, advisors and even

to strangers.

EMILIA had relocated from Oregon to London and, unable to find employment, had

become homeless. It was after three days in jail (having been arrested for trespassing)

when her depression seemed to begin, in conjunction with an intense fever. In time,

these symptoms became more general feelings of unreality and steadily grew into a

sense that she was deceased. Her mom came and brought her to South Africa for a

vacation. EMILIA was convinced she had been taken to hell (which was confirmed by

the heat), and that she had died of the fever months earlier, or perhaps from AIDS (after

she had read a story in The Oregonian about someone with AIDS who died from fever),

or from an overdose of a small pox vaccination injection necessary prior to moving to

England. At one point she thought she had "borrowed my mother's spirit to show me

round hell". EMILIA expresses a profound sense of nihilism (ie, feeling there is no

point of existence).

CLARENCE was exhausted from a long day at work when he arrived at the

gathering. Once there, he was unsure how long he wanted to stay until he see’s

PHOEBE leaning against the siding, removed from the others. He approaches

her. While she seems to be uncomfortable and of few words, he continues to

direct shallow compliments toward her, hoping to get her to open up and laugh.

He is taken by her beauty and perceives a hint of vulnerability in her. He is

hoping to ask her out, but it having a tough time getting through the unsocial

facade she is putting forth.

HARCOURT has always been a bit forgetful, but during the

summer a few years back his memory got worse. Sometimes he

didn't remember a conversation from the previous day. He

seemed distant; he stopped answering the phone. At first his

girlfriend ROSALINE interpreted his behavior as signs of

midlife stress. He had been working long hours at the computer

firm. He experiences insomnia, difficulty concentrating and

apathy. Anti-depressants proved ineffective. ROSALINE got

more worried when her normally serious boyfriend had begun

acting uncharacteristically "goofy." Once while talking to his

niece he suddenly began dancing around the front lawn like a

child. He often laughed at inappropriate things. He discounts

comments about his behavior as exaggerations. He kept

repeating himself and had more difficulty focusing. His

productivity had slipped dramatically at work, and at home his

behavior remained especially odd.

FALSTAFF believes that the Raelians (a

religious cult) is out to get him. Anywhere

he goes, FALSTAFF feels that he is being

spied upon, and when he looks certain

people in the eyes, he “see’s the same soul

and identity”, believing they to be the

same person even though he is looking at

different bodies. “The Raelian emphasis

on extraterrestrial technology has given

them the perfect cloak for their deceit!” he

exclaims.

HAMLET is a very sociable

person. A month ago he was

hiking through the wilderness in

the California Sierra-Nevada

Mountains when he started to feel

an itch on his forearm. He didn’t

think much of it at the time, but it

persisted and strengthened. At

work earlier in the day he felt as

though the sensation were actually

the ‘steps’ of microscopic

organisms crawling underneath his

skin. He jumped up from his desk

at work and yelled in terror,

scratching at his arm with scissors.

At the party his arm is bandaged,

but he still feels uneasy that his

arm may have been infested with

some parasite.

EPONINE is not particularly

religious, yet upon arriving in Israel

for the first time – she shared with

her friends at the gathering – she felt

a particular presence, a feeling as

though she was being pulled to the

holy sites. Going to Bethlehem,

Masada and Jerusalem, she felt an

overwhelming urge to remain there,

to pray and to repent for everything

(even though she has lead a good

life). She felt an intense closeness

with a higher spirit. It was when

seeing the architectural remains of

old sites which promoted a feeling

that she, her soul, was there, perhaps

from a different time. These feelings

subsided about two weeks after her

return to the States, buy nevertheless

left a powerful impression

HELENA is living with a sense revolving around fear.

She has a pervasive worry about some harm befalling

her family, particularly her older sister DAUPHINE.

HELENA is terrified about the prospects of being lost

or separated from her traveling group. Even the thought

of being kidnapped is on her mind, as if it is equally

plausible as getting lost. This fear of separation also

manifests itself in her nightmares

A few days

after her

admission to

a Portland

Hospital,

HERMIONE

could give

details of the

accident (as

related to her

by others),

she could

remember her

doctors’

names and

she could

learn new

information and retain it. She exhibited,

however, a distinct abnormality of orientation

for place. That is, while she quickly learned

and remembered that he was at the Portland,

she insisted that the hospital was located in

nearby Tualatin, her home town. Under close

questioning, she acknowledged that Portland

was part of the city and admitted it would be

strange for there to be two Portland Hospitals.

Nonetheless, she insisted that she was presently

hospitalized in a [nonexistent] branch of the

Portland Hospital located in Tualatin. At one

time she stated that the hospital was located in

the spare bedroom of her house

JULIET has long been

interested in cheesy romance

novels and ‘true crime’ tv

shows. In recent months she

has gotten interested in a

rather eccentric group which

has many odd beliefs, and

they have been

communicating these

perspectives to her regularly

and persistently such as at

their beach dances. She

joined this cult, which

worships anything claimed

to be reality television.

Their characters – from

Survivor, Real World, Lost,

Jersey Shore, etc – reflect

honesty the reality of the

way the world really is. This

makes her suspicious of all

others in her real life which

do not act in the same

manner as those depicted

through the television.

LAVINIA has come to feel

discontented with her

body. Her left arm has

been pitted with the scars

of childhood chicken pox

and there are times when it

seems as though it is a

foreign entity, as if it is not

a part of her. She has

expressed that she actually

contemplates removal of

this otherwise healthy limb

Upon seeing someone drop a grape on the ground accidentally,

LUCETTA explodes at him, unleashing all sorts of verbal lashings

about how horrible a person he is. In her yelling, she occasionally

references his “carelessness” and no one can get her to calm down

MARTINA reached the rank of

lieutenant in the military. She

is a former champion in

archery, propelled to success,

she believes, by her love for

“Lance”, a bow. She now

claims to be married to “Eiffel”

(as in, the Eiffel Tower), to

which she pledged eternal love

following a ceremony last

summer with supportive friends

in Paris. “There is a huge

problem with being in love

with a public monument,” she

says with an air of melancholy.

“The issue of intimacy – or

rather lack of it – is forever

present; that is, I can never just

sit down and speak to my

husband without other walking

all over him, literally.”

LUCIUS is under a tremendous amount of stress at work and due to his university

studies, yet he finds that picking at his skin is a stress reliever and has even found

emotional gratification (ie, he relaxes) when doing it. He strives to keep his actions

hidden from others, but sometimes he has left work due to the emotional distress he

feels it necessary to relieve.

OCTAVIA enters the party

but does not interact with

anyone. She rather

mechanically walked

across the room. When

PERCY says “hello”, she

mumbles a greeting. After

strolling past the food line,

a piece of cheese in hand,

she steps to the balcony

and leans on its edge. Her

voice is low, and words

direct. Yet there seems to

be no energy in her; she is

removed from the moment

and setting in her

mannerisms.

NERISSA is visiting France for the first time. She had an idealized image of the city,

of what she expected everything to look like. Yet when she got off the plane she was

immediately struck by a sense of unease. She struggled through the language barriers

with anxiety. She came into contact with a French waiter who she thought was rude,

but she was unable to argue back and instead forced to bottle up her frustrations. This

leads to increasing mental anguish. NERISSA cannot reconcile between her

anticipation of what she expected to find with the reality of the city of Paris.

Exhaustion makes it worse. NERISSA is the twin sister of MARTINA.

OPHELIA spent a month

studying in Italy. Once she and

her friends ventured into

Florence and explored all the

museums and other sites of

Renaissance art. At one such

site, she stepped in and was

awestruck by every aspect of its

beauty; so overwhelmed by

image was she that she began to

feel lightheaded and dizzy. She

fainted

In the middle of conversation ROMEO

suddenly feels uneasy. His stomach feels

upset, and a sudden dizziness, headache

and shortness of breath cause him to sit

down to collect himself. As those

symptoms subside, he is progressively

irritable and has difficulty concentrating.

He feels as though something horrible is

about to happen, but he knows not what.

PHOEBE had long

considered herself to be

socially inept and personally

unappealing. She strives to

avoid social interaction for

fear of being ridiculed,

humiliated, rejected, or

disliked. She is preoccupied

with her own shortcomings.

She has already shyly

rejected the approach of two

young men – CLARENCE

and OTHELLO – at this

party. In fact, she has a

tendency to gravitate toward

and form relationships with

people whom she feels will

accept her. Loss and

rejection are so painful that

she has chosen loneliness

rather than risking herself in

a relationship

PERCY is very stubborn. While all

may seem ok on the surface at

times, he could suddenly and

abruptly shift to temper tantrums,

stealing, bullying and vandalism.

He is very confrontational at these

moments. When not in this frame

of mind, however, PERCY is

outwardly calm and civil. But one

must be cautious of an

emotionally-charged explosion

PEMBROKE has found that his

struggles from high school have

continued into his college studies.

He finds that his professors are

not teaching fast enough to keep

his attention, and he is often

inclined to ask related-but-not-

quite-on-the-topic questions. It is

not that he is disinterested, only

that he is easily distracted. When

people speak to him directly, he

seems to not be listening, as his

eyes dart around the room rather

than maintaining eye contact

OTHELLO turned the

television one day long ago,

and he randomly came across a

channel which was showing

the entire Indiana Jones series.

A week afterwards while

staying in a motel on a

business trip he saw a Bible.

Suddenly, he came to believe

that he must take on a quest to

locate the Holy Grail. Now he

is devoting his weekends to

learning everything he can

about the topic, from watching

the Di Vinci Code to actually

traveling to religious centers.

He thinks he is seeing hidden

codes everywhere; in

newspapers and textbooks.

Due to his “discoveries”, he

thinks he is begin followed by

the church, and sees any

reference to religion as proof

of this. As the December

holidays roll around, he feels

this is their psychological

warfare against him.

Pita bread with Mediterranean humus, or tortilla

chips with cheese drip? ROSALINE has been

hovering over the snack table for over ten

minutes deliberating which to have. She’s

hungry, and has tasted both, but when it comes

to choosing a particular one to put on her plate

(taking both is not considered by her) she is left

wavering, constantly changing her mind in spite

of the unimportance of this choice. To her, it is

indeed importance.

SHYLOCK has been

steadily losing his

memory. It has become

so profound that his

memory and intellectual

impairment has affected

his personality. What

used to be a sharp,

comprehensive recall to

events has been cluttered

as he presses his mind to

recall common events,

like his own birthday or

the names of his siblings.

Furthermore, his

judgment and ability to

conduct abstract thinking

are likewise affected.

When ORSINIO was young he, like many, was superstitious about breaking

mirrors, thinking it would be the harbinger of seven years of bad luck. By the

end of his teenage years, however, his fears have evolved to the point of where

he would make every effort to avoid looking at mirrors. He fiercely believes that

were he to do so, he would be put in contact with the spiritual world, a plain of

existence which no mortal should ever come in contact with. Whether he would

be pulled into this spiritual world or if something from it would pursue him in his

world were possibilities which kept him up at night.

URSALA has had a good, stable life, wherein she has attended

the University of Oregon and then moved to Canada for a job

and quiet life on Victoria Island. Life is good, until, one day in

her early-30s, she expressed anxiety and suddenly doubts the

direction of her life. She feels it is passing her by. She abruptly

quits her job and purchases a one-way ticket to Uzbekistan,

whereupon she pursues archaeology and enjoys her time with

the village youth. This new life is timeless and has returned her

to a world of simplicity

MACBETH believes that thoughts are bring inserted

into or withdrawn from his consciousness, perhaps

to be broadcast to other people. At times he hears

hallucinatory voices which comment on his actions

or tells him what to say, or even voices which have a

conversation with one another (as though he is a

passive auditory “onlooker”). His arrival at the

party was not by choice, but rather because he felt he

was being controlled by an external force

MACDUFF is in the corner of the room, leaning

casually with his left elbow against the wall and a

Starbucks drink in his right hand, index finger

extended to illustrate the point he is stressing. While

mostly civil, at times his rhetoric becomes heated

and his voice is raised. He is deep in conversation,

debating the meaning of human existence and other

pressing questions which plague humanity. He is

talking to/with his reflection in a six-foot tall mirror

FANTINE in unable to go into any store

which caters to children as well as into any

department store which has life-like

mannequins. When she looks at dolls and

mannequins, she feels they are a false

representation of sentient begins. While

she understands this is an irrational fear,

she nevertheless has nightmares of these

things coming to life – everywhere at once

all around the world – for the purpose of

murdering and enslaving the human

species. This thought is all-encompassing