A comparative study of personality disorders referred to in dsm-5 and buddhist jataka stories
Date
2017-03-31
Authors
Ven. Wimaladhamma, K.
Ven. Arunasiri, T.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Peradeniya
Abstract
Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Dysfunctions of personality which are called ''personality disorders'' have become a major topic in Clinical Psychology and Abnormal Psychology. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) lists several mental disorders related personality. Buddhist Jātaka tales are a voluminous body of folklore concerned with previous births of the Buddha consisting of five hundred and fifty stories having a past story and a corresponding present story. When Buddhist Jataka Stories are deeply examined we can identify that in some of these the personality disorders mentioned in DSM-5 had been depicted by the characters involved. Here, an attempt is made to examine the concept of personality disorder in DSM-5 and Buddhist Jataka Stories and the mental disorders depicted in Buddhist Jataka Stories. Many Personality Disorders are described in the Jātaka Stories. Personality disorders involve patterns of behavior, mood, social interaction, and impulsiveness that cause distress to one experiencing them, as well as to other people in their lives. People with a personality disorder display an enduring, rigid pattern of inner experience and outward behavior that impair their sense of self, emotional experiences, goals, capacity for empathy, and/or capacity for intimacy. DSM-5, identifies 10 personality disorders. Often these disorders are separated into three clusters. One cluster, marked by odd or eccentric behavior, consists of the paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders. Another features dramatic behavior and consists of the antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders. The last features a high degree of anxiety and includes the avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. The symptoms of these personality disorders can be easily identified in Jataka Stories. The Kshanthivadi Jātakaya depicts a character that bears psychological criteria which are similar to the Antisocial Personality Disorder mentioned in DSM-5. The Antisocial Personality Disorder is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood. Lack of remorse, poor behavior control, tendency to violate the boundaries and rights of others, aggressive violent behavior, are more common in Antisocial Personality Disorder. The Ummaga Jātakaya shows several personality disorders such as Paranoid Personality Disorder. Psychopathic Personality can be seen in Chulla Suthasoma Jātakaya. The Borderline Personality Disorder can be seen in Kuti Dushaka Jātakaya. These personality disorders can be easily identified in DSM-5 and this paper will discuss them mentioned in Jataka Story book with reference to DSM-5. Further, the difference between the methods of identifying the DSM-5 and Buddhist Jataka will be discussed.
Description
Keywords
Personality disorders , Jātaka stories , DSM-5
Citation
Proceedings of the Annual Research Congress of the PGIHS, 2017, University of Peradeniya, p.56