A Mental Disorder Analysis. Personality Disorder Essay Example

A stigma has aroused around the fact that women are now making themselves heard. Our world is based on a foundation of our own sexuality. When sex is held as power some see it as something to brag about, and others see it as an attack on people at their most vulnerable state. What leads someone to want to attack some at their most fragile state? Men claim this is a hard time for them now, is this a fact or an excuse? From pedophiles to serial rapists to sex addicts, every mind thinks differently, but what similarities do these titles share? Is trauma the one to blame or is it a diagnosi from birth?

Rape, domestic violence, and murder are the most underreported crimes. One would expect that these gory crimes would be reported most, as they are the most destructive, but surprisingly not. A report from Psychology Today recently reported from the DSM 5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) that rape is not a mental disorder. Rape can produce trauma for the victims, but there is no behavioral disorder responsible for sexual assault. A hashtag recently went viral, #whyididn'treport which helps give victims a place to be heard. A few statements from this thread explains why rape is so under-reported, “Because the first adult I told, my mom, said she didn't believe me. She said my brother was a 'good kid.” ”Because I was a little boy and 'girls can't assault boys' was a social narrative. Little did I know she was acting out because she was a victim too.”Statements like these lead victims to not report because they know the questions people will ask: what were you wearing? Were you drinking? Did you give them any signs to indicate you were into them? Were you flirting? The victim blaming starts immediately

A study that took over 11 years to analyze, came out with accounts of the mental health aspect of the people who are incarcerated for these crimes. Around 50% of inmates who are in jail for sex crimes are diagnosed with a personality disorder. The most common diagnosis between them is Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and Borderline Personality Disorder( BPD). These differ tremendously. BPD is accompanied with unstable emotional experiences along with a poorly developed self-image, ASPD is lacking empathy or care for others at all. People who have ASPD often are more hostile, manipulative and have a higher chance of having legal issues in their lifetime. Rapists who had adult victims had a higher chance of having ASPD; where child molesters had a higher chance of having AVPD (avoidant personality disorder). These are not excuses. People with personality disorders do feel. People with antisocial personality disorder are capable of love toward their family, but they are remorseless otherwise. This being said, their narcissism can influence their decision, which plays into the fact they are aware of their actions even if the consequences are not a concern.

People who have a diagnosis of a personality disorder or a dual diagnosis are 33% more like to act on another crime once they have been released compared to others who have been let out without a disorder. The importance of knowing that BPD and ASPD can affect people and lead to recidivism is that people can look for signs and try to provide them with help when they are doing their time instead of just fueling their anger. Having psychiatric help for criminals significantly reduces the rate of being put back in jail. Being constantly punished for a crime won’t help prevent it from happening again without providing help for the criminal to understand their own thoughts and to at least try to be taught empathy. Celebrities, like Harvey Weinstein, have been able to pay their way out and go to sex addiction treatment centers, but when it comes to sex offenders going to a sex addiction center is one of the worst things they can do. Many sexual offenders use sex addiction as an excuse, but sex addiction and sexual criminality differ significantly. Violently performing sexual acts is much different than exposing one's self in public settings or cheating. Men in a group therapy setting were put into a program to try and learn from their mistakes and make a new life, not forgetting what they did, but bettering themselves from it. In a Times Magazine, article a guy who was in jail for statutory rape was getting married with soon-to-be step kids the age of the girl he slept with, He realized that no matter the excuse, he was old enough to make his own decisions and he wouldn't want someone like him to ever come into contact with his soon to be kids. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a method of psycho-social intervention that helps cognitive distortions. Meaning CBT helps people become aware of their actions, its also proven to help improve self-control and impulse management for juvenile and adult offenders. According to the American journal of public health participating in rehabilitative therapy has been proven to decrease recidivism rates in sexual offenders by 22%. The #metoo movement has brought out a lot of questions about the how, why and what of sexual harassment/sexual assault. Statistically, 71% of rapes are planned and 93% of juvenile sexual assault victims knew their attackers. Constantly, there are articles about how men have been saying that it ’s hard to time for men to live in now because of all the accusations but in reality, only 2% of the rape reports are false, which are equivalent of the same amount of false reports to other felonies.

Reporting rape is nothing to be ashamed of. Speaking up will help prevent this from being a national movement. Men and women can be victims. Disturbing statistics reveal 1 in 5 women have been or will be victims at some point in their life compared to men where its 1 in 71 men. The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network has a whole website dedicated to the in and outs of how to prevent, prosecute, and protect yourself against letting rapists go free. 994 rapists out of 1000 will walk free, being aware of what to look for and how to process what happened is incredibly important and there is free support available for victims. Helping create distractions, including lots of people (witnesses) around you and your friends, telling your friends before you go on a date and when you'll be back, talking to the bartender to have a security guard escort who you are worried about to safety are some strategies to prevent rape. Other strategies include when going out to drink, trust your instinct, have an eye on your drink at all time along with making backup plans with the people you are within case something happens as well as being aware of changes in how you feel are key things to keep you and people you’re with safe.

Since the #metoo movement, there's been a lot of controversy about whether the attacks have increased or if attacks from years ago are still valid. A food for thought to consider: If they were in jail at the age they acted on these things, would you still let them, knowing their record, be a justice for the supreme court or the president? No clear evidence has come to say since the #metoo movement’s outbreak that there has been an increase in sexual assault, although an article from vox was able to show the statistics on harassment between males and females in 2018. While men have experienced verbal and physical harassment, women have surpassed in all categories showing that 80% of women have experienced sexual harassment. This shows how big a problem sexual violence has become. Knowingly admitting that things need to get better is the first step of big change. Voices being heard, being knowledgeable of preventative measures, and being self-aware of your behaviors could be a start toward fixing a problem that has faced our country for decades.