Premorbid personality: what it is and how it anticipates mental disorder

Before a mental disorder is consolidated in the subject, a series of indicators that respond to this situation usually appear. It is like the prelude to the disorder, what is known as premorbid personality.

In this article we will examine the concept of premorbid personality, we will see why it is important in the area of mental health, and we will review how premorbid personality can appear before a disorder appears mental.

• Related article: "Mental health: definition and characteristics according to psychology"

What is premorbid personality?

This term is used within psychological and psychiatric jargon as a way of referring to specific changes and signs that subjects may present before suffering a severe mental disorder.

Sudden personality changes, among other specific indicators in the person's behavior, can be taken into account as indicators of premorbid personality.

These behaviors are of a variable nature, depending on the characteristics of the subject's personality. When a mental disorder begins to take shape in a person, there are several factors that have an impact for it to progress in a certain way.

For example, Within neurosis and psychosis dwell a host of underlying mental disorders.. Each one presents his individual characteristics and whether one of these disorders is established in a subject will depend on his environment and his personal characteristics.

• You may be interested in: "Neurosis (neuroticism): causes, symptoms and characteristics"

How does it manifest?

Just as not all people are the same, neither are all mental illnesses. Each of these pathologies develops differently in the minds of individuals, it is those individual and social differences that originate personality behaviors premorbid

Thus, the premorbid personality does not present a series of common defining characteristics beyond that it is a change in the person's way of behaving, which often tends to produce non-normative behavior, and that precedes the typical symptoms of an already developed mental disorder. Depending on the type of mental disorder or psychiatric illness, the premorbid personality will be one way or another.

Its importance in mental health

This concept is especially important in the field of mental health because it represents a way to warn of approaching danger for the subject who is presenting these atypical behaviors in his behavior.

It works as a natural alert system of the body that warns about possible psychotic or neurotic outbreaks, everything will depend on the situation in each case. When these behaviors are identified in time, in many cases it could prevent the subject from presenting the outbreak.

Specifically, we can see as an example the schizoid behavior of the personality and the disorder schizotypal disorder, which are usually a preview of an approaching schizophrenic disorder in the subject.

detect changes

It is important that both the person affected and the members of their closest environment know how to identify these behaviors when they occur, taking into account that this way can prevent further damage.

At first it will be difficult to adapt to this system, but with an induction process by a specialist of behavior and after a while, the subject and his environment will take this situation as something natural and typical of their lives of him

While the subject has a greater capacity to realize and internalize their reality (insight capacity), they will be less likely to present episodes or flare-ups of their disorder, since will know how to identify the signs of their own behavior.

Chronic diseases

A difference must be established between when it is a controllable mental disorder and a chronic one, since in the first case the measures must be to avoid the episode to the greatest extent possible, while in the second case measures must be taken with the intention of reduce deterioration and seek a better quality of life for the affected subject. For example, this type of measure should be considered in the case of Alzheimer's.

The sooner the signs of irregular behavior of Alzheimer's disease are identified in the subject, the the more the chances of an effective treatment are increased to extend your quality of life.

For example, there are longitudinal studies that have shown through their results that patients with some type of dementia, who are given identified the behavioral changes typical of premorbid personality symptoms, they tend to be more cooperative when the disease progresses in they.

Although it is imminent that they present the pathology in the future, it has been possible to determine that the importance of detecting premorbid symptoms With time it is significant for the future of the subject and his family environment.

In summary

In conclusion, it can be said that the premorbid personality is extremely important in terms of the prevention and treatment of mental disorders in all its categories, especially those that caused significant changes in the personality of the subjects.

The treatment of a pathology does not necessarily have to begin when it is already established in the subject; The best thing to do is to recognize the signs of behavioral change and act as soon as possible, without ending the development of the disease.

The benefits will be seen in the medium and long term, all depending on the various personal and social factors of the people.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association, (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.
• Rosenbloom M.H., Smith S., Akdal G., Geschwind M.D. (2009). Immunologically mediated dementias. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep (Review) 9(5): 359-67.