What if the groups suffered from personality disorders?

We are social beings, so it is impossible to ignore the role of groups in our lives. They are groups of belonging, such as the family member, or of reference, such as an urban tribe, we are always in direct relationship with some kind of group. This fact added to Gestalt principle of "the whole is more than the sum of the parts", justifies the group as a unit of analysis and the theoretical-practical paradigm of the Group Psychology.

What if a group of people had a personality disorder?

Understanding the group as greater than the sum of its members implies that the group cannot be understood as an extrapolation of the individual behaviors of the people that comprise it. It cannot even be ruled that the same person develops the same processes individually and as a group; and hence the therapeutic role of the groups.

Now, if they can be therapeutic, can pathological groups also be configured? With this question in the air, let's get into group vision and see what traits the groups might have if they got sick. Who knows... Will we be part of some pathological group?

It may interest you: "Personality disorders: myths and facts"

1. Paranoid Group

The paranoia appears when delusions lead to a distortion of reality and mistrust. In a group vision, translates as a group with deficiency of feedback both intra and intergroup. With this we refer to the fact that feedback is not offered abroad, nor between the members themselves.

Therefore, the group develops a large number of inferences by not contrasting the information, does not express its interpretation and does not know if it is correct. This makes the group distrustful, source of rumors and multiple versions of the same actor. They are stuck in a rule-building and trust-building phase, constantly testing the opinion and commitment of their members to be able to say “yes, that's the way it is” and gain security.

2. Schizoid Group

One may think that a person schizoid he cannot be a member of a group, due to his indifference towards social relations. Now, let's have a group vision and look at a schizoid “group”.

This isolation would be manifested at the group level by a rigid and waterproof membrane. The group membrane is the structural element that helps define the boundaries of the group and regulate its communication with the outside world. In this way, as it becomes more rigid, the interaction of the group with its environment is prevented. In this case the effects are bidirectional; Not only is information not emitted from the group as in the paranoid, but it is not received either.

3. Schizotypal Group

Surely you have ever related in a group that when faced with a meaningless phrase, everyone has laughed out loud and you have wondered “what happens here?”. It is one of the forms of expression of group culture, of how the group evolves over time gaining consistency as a private entity through norms, forms of relationship, roles, themes, etc; features.

It could be understood as the reality of the group. Nevertheless, If this reality becomes complex and begins to differ from the ex-group –exterior of the group-, we find ourselves in a schizotypal group, with a distortion of reality; a group that there is no way to understand it because it seems that they do not speak our language.

4. Antisocial Group

One of the reasons for group formation is the search for security; the group as a lifesaver. Have the opportunity to gain trust with a number of people provides us with a safe environment in which to interact. For this, it is necessary to create group norms, be they explicit - expressed verbally - and implicit - those that are not said but everyone knows.

However the antisocial disorder has certain problems with the rules, and in antisocial groups specifically with the rules of intergroup interaction. At the same time that the group establishes intra-group rules to ensure its relationship, it also establishes them inter-group, to ensure how to interact with the environment. If the latter fail, we find ourselves in a group that violates the integrity of others, that does not respect the group membrane of other groups and with dysfunctional forms of exogroup relationship.

5. Limit Group

The borderline disorder It is one of the most complex at the individual level and also in its group development. A limit group is a group with a group activity focused on the affective level. It is a group that does not manage and only expresses, so it is characterized by not having space for reflection and only for action.

This leads to impulsive relationships arising from the emotional climate of the group at that time, very dysfunctional intergroup since they do not take into account neither semantics nor communicative pragmatics. That is, they do not control what they express or how they express it, and they do not deal with what to do with the bomb they have just dropped, leading them to self-destructive relationships with the environment and with the group itself.

6. Narcissist Group

The phrase of the narcissism He explains that success is everything: "the end justifies the means." For this reason, the narcissistic group is a totally task-oriented group, but the goal is neither productivity nor performance, but the status achieved by performing the task.

They are groups that live in a continuous competitive relationship, since their group identity is based on the performance of the task and on social comparison with other groups. Well, if I achieve all my goals and then compare myself with those who have not, I will value myself positively. Many of you may have remembered some work groups in the studies or in the labor sector, those of which one thinks “how little it costs them to step on their heads”.

7. Histrionic Group

To the histrionic also loves to be the center of attention, but in this case on an emotional level. This fact already characterizes the histrionic groups, their socio-emotional orientation. If you give the histrionic groups a task to perform, do not expect to see it completed, since they will get stuck in expressing the emotions that this task arouses in them.

Just that is another dysfunction, a continuous emotional expression, but without management, because the attention would end if they resolved the emotional conflicts. In this case, the emotional climate, the central theme of their intra and inter-group relationships, is key again, as well as recreating in conflicts without ending them.

8. Avoidance Group

This type of group resembles the schizoid in that it does not maintain out-group relationships. This is explained by the fact that at the individual level, avoidance disorder is characterized by social withdrawal due to fear of rejection. Understanding it at the group level, the group anticipates negative intergroup interactions, which is why its membrane is rigid and waterproof.

However, all their interest lies in these interactions with other groups even though they do not have them, characterizing their internal relationships by an intergroup communication. The fact that they talk about something they do not know implies that distort their knowledge and reality of the other groups. In this way they live in a constant social comparison between what "we are" and what "they are", from which they make up their structure. It may be that some groups resonate with you that once in them, they only spoke of another group!

9. Dependent Group

These groups could be confused with subgroups, since they always need to alienate themselves from other groups. The dependent group is characterized by subordination to other groups and by intergroup communication with a feedback not realistic. Subordination is given by not having a clear or excessively delegative leadership, which does not assume responsibilities and leaves the group without premises to follow.

In this context, group processes are delegated to other groups, such as task management or decision-making. In addition, there is a need to stay connected with the other group, so no feedback is established, much less if they are negative. That is to say, the group may be sub-modifying another that may be leading to ruin and not saying anything; I shut up the collision with the iceberg and the sunken Titanic!

10. Obsessive-Compulsive Group

If something characterizes the obsessive compulsive disorder it is cognitive rigidity in directives and compulsion to conduct. Now, with a group vision, this rigidity is transferred to the structure of the group. The TOC groups would be those with a large number of rigid norms, both prescriptive - what to do - and proscriptive - what not to do.

As long as they are violated, they will have serious penalties, with a considerable reduction in status. Likewise, they also have rigid roles, defining what position and what function each member fulfills. Therefore, they are groups in which the socialization of new members is difficult and in which structural rigidity also regulates inflexible forms of intergroup relations.

Conclusions and nuances

The previous classification not diagnostic for groups, but it can be used to take into account how structural and process alterations can cause group dysfunctions.

Be aware of when the rules of the work group become strict, how in the family the main theme is other families or how the conflicts that arise are talked about and managed with friends, but without a clear intention of fix them. This is how it can be observed that a group can be pathological, see that the group itself has personality and, ultimately, bring that group look closer.

Bibliographic references:

• Gil, F. and Alcover, F. (1999). Introduction to Group Psychology. Madrid: Pyramid.
• Palacín, M. and Aiger, M. (2014). Group communication. In R. Martínez and J. M. Guerra (Coords.), Psychosocial aspects of communication (Ch. 14, pp. 193-206). Madrid: Pyramid.
• Sánchez, J. C. (2002). Group psychology. Theory, processes and applications. Buenos Aires: McGraw-Hill.