This is an addition to my 5 May 2003 entry on odd behaviours/traits. As mentioned earlier, I think that when a person is healthy and free of any troubles/conflicts, his natural personality comes through. This natural personality I think is generally positive and prosocial in nature. When the person is troubled or is experiencing conflicts with others or with himself (ie, when we he has "issues"), we start seeing behaviour that is at the extreme of normal, positive traits. This extreme behaviour is not, in my mind, a result of a person's own personality traits (which, as I've argued earlier, I think are all positive in nature).

Rather, it is indicative of some sort of conflict ("issues"); it means that something is deeply troubling this person or keeping him from being who he really is (which is a positive, prosocial person with healthy, positive, prosocial personality traits). When these extreme behaviours continue for long periods of time, we start seeing what are termed "personality disorders".

The following is an excerpt from an article by Dr. Dave Hepburn—a regular columnist for the Burnaby Newsleader newspaper. It is from a July 20, 2002 article called "Personalities: from traits to extremes" (p. 28):

Personality style [vs.] potential disorder [ie, conflicted, unnatural behaviour]

• vigilant: paranoid (unwarranted suspicion, envy, distrust in motives of others)


• devoted: dependent (submissive and clinging behaviour, fear of separation)
  
• mercurial: borderline (very unstable in interpersonal relationships, impulsive)


• self confident: narcissistic (lack of empathy for others, need for admiration)


• dramatic: histrionic (over reactive, theatrical behaviour and seductiveness, attention seeking, excessively emotional)
• aggressive: explosive (impulse control, temper problems)


• adventurous: antisocial (disregard for rights of others, sociopathic)


• conscientious: obsessive compulsive (excessive concern with conformity, inability to relax easily)


• solitary: schizoid (timidness, introversion, social detachment)


• leisurely: passive aggressive (negativism, passive resistance to demands and responsibilities)


• sensitive: avoidant (hypersensitive, social inhibition)


• self sacrificing: self defeating ("If I suffer enough and someone sees it, I'll be loved")


• idiosyncratic: schizotypal (eccentricity of behaviour, discomfort with and reduced capacity for close relationships)"

I think this was a good excerpt!