States, Traits and Types

This Fall I joined a book group sponsored by WOSAC, an organization that supports and sponsors events for the Department of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Arizona.  Each year, the continuing members discuss and select books for the upcoming semester and the group is facilitated by a professor.  This year the facilitator is Professor Adele Barker whose joint areas are Russian and Slavic Studies/Women’s Studies.  And, among the books chosen was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy [the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation].  Little did I know, never having read the book, that I would find the discussion very important for me and my continuing education about the concepts of states, traits and indeed types, the first two terms mentioned often at the NEDA conference in October 2010.

In addition, I’d delighted in Helen Mirren’s portrayal of Tolstoy’s wife, Sophia, in the movie  “The Last Station” so I wanted to learn more about life in those times in Russia, especially since my grandfather was a Russian emigrant in the early 1900’s and because one of my grandmothers regularly told me from the time I can remember that I have a Russian soul (with good reason, I guess, given the ideas presented in theory about states, traits and types).  I found it illuminating to read this review of a biography of Sophia Tolstoy in the Huffington Post.

Our book group is quite eclectic, several of its members also writers, attorneys, psychologist/therapists, feminists (probably all), and other professionals, also all activists.  One of our members, the psychologist, mentioned that one of her family members is in another book group composed of mostly therapists who also read Anna Karenina  and determined that Kitty had situational depression (a state, defined in my Websters as “a set of circumstances or attributes characterizing a person or thing at a given time; a mental or emotional condition”) while Anna had a personality disorder, their diagnosis based on Anna’s traits.  In other words, for those of you who have not yet read the book – a frighteningly thick book but beautifully written -- Kitty responded to being dumped by her suitor by becoming temporarily depressed while Anna’s behavior and reactions throughout the book reflected traits that were ongoing.

I frequently read and hear that those with eating disorders specifically anorexia in the linked definition  tend to have traits such as perfectionism, anxiety, and obsessionality, and that these traits “….are often present in childhood before the eating disorder develops.”  More often than not those with eating disorders such as anorexia are very attractive, highly intelligent, sensitive, creative people.  I realize this sounds like a generalization yet it's amazing how many parents describe their children this way.

Then there are types.  If you were hired in the 1990’s or later (maybe earlier, I don’t know), you were probably asked to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a questionnaire that theoretically determines your personality type based on four categories symbolized by a letter.  So, for example, I vacillate between ISTJ and ISFJ and the descriptions of my “type” are actually pretty accurate.  (I’m also a “gold” for those of you familiar with the color typing.)

The MBTI has apparently gone out of favor in the psychology world depending upon who you talk to but is definitely still in use in the business world perhaps again illustrating the time lag between theory and practice.

So, what got me going with this?   

First, the terms “states” and “traits” were thrown around a lot at the NEDA conference. 

Second, I’ve learned through experience that just because one is “traited” (sorry) or “typed”, doesn’t mean that one is stuck, never to get out of a rabbit hole of an eating disorder or whatever.  To use an Al-Anon expression, some of these traits may be my character defects (a term I hate and why I think anyone with an eating disorder or who tends easily towards shame needs to have a sponsor who understand this fact and can guide a person carefully through their Fourth Step) or they may be my assets.  I’ve observed, as have others, that many with these same traits go on to flourish in what are known as the STEM fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, areas lacking women.

  

Third, many people believe that once re-nourished, those with eating disorders are healthy again.  I disagree.  I could access many resources on this point but feel it is not anecdotal to say that those who have struggled through an eating disorder have at the very least developed maladaptive (not good) behavior patterns in reaction to stress that need to be changed and, by the way, another trait is rigidity, and more seriously have suffered brain damage due to chemical fluctuations of binging and purging or starvation; never mind all the other harm that occurs.

Recently Carrie Arnold, whose book Next to Nothing I have and will probably mention several times, has recently written in her blog about the concept of a half-baked cake, noting that although the cake looks “done” on the outside, more often than not when tested with a toothpick or whatever, is still baking on the inside.  In the same manner, one who looks “done” on the outside because their weight has been restored, is likely to still need baking on the inside.

 

That baking will include things like therapy to learn new ways of behaving and thinking.  This is where I believe Dr. Tchanturia’s Cognitive Remedial Therapy (CRT) that I blogged about earlier is important and will be prescribed as an adjunct to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), tools often offered to those in therapy with eating disorders.

We all need to learn how to live.  It’s not a magic process but one that is based on experience.  One of the skills, for example recovering from failure, is quite difficult for one who is a perfectionist but very important.

  

I like the Japanese proverb, “Fall down seven times, get up eight.”