Character Accentuation

According to A. E. Lichko, “character accentuations are extreme variants of the norm, in which certain character traits are excessively intensified, resulting in selective vulnerability to specific types of psychogenic influences, while maintaining good or even increased resilience to others.”

B. G. Ananyev defines a character trait as follows: “A character trait is, or becomes, a significant attitude toward life circumstances and one’s own actions. Principles, cheerfulness, honesty, demandingness, strictness, sensitivity, sociability, and other character traits represent specific, deeply rooted attitudes of the individual toward the surrounding reality, society, work, other people, and oneself.”

Lichko distinguishes between overt and hidden accentuations based on their degree of expression. Overt accentuation is an extreme variant of the norm, where character traits are clearly expressed throughout life, and decompensation does not occur in the absence of psychological trauma. Hidden accentuation is a common variant of the norm, where these traits mainly appear under psychological stress, but chronic maladaptation is not observed.

Psychopathy

While character accentuation is an extreme variant of the norm, psychopathy is a pathology of character. According to P. B. Gannushkin, “psychopathies are character anomalies that define the entire psychological makeup of an individual, leaving a dominant imprint on their personality, remaining relatively unchanged throughout life, and interfering with adaptation to the environment.”

To provide a more comprehensive definition of psychopathy, several perspectives can be considered:

• Bally: “Psychopathic personalities are permanent inhabitants of the borderland between mental health and mental illness, as unsuccessful biological variations, as deviations that have gone too far from a certain average level or normal type.”
• Schneider: “Psychopathic personalities are abnormal individuals whose abnormality causes suffering either to themselves or to society.”
• Kraepelin describes psychopathic personalities as infantile (partial, uneven infantilism, more often manifesting in the areas of will and feelings): “The impression of something underdeveloped, childlike, for example, increased suggestibility, a tendency to exaggerate, excessive fantasy in hysterics, weak will in unstable individuals…”

Gannushkin-Kerbikov Criteria for Psychopathy

Character pathology (psychopathy) is always characterized by three features (Gannushkin-Kerbikov criteria):

1. Totality
2. Stability
3. Maladaptation

The absence of even one criterion excludes psychopathy.

Classifications of Psychopathy

There are several classifications of psychopathy based on different criteria. Psychopathies can be classified by severity:

• Severe
• Pronounced
• Moderate

They can also be divided by cause:

1. Constitutional (or true, genuine, “core”). Heredity plays a decisive role in the development of constitutional psychopathy. Common types include: cycloid, schizoid, psychasthenic, and epileptoid psychopathy.
2. Acquired (psychopathic or pathocharacterological development). Here, improper upbringing and negative environmental influences are key. This category includes excitable, hysterical, and unstable psychopathy.
3. Organic. These develop as a result of prenatal, perinatal, and early postnatal (first 2-3 years) pathological factors affecting the brain (intoxication, infections, traumatic brain injuries, etc.). After organic brain damage, excitable and unstable psychopathy are most often observed.

Typologies of Psychopathy and Character Accentuation

Different authors propose various typologies of psychopathy and character accentuation. For example, A. E. Lichko’s classification includes:

• Hyperthymic
• Cycloid
• Labile
• Astheno-neurotic
• Sensitive
• Psychasthenic
• Schizoid
• Epileptoid
• Hysteroid
• Unstable
• Conformal

In addition to individual types, Lichko also identifies mixed types, such as hyperthymic-unstable, sensitive-psychasthenic, and others.

E. G. Eidemiller offers his own classification, similar to Lichko’s, in his method of auto-identification and identification using verbal characterological portraits.

K. Leonhard proposed a somewhat different classification of accentuated character traits (demonstrative, pedantic, stuck) and accentuated temperament traits (hyperthymic personality, dysthymic, affective-labile, affective-exalted, anxious), as well as combinations of accentuated character and temperament traits (extraverted and introverted personalities).

D. Dril provides an interesting description of different character types, studying antisocial behavior in “nervous hysterics, alcoholics, epileptics,” as well as analyzing certain diseases, criminal cases, causes of crimes, and their connection to character traits. Dril also characterizes some literary characters (for example, the types of Rudin, Oblomov) and gives a general description of “impoverished natures.”

F. Scholz describes the pathology of children’s characters, the formation of character accentuations and psychopathies according to different types of upbringing and heredity. He uses simple names for different character types, such as: capricious child, fearful, arrogant (abnormalities in the realm of feelings and sensations), flighty child, curious and secretive (abnormalities in the realm of feelings and impressions), restless, greedy, prone to destruction (abnormalities in the realm of will and actions). Scholz suggests correction and upbringing methods for children with different character types.

V. V. Pushkov and G. A. Kharitonov examine the dependence of psychopathic disorders in adolescents on their age, gender, upbringing conditions, and the presence of organic disorders.

Methods for Diagnosing Character Accentuation and Psychopathy

The following methods are used to diagnose character accentuations and psychopathies:

• PDO (Pathocharacterological Diagnostic Questionnaire)
• Eidemiller’s identification method
• Leonhard-Schmieschek method
• MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)

References

1. Gannushkin P. B. Selected Works. Edited by O. V. Kerbikov. Moscow, 1962.
2. Dril D. Psychophysical Types in Their Relation to Crime and Their Varieties (Nervous, Hysterics, Epileptics, and Impoverished of Various Degrees). Moscow, 1895.
3. Leonhard K. Accentuated Personalities. Kiev, 1989.
4. Lichko A. E. Psychopathies and Character Accentuation. Leningrad, 1983.
5. Lichko A. E. Adolescent Psychiatry. Leningrad, 1985.
6. Lichko A. E., Ivanov N. Ya. Pathocharacterological Diagnostic Questionnaire for Adolescents. Methodological Guide. Moscow, 1995.
7. Pathocharacterological Studies in Adolescents. Edited by A. E. Lichko, N. Ya. Ivanov. Leningrad, 1981.
8. Scholz F. Abnormalities of Children’s Characters. Moscow, 1983.