Essay: Dark Triad personality, toxic personality or demon possessed?

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Gustave Doré's depiction of Satan from John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Question: How can you tell if a person has a Dark Triad personality or is a toxic person or is demonically posssessed/oppressed?

I belong to a High Church type of Christian church (Anglican, Episcopal, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, most Methodist and Lutheran, and some Presbyterian churches are considered High Church).[1] High Church type churches incorporate ritual, liturgy, sacraments in worship and often have an ornate church sanctuary.

It is not unusual for some High Church type churches to practice exorcisms.

My pastor is a well-read and experienced pastor and one of the topics he has studied is exorcisms. And he has actually performed some exorcisms. During a conversation I had with my pastor during a car trip, I mentioned a person I was somewhat familiar with who appears to have a Dark Triad Personality which is a very dark and malevolent personality. He was fascinated with the psychological concept and mentioned that it sounds very similar to someone who is demon-possessed. During our conversation, he asked if I had met the person because he indicated that possessed people often have facial characteristics that are adversely affected by their possession and once they are exorcised those adverse facial characteristics disappear.

So I asked the pastor: How can you know if a person is demonically possessed or is evil due to their flesh or has some type of psychological malady? He responded, "You have to get to know the person." And although he mentioned that one of the cases of a house being plagued with demonic activity that he encountered and remediated for a parishioner had moving objects due to demomic activity that is fairly rare and it is rare during exorcisms as well. Chad Alec Ripperger is an American Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, and exorcist. Ripperger says supernatural events such as objects levitating and similar events happening during exorcisms happen in a small percentage of cases.[2]

Below is some information related to demonic possession, the Dark Triad personality and toxic people.

Demonic possession

El Redentor y la mujer adultera by Juan Cordero.

See also: Demonic possession

Jesus makes references to demonic possession on multiple occasions that He then casts out. Some believe that Satan is able to possess and control living humans on Earth even today. Even more, some others believe that Satan actually has done this in the past as well. Specifically, Satan is said to have entered Judas during The Last Supper (John 13:27). The Catholic church believes that priests (and sometimes only bishops) are able to exorcise this possession through Jesus.

Ronald Edwin Hunkeler (born 1 June 1935 and died 10 May 2020) was known for being possessed and later exorcised during his childhood in the late 1940s.[3][4] The events which were reported in the media of the time and the occurrences surrounding those events went on to inspire the 1971 novel The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty and the 1973 film of the same name, as well as historian Thomas B. Allen's own 1993 book Possessed and the following 2000 television film by the same name. Ronald Edwin Hunkeler, as an adult, served as an engineer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) whose "work contributed to the Apollo space missions of the 1960s and who patented a technology that helped space shuttle panels withstand extreme heat."[3]

The 2000 movie Possessed, which is said to be more historically accurate than the film The Exorcist.[5] A documentary was also made of this case of demonic possession, titled In the Grip of Evil.[6]

Dark Triad Personality traits

See also: Dark Triad personality traits and Subclinical (psychology)

According to the psychological theory of the Dark Triad personality type, the three Dark Triad personality subtypes are subclinical narcissism, Machiavellianism and subclinical psychopath.[7][8][9] Overall, the Dark Triad personality traits share certain features, such as emotional coldness, duplicity, and aggressiveness.[10] The dark-triad personality traits are found to be more prominent in men than in women.[11]

"The “Dark Triad” personality traits are a toxic amalgamation of various negative traits and behaviors, such as they are domineering, violent, volatile, manipulative, remorseless, cynical, deceitful, etc."[12]

Health.com states concerning people with dark triad personality traits and one of the best ways to deal with them: "...people with dark triad personality traits may be able to change, but the likelihood of that happening is "minuscule," noted Hokemeyer. "The personality traits that make up a dark triad are deeply ingrained in their psyche and highly resistant to any sort of challenge that would manifest a change. The best strategy is to move away from them as quickly as possible."[13]

The dark triad personality traits and their various sub-traits.

Toxic personality traits

See also: Toxic personality traits

According to WebMD.com:

“ If you know someone who’s difficult and causes a lot of conflict in your life, you may be dealing with a toxic person. These people can create lots of stress and unpleasantness for you and others, not to mention emotional or even physical pain.

A toxic person is anyone whose behavior adds negativity and upset to your life. Many times, people who are toxic are dealing with their own stresses and traumas. To do this, they act in ways that don’t present them in the best light and usually upset others along the way.

Toxicity in people isn’t considered a mental disorder. But there could be underlying mental problems that cause someone to act in toxic ways, including a personality disorder.[14]

”

Symptoms of a toxic person

Narcissistic rage is an outburst of intense anger or silence that can happen to someone with narcissistic personality disorder.[15]

Some of the characteristics of psychopaths are being angry, rash, impulsive, and oppositional (among others).[16]

Reduced empathy, often seen in psychopathy, increases the prevalence of goal-directed aggression.[17] Psychopaths have a greater risk of suffering from irritability/reactive aggression.[18] Both decreased empathy and increased anger are associated with maladaptive aggression.[19]

Symptoms of a toxic person are:[20][21][22][23]

1. Inconsistent behavior

2. They always need your attention

3. They are narcissistic

4. There is always drama. According to WebMD.com: "Toxic people thrive in dramatic situations. They inflame emotions and create conflict. They love stirring the pot to see what happens. People are often toxic because they're not interested in being stable and healthy in relationships."[24]

5. They lack empathy and are mean.

6. They don’t respect your boundaries

7. The are controlling

8. They manipulate others for what they want

9. They’ll make you prove yourself to them

10. They never apologise.

11. They’ll bring irrelevant detail into a conversation as a means of distraction and avoidance

12. They exaggerate. For example, they may frequently use the term "You always" or "You never"

13. They are dishonest

14. They are denialists

15. They abuse substances

Strategies on dealing with a toxic person

The 3 most common strategies for dealing with toxic people are:[25][26]

1. Confront them[27]

2. Set stricter boundaries. For example, let them know that you will not tolerate their attempts to create drama.

3. Cut them out of your life

User:Conservative's essays

References

  1. ↑ What is meant by High Church and Low Church?
  2. ↑ This Exorcist has only been scared TWICE in his career!, Augustine Institute
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Boy whose case inspired The Exorcist is named by US magazine (English). The Guardian (20 December 2021).
  4. ↑ Evil: Satan, Sin, and Psychology. Paulist Press. Retrieved on 2010-04-02. “In 1949, just outside of Washington, DC, a thirteen-year-old boy, who lived with his two parents and grandmother, began to experience some very strange phenomena. We'll call this boy Robbie, the fictional name given to him by historian Thomas Allen, who has written a very sober and fascinating account of this entire case.” 
  5. ↑ Cinema of the occult: new age, satanism, Wicca, and spiritualism in film. Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp.. Retrieved on 2010-04-04. “Blatty's novel was loosely based on an actual exorcism he heard about, and the producers of Possessed claim the film is closer to the "real" story.” 
  6. ↑ In the Grip of Evil. Retrieved on 2010-04-04. “Reconstruction of the alleged true story about demonic possession that was behind William Friedkin's The Exorcist. Based on documents, statements and interviews with people who followed the case, including the priests involved in the exorcism, a close look at the events that really happened is shown.” 
  7. ↑ Rethinking aversive personality: Decomposing the Dark Triad traits into their common core and unique flavors, Journal of Personality. 2022 Oct 18. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12785. Online ahead of print.
  8. ↑ The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, Journal of Research in Personality Volume 36, Issue 6, December 2002, Pages 556-563
  9. ↑ Dark triad - psychology, Encylopedia Britannica
  10. ↑ Dark triad - psychology, Encylopedia Britannica
  11. ↑ Dark triad - psychology, Encylopedia Britannica
  12. ↑ How to Identify And Deal With a “Dark Triad” Personality
  13. ↑ What Is the Dark Triad and Why Are People With These Traits So Dangerous?, Health.com, 2022
  14. ↑ Signs of a Toxic Person, WebMD.com
  15. ↑ What Is Narcissistic Rage, and What’s the Best Way to Deal with It?, Healthline.com
  16. ↑ What Everyone Should Understand About the Dark Triad, Psychology Today website, 2022
  17. ↑ Traits of empathy and anger: implications for psychopathy and other disorders associated with aggression, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, v.373(1744); 2018 Apr 19
  18. ↑ Traits of empathy and anger: implications for psychopathy and other disorders associated with aggression, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, v.373(1744); 2018 Apr 19
  19. ↑ Traits of empathy and anger: implications for psychopathy and other disorders associated with aggression, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, v.373(1744); 2018 Apr 19
  20. ↑ Signs of a Toxic Person, WebMD.com
  21. ↑ Do’s and Don’ts for Dealing with Toxic Behavior, Healthline.com
  22. ↑ Toxic People: 12 Things They Do and How to Deal with Them by the psychologist Karen Young
  23. ↑ What to Know About People with Toxic Traits, PsychCentral.com
  24. ↑ Signs of a Toxic Person, WebMD.com
  25. ↑ Signs of a Toxic Person, WebMD.com
  26. ↑ Addressing toxic personality traits from the book The Ethics of Interpersonal Relationships By Robert W. Firestone and Joyce Catlett, 1st Edition 2009, Routledge, ISBN9780429481666, Page 24, eBook
  27. ↑ "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." - Mathew 18:15-18
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