One of the central tenets of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is that there is an inextricable relationship between a person’s core beliefs, the attitudes those beliefs have engendered, and the ways the person’s attitudes prompt him or her to to behave in various situations. Each element of the triad of thinking patterns-attitudes-behaviors generally has a reinforcing effect on the others and contributes greatly to an individual’s... 

I’ve been posting a series of articles on the “aggressive personalities.” This group of individuals is among the most seriously disordered in character of all the various personality types. Despite the fact that official diagnostic literature neither recognizes the inordinate predisposition for aggression as the core problem for such personalities nor recognizes the distinct differences between aggressive personality types, I have... 

This post is the second in a series about some personality types that are the most disordered in character - the aggresssive personalities. In an earlier article, I presented some of the characteristics all the “Aggressive Personalities” share. In my last post, I described the “unbridled aggressive” personality type (see “The Unbridled Aggressive Personality”). This type of aggressive personality is frequently involved in law-breaking... 

In a prior post, I addressed the general characteristics of aggressive personalities.  I also mentioned that there are several aggressive personality subtypes.  Among these perhaps the type most studied and written about has been the type that I prefer to label the “unbridled aggressive.” Historically, unbridled aggressive personalities have been more commonly labeled antisocial. I often hear the term antisocial used inappropriately... 

  Researchers in the areas of personality and character disturbance have long recognized that there is a fairly substantial group of highly disturbed characters at the center of most abusive relationships and who pose the greatest threat to social order.  These are the pathological fighters among us who resist all attempts to socialize them.  There are several different aggressive personality types.  Yet, until very recently the official... 

Manipulators and other disturbed characters sometimes like to openly threaten or brow-beat someone else into giving-up or giving-in to their demands.   They like to terrorize others into submission.  They use fear as a weapon, whether it’s fear of the known or unknown.  People in relationships with disturbed characters are generally familiar with their track record of behavior, thus they know what the disturbed character is not... 

The most severely disordered characters will often make direct threats or even carry them out as a way of keeping others in line.  Skilled manipulators, however, are expert at making more subtle, implied or veiled threats to intimidate others into seeing or doing things their way.  Sometimes a veiled threat can be no more than a particular “look” or a glance.  Sometimes it’s imbedded not so much in what someone says or...