Personality Disorders, Mental Illness, Restraining Orders and Other Legal Action

One thing is often misunderstood at best, or, greatly underestimated at worst, and that is the effect legal action, such as no contact, harassment restraining or protection orders from the court has on some people, particularly those suffering from some mental illness, such as the vast array of personality disorders.

The average person, when confronted with suffering the consequences for one of their actions, the typical emotion is utter embarrassment. Embarrassment by having done such a stupid thing, embarrassment having been caught and publicly sentenced and embarrassment in the community.

Such is not the case with the average personality disorder. These people will fight tooth and nail to preserve the reputation that they think they have. They generally end up doing more harm than good. They will do so by lying and trying to spin stories against all evidence by even making up the most outlandish stories you could think of. Generally, like the average teenager, it boils down to being "misunderstood". What they don't realize is that they are misunderstood, because they are not thinking like normal people.

I have yet to understand the workings of such mental processes, but as I see it from my experience, not only the current issue I am involved in, but throughout life in dealing with different people, is that there are a few reasons these less stable people operate the way they do.

1. The sufferer honestly and sincerely spins stories and events in their heads so backwards that they really believe they are victims and have done absolutely no wrong, or, did wrong with the right reason, such as defending one's self, family or property.

2. The sufferer actually doesn't remember doing the wrong, as they were in a manic state and doesn't remember committing the act.

3. In the case of a personality disorder such as narcissism, the incredible ego simply will not let them believe they deserve any consequence, as they are never wrong.

No matter the cause, the net result is usually the same. That result is the fact that no matter what the consequence, how severe or how minimal, and no matter what the odds against them, they will fight like a rabid dog to "defend their reputation" (or some such battle cry). This can, and will, involve their willingness to spend obscene money on legal counsel, spread rumor and lies socially while accusing you of it, and even more bizarre behavior.

If the things being done against you are not really costing you anything monetarily or socially, it can be somewhat amusing to watch, as it's more than likely that they will really confuse and freak out people they are trying to recruit for their side, and they end up doing themselves far more damage than good.

That being said, before talking such actions against somebody you suspect of having these types of problems, weigh your options and consider the real need for it. It may not be worth it, because, you may not really know exactly how crazy things will spin out of control until it's too late.