The Psychological effects of Adverse Societies on Communities
Surviving Brutality, Cruelty, and The Dark Triad
The Dark Triad: The Building Blocks of Adverse Societies
An adverse society does not provide the comforts of a functioning society. Adverse societies provide exactly the opposite. Adverse societies prevent cultural, economic, scientific, and humane growth and enlightenment. One can accurately view an Adverse society as a dysfunctional organism that impacts communities like individuals impact each other. In the world of personality disorders, the Dark Triad represents a group of traits from three devious personality types. These personality types typically link to characteristics of adverse societies and have the same effects on communities that they have on individuals who experience them.
Two Canadian psychologists coined the term in 2002 to group together Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy: traits linked by callousness, manipulation, and a lack of empathy.
Tyranny in Adverse societies is linked to narcissism because of the need to constantly conflate itself. The idea of supremacy is an ideology that seeks to support a grandiose illusion. It supports this illusion through entitlement, exploitation of others, bullying, and fantasy. Examples of entitlement in society can be seen when indignation is the answer to cries of injustice or inequality. An example of exploitation includes but is not limited to, stereotyping, wage discrimination, and housing discrimination.
An Example of the fantasy of a narcissist within an Adverse society, would be an adverse society leading a community in a false sense of safety for the narcissists own personal gain. Forms of Bullying include acts of cruelty and brutality, but also include intimidation, and belittlement.
The second element of the dark triad is Machiavellianism. The florentine Niccolo Machiavelli wrote about political expediency in the 16th century. These writings survived and are extremely popular today. Some societies, particularly adverse societies illustrate Machiavellian concepts because of their constant striving for attaining or maintaining political, economic, or even individual power. Elitism and tyranny within society focuses on the means of power in order to maintain power. The means to power in American society is money. Achievement and money is often valued above human relationships. Cooperation is valued less than individualism (unless one is serving the plan of the masters), and the means always justify the ends ( business executives who climb the social ladder to attain success are revered for their success without regard for the many lives that they may have shattered along the way).
The final element of the dark triad that one can relate to an Adverse society is psychopathy. Psychopathy represents a lack of empathy and disregard for the pain of others. Examples of psychopathy within society rests in the willful disregard of human rights and/or ignoring pain experienced or caused because it does not benefit or affect you.
Sadism in an Adverse society is found in the pure enjoyment of murdering, battering, raping and otherwise causing pain to others. Those who are supremacists often feel that others are not deserving of human existence and enjoy inflicting pain. Hate crimes are examples of sadism.
Cruelty and Brutality: The Psychology of Psychopathy within Adverse Societies
Cruelty and brutality have lifelong consequences on communities, individuals, and our society. Adverse societal rules destroy communities and the ultimate fabric of the entire society. Adverse societal structures typically operate with cruelty and brutality. In order to effectively heal and move from the consequences of a thing, it is important to understand a thing.
Cruelty can be intentional or unwittingly imposed. A general definition of intentional cruelty found on the online Oxford Dictionary is: ‘ Willfully causing pain or suffering to others, or feeling no concern about it.
Brutality is commonly defined as battery, savagery, or extreme act of cruelties. Brute force is a common synonym of brutality. One can regularly observe brutality and cruelty through physical acts; psychological brutality, not so much.
Psychological cruelty/brutality is savagery or willful abuse through aggression, threats, intimidation, control, harassment or stalking, insults, humiliation and defamation. Whichever experienced, cruelty and brutality leave indelible scars on individuals and communities--but they can heal---or even be removed.
Cruelty and Brutality affect individuals and communities by eroding self esteem, causing distrust of self and others, underachievement, psychological dependence on the abuser (munchausen syndrome), depression, and substance abuse. Cruelty and brutality certainly doesn't affect everyone in these ways and many people experience cruelty at some point in their lives. However, a constant and overwhelming experience of cruelty and brutality is something that shapes communities. This experience requires healing for a healthy individual and society.
Many of us understand how depression, substance abuse, underachievement, low self esteem, and drug abuse affects individuals. It is not often expressed how these effects of brutality directly reflect as a result of cruelty in communities.
An example of underachievement: a community is allotted less city funding than another within a city. Johnny attends school in this community. The school's teachers are a bit underpaid and overworked so they are a bit less patient with less time to provide any attention to students if they need extra help. His mom and dad help with assignments but both work and have little time to do so. Johnny watches rap videos and is aware that his mother and sister look nothing like the women portrayed and can not understand why they are portrayed that way. The girls at his school like them though. Johnny begins to have problems in school but he is more interested in the girls at school (like a normal 12 year old). He goes to his school counselor and asks how he can become a physicist. She tells him that his grades (which have been slipping) are not good enough, but she is too busy to adequately help him.
On his way home, one of the police cars that he always sees roaming around or searching the "bad boys '' rolls up next to him. He doesn't know why, but feels a bit intimidated. They ask him where he is headed, he says home. They jump out. It startles him, he's done nothing wrong. They ask to see his bookbag. He asks why, they tell him to get on the ground. He has no idea why. He asks why, and before he knows it, he is on the ground in cuffs, while his book bag is being searched. After being asked his name and his bag searched, they take the cuffs off, and let him go. He runs home. He talks to his dad. The conversation is hard. There is nothing that his father can do, what's more, they may do it again and again. Johnny begins to get involved in extracurricular activities in school and earns a scholarship to college. When Johnny is 16, he forgets to pay a ticket and goes to jail, which causes him to lose his scholarship to the college that his parents could never afford to send him otherwise. Johnny gets a job, and moves in with his girlfriend. They smoke weed occasionally and drink. His job is not fulfilling and his boss does not respect him. He feels left out sometimes because he is the only african American Male at the job. Everytime there is an issue concerning people of color, office diversity, etc everyone refers to him. Yet when he actually needs support or inclusion he is shunned or gaslighted. He began to drink heavily.
In the scenario above, Johnny develops depression, substance abuse, experiences underachievement, and low self esteem due to the effects of psychological cruelty and instances of brutality. Psychological cruelty was experienced through neglect of his neighborhood by the city which then led to neglect and underachievement in school. Psychological cruelty was experienced at work. The conditions created in the community were the effects of dysfunctional society: an adverse society.
Adverse societies create brutal communities. Within these communities, brutality and cruelty by authoritative constructs create depression and anger among and between individuals within that community. Distrust of a cruel or brutal person is normal. Communities feel distrust after uninhibited cruelties and begin to experience mistrust of those within the community and even themselves. The distrust amongst themselves can lead to inter community strife and crime. The "cras in a bucket" theory proves true as each individual tries desperately to escape varying levels of despair.
The evidence of how communal self esteem is affected by brutality is evident through shame of self, and the desire to identify with others rather than the authentic self. Examples of this may be skin bleaching, extreme plastic enhancements, and eyelid surgery.
Important note: there is nothing wrong with enhancements; methods of enhancement include the removal of excess skin after weight loss and/or full face make up transformations. Harmful transformations occur when one seeks enhancement due to the inability to accept self.
Healing and Moving Forward
So, how can one combat these effects of An Adverse Society and attain Psychological Well Being?
Take your Time.
Taking your time involves being patient with yourself. Many of us already know this, however, when a therapist says "take your time" what they are saying is multifaceted. In order to take your time in healing, one has to….
Create Boundaries.
Creating boundaries sometimes means creating space. Physical space. Should a society no longer serve its purpose, physical realignment may be necessary. Research through taking personal inventory of your needs based on job, climate, etc, networking through friends, social media, the internet, etc. can aid in creating physical boundaries. For some, creating physical boundaries may not be possible. Emotional and mental boundaries are the next step and are substantial for those who can not readily create physical boundaries.
Take Back Your Story
In order to create a strong psychological self through creating an emotional boundary from an abuser ( in this case an adverse society); one has to dismiss the dishonesty of the abuser through Knowledge.
One attains knowledge of self through Self Care and Being Inquisitive. Be curious about You. Find the true you and True Self. An abuser, a singular abuser or a total society retains power over the abused through making the victim believe inferior images of themselves.
Self Care includes : exercise, education, proper diet, REST, meditation, personal progress, personal pursuits, hobbies, etc. Self care also includes the psychological dismantling of lies created by the abuser. In order to do this, one must first seek the truth of who you truly are, and who you would like to be apart from the abusers false narratives.
Recap:
Take your Time
Self Care
Create Physical and Psychological Boundaries
Take Back your Narrative(Knowledge of Self)
Take your Time
Healing is Real. Healing Happens. Peace Is a Place. Take care of You.
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