Warning – I will be speaking about avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. 

 

Hello Everyone!

This is the last installment of the personality disorders in the Harry Potter Universe. If you are uncomfortable with the topics for this post, please don’t worry about leaving!

Personality disorders are divided into three clusters called A, B, and C (originality was not an important factor when naming these I guess). According to the Mayo Clinic “A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder in which you have a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning and behaving. A person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating to situations and people. This causes significant problems and limitations in relationships, social activities, work and school”. For my last post on the subject, I’ll be speaking about Cluster C. “Cluster C personality disorders are characterized by anxious, fearful thinking or behavior. They include avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder”, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Let’s get started!

 

Avoidant Personality Disorder

People with Antisocial Personality Disorder generally “experience shyness and unjustified fears of rejection. They often feel lonely but avoid forming relationships outside of their immediate family” (healthline). The symptoms according to the Mayo Clinic are…

“Antisocial Personality Disorder

• Too sensitive to criticism or rejection
• Feeling inadequate, inferior or unattractive
• Avoidance of work activities that require interpersonal contact
• Socially inhibited, timid and isolated, avoiding new activities or meeting strangers
• Extreme shyness in social situations and personal relationships
• Fear of disapproval, embarrassment or ridicule”

The connection here is a little weak, I’m not gonna lie. He lives his life in slight seclusion as keeper of the keys at Hogwarts. He does make many friends while working at Hogwarts (Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore to name a few), but he is still shy around other people. His history of getting kicked out of Hogwarts is a sensitive topic for him, that mixed with his half-giant background makes him very sensitive to other people’s opinions. I don’t think that this one holds much water but there is enough there for it to be plausible.

 

Dependent Personality Disorder

The next personality disorder in cluster C is Dependent Personality Disorder. According to healthline, “dependent personality disorder causes people to rely too much on others to meet their physical and emotional needs. This often stems from not trusting themselves to make the right decision”. The symptoms and signs according to the Mayo Clinic are…

“Dependent personality disorder

• Excessive dependence on others and feeling the need to be taken care of
• Submissive or clingy behavior toward others
• Fear of having to provide self-care or fend for yourself if left alone
• Lack of self-confidence, requiring excessive advice and reassurance from others to make even small decisions
• Difficulty starting or doing projects on your own due to lack of self-confidence
• Difficulty disagreeing with others, fearing disapproval
• Tolerance of poor or abusive treatment, even when other options are available
• Urgent need to start a new relationship when a close one has ended”

Peter Pettigrew needs to have someone in his life that he can follow. When he was in school, it was his fellow Marauders (James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin). He was coerced to join Voldemort after they graduated and became a spy on the inside of Voldemort’s opposition. After he betrayed his friends by giving them up to Voldemort, causing him to go into hiding, he spent the next 12 years as a rat. After his identity was exposed, he sought protection from Voldemort once again. “Pettigrew was an opportunist, who allied with the side that seemed strongest and appeared to be winning” (Wiki). He was always the follower and never the leader. He let Voldemort berate him and belittle him even though he theoretically could have run away and been alone. He always needed the protection of someone, never wanting to be alone.

 

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder is the last of the C clusters. People with Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder “are overly focused on maintaining order and control. They display some of the same behaviors as people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, however, they don’t experience unwanted or obtrusive thoughts, which are common symptoms of OCD.” (healthline). The symptoms of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder are… (Mayo Clinic)

“Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder

• Preoccupation with details, orderliness and rules
• Extreme perfectionism, resulting in dysfunction and distress when perfection is not achieved, such as feeling unable to finish a project because you don’t meet your own strict standards
• Desire to be in control of people, tasks and situations, and inability to delegate tasks
• Neglect of friends and enjoyable activities because of excessive commitment to work or a project
• Inability to discard broken or worthless objects
• Rigid and stubborn
• Inflexible about morality, ethics or values
• Tight, miserly control over budgeting and spending money”

One of Dolores Umbridge’s iconic quotes is “I WILL have order”! During her short stint as headmaster at Hogwarts, she passed at least 136 educational decrees, basically laws set by the ministry to adjust the standards at Hogwarts. Though, in the book, it was only 28(wiki).  The decrees included how close boys and girls could be (no closer than 6-8 inches), Umbridge had to review all of the extra-curricular activities, banned all items that were not of educational value, boys had to keep their hands out of their cloaks, as well as many more invasive and unreasonable rules that the students had to follow (wiki).  Everything had to be neat, orderly, and her way or else there would be hell to pay. She is one of the characters from this personality disorder series that I feel is more likely to have this than to not have it. All of the symptoms match up (besides the money one but it was never said that she wasn’t frugal) other than that, she fits the description to a T.

Once again, all of this is for fun and not intended to make light of any of these illnesses. I really enjoy doing these blog posts and I think it is so interesting how perfect some of these symptoms match up with the behavior of the characters.  Thank you for reading! With any luck, you learned something new today or looked at something through a new lens. I hope that was entertaining, insightful, and you weren’t bored!

 

Sources – 

Action Potential, et al. “The Harry Potter DSM: Cluster C Personality Disorders.” Action Potential, 2 July 2011, apotential.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/the-harry-potter-dsm-cluster-c-personality-disorders/.

“Dolores Umbridge.” Movie Villains Wiki, movie-villains.fandom.com/wiki/Dolores_Umbridge.

“Educational Decree.” Harry Potter Wiki, harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Educational_Decree.

“Happy Birthday, Robbie Coltrane! Thank You for Making Hagrid Bigger than Life on the Big Scre…: Harry Potter Witch, Harry Potter Characters, Harry Potter Universal.” Pinterest, 22 Feb. 2020, fi.pinterest.com/pin/337277459566210359/.

“Harry Potter Personality Disorders.” Prezi.com, prezi.com/med4xbhkwke8/harry-potter-personality-disorders/.

Levin, Michael, et al. “Personality Disorders: DSM of Harry Potter.” East Bay Psychopharmacology Group, 19 Apr. 2015, eastbaypharm.com/personality-disorders-dsm-of-harry-potter-by-ariff-moolla/.

“Personality Disorders.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 23 Sept. 2016, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/personality-disorders/symptoms-causes/syc-20354463.

“Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail a Evil, Betraying Subject to Lord Voldemort, Betraying Because h…: Harry Potter Characters, Harry Potter, Wizarding World of Harry Potter.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/54254370486919013/.

“Peter Pettigrew.” Harry Potter Wiki, harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Peter_Pettigrew.

“What Are Cluster C Personality Disorders?” Healthline, www.healthline.com/health/cluster-c-personality-disorders#traits.