Zerby's Brain Pathology

I've been thinking about Zerby's behavioral health issues and reading up on personality disorders. People with personality disorders have a problem with cognitive distortion and highly maladaptive coping strategies because they can't adequately process or regulate their internal anxiety states.

The wikipedia discussion on cognitive distortion is helpful to understanding why Zerby seems irrational: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_distortion

Note the mental habit of "personalization" or "attribution"--thinking that you or others caused something to happen when that may not be the case.

If you google the DSM-IV classification of personality disorders, you'll see they're grouped into three clusters. The problem with diagnosing personality disorders is that few people present with a "pure" form. Very often, people have maladaptive traits that span the descriptive clusters. Berg was a classic narcissist, however, and that goes a lot way toward understanding what Zerby's psychological problems might be.

There's a form of narcissism (lack of empathy is the hallmark of this condition) called "inverted narcissism." There is an interesting (if somewhat jargon-laden) discussion of inverted narcisissm at:

http://samvak.tripod.com/faq66.html

I chose this website among several on the topic because it is hosted by Dr. Sam Vaknin, a leading expert on the topic. He wrote a book called Malignant Self Love: Narcisissm Revisted.

Note Criteria Nine for the Inverted Narcissist:

"Displays extreme shyness, lack of any real relational connections, is publicly self-effacing in the extreme, is internally highly moralistic and critical of others; is a perfectionist and engages in lengthy ritualistic behaviours, which can never be perfectly performed (obsessive-compulsive, though not necessarily to the full extent exhibited in Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder). Notions of being individualistic are anathema."

All the repetitiveness in Zerby's writing has struck me as highly obsessive-compulsive at times.

The extreme shyness or reclusiveness of an inverted narcissist is similar to the traits of a schizoid personality, which is NOT the same condition as schizophrenia. However, schizoid personality traits are very similar to symptomatic behavior observed in people with autism-spectrum disorders such as asperger's syndrome. Although the behaviors look similar, the two conditions (schizoid traits & autism-spectrum disorders) stem from very different brain conditions.

Understanding the difference between Aspergers and schizoid personality traits is like figuring out why someone limps. The person may limp due to a broken bone that healed badly, or they may limp because of arthritis in the joints. But the behavioral symptom is exactly the same: The person limps.

Inverted narcissists with schizoid traits sustain a fragile emotional equilibrium by avoiding intimate personal contact and thereby minimising conflict that is poorly tolerated.

This may account for descriptions of Zerby as "fragile" and her penchant for social isolation. Zerbs really can't take a lot of exposure to uncontrolled, real life conditions--it's that hothouse flower thing she's got going on.

People with schizoid traits are often described, even by their nearest and dearest, in terms of automata ("robots"). They are uninterested in social relationships or interactions and have a very limited emotional repertoire. It is not that they do not have emotions, but they express them poorly and intermittently. They appear cold and stunted, flat, and "zombie"-like.

Berg described Zerby as a robot. Rick described her as cold.

As long as Zerbs can maintain her seclusion and highly guarded position, she'll hold it together and keep cranking out her distorted version of social and spiritual reality. If she is ever apprehended and forced to deal with criminal charges or civil liabilities, she's likely to end up in a psychiatric hospital.