The Bachelor, Week 2

Well, the journey has officially begun. I know it's the second week of The Bachelor, but I always feel as though the show doesn't truly begin until the women have all settled into the house, dates are happening, feelings growing, claws get sharpened, and then used. The second week is also when we begin to see the true personalities of these women. I'm sure there is plenty that happens behind the scenes that we see where the women's personalities are visible as well. However, I only have the edited version to use, so my analyses will have to stick solely to what the abc producers decide to feature on that evenings show. So, while I was super excited to find something fun to write about Madison, I do believe that abc has handed me a personality disorder on a silver platter...thank you abc! And thank you Michelle. Both for having a birthday and for letting us know so....many...times...that it was your birthday. And, for other things I suppose that made this first Bachelor blog easy.

Disclaimer: I in no way intend to say that any of these women actually have a clinical or mental disorder of any sort. Neither do I claim to be clinically correct in my analyses. This is just a combination of a guilty pleasure with my career direction. I am aware that this is TV and a person's true persona can be altered thanks to editing and such. I am sure that these women are perfectly nice and emotionally healthy people in real life.

Back to Michelle. Let's see what she has to say for herself.

.

Well, a lot apparently. Michelle thinks very highly of herself. I believe we discovered that last week when she declared herself a woman and all the other contestants "girls". Michelle is also very egotistical. "It's my birthday....I'm 30 today...I deserve time with Brad....Did I mention it's my birthday?..." and so on. Her statements were not about an excitement to celebrate her birthday, but more about how she was entitled to get what she wanted because it was her birthday. It will be interesting to see what else Michelle feels entitled to throughout the show for other reasons. Michelle was clearly not ok with sharing the day with 15 other people. Michelle needs to feel special but, set herself up to not feel special since she would have to share the day with 14 other women and wouldn't be the center of attention. Everything seemed to be all about her. Whether it needed to be about her because it was her birthday or not, I'm not sure. But I think I'm making a pretty good analysis when I say that for Michelle, it will always be about her on this show. While Michelle may not have been a drama queen like Melissa and Raichel were with their cat-fights, she certainly was passive aggressive about getting Brad to notice her by leaving the group and pulling his attention to her. Michelle had several flirty approaches with Brad, but again, they seemed more about her. "Brad, let me peel your layers. I know you." "Brad, I need to ask you questions now. Granted they're just about coffee and what's in your bachelor fridge, but see how much you are like me." Michelle also has very good self-esteem...especially when it comes to her kissing abilities. "When Brad and I kiss, it will be like fireworks. (pause for dramatic interpretation of fireworks) After me, kissing the other girls will be one...big...disappointment." Whatever Michelle, you are so a drama seeker.

Naturally, I was immediately drawn to Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Who saw that coming, right? (sarcasm intended, of course) Here are diagnostic criteria straight from the DSM IV with Michelle's characteristics:

1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance (her birthday is clearly of utmost importance)
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love (I think we all know that she thinks Brad is her ideal love)
3. believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (ahem...Brad. But the other women are clearly beneath her.)
4. requires excessive admiration (duh)
5. has a sense of entitlement, i.e. unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations (again, the birthday thing)
6. is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends (we may not have seen much of this yet, but I would place my money on the fact that any "friends" Michelle makes are only to achieve her own goals).
7. lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others (bragged and flaunted her alone time with Brad without any censoring or understanding that the other women may also have had alone time with Brad)
8. is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her (pouted when others were getting more attention than her and copped out of commercial activity)
9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes. (see kissing comment above)

The other personality type I considered was Histrionic Personality Disorder. However, I was able to rule that out since that disorder usually has more of a dramatic flair to it and Histrionic personalities typically are ok with being seen as fragile or or dependent if it will get then the attention they crave. This is not Michelle. According to how she was portrayed on the show, Michelle shows classic signs of Narcissistic personality types.

For you other psychology nerds, here is a five-axis diagnosis:

Axis I V71.09 No diagnosis

Axis II 301.81 Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Axis III V71.09 No diagnosis

Axis IV Problems related to the social environment

Axis V GAF = 60 (until further issues with women evolve...which they inevitably will)

Thanks for reading my completely nerdy interpretation of last night's Bachelor! Of course, there is much else to say, but I will leave that to more experienced Bachelor bloggers.

In other news....day two of my job went well! I found out that I actually do not have to work on Wednesdays so tomorrow I will be off and will possibly have time to update job news then. Also, there is a huge snow storm hitting the east coast and schools have already preemptively

canceled for tomorrow. So myself with the entire state of Connecticut will be snowed in our houses and finding things to do. Until then...