ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER. Antisocials are hooked on stimu-
lation. They aren’t called antisocial because they don’t like parties, but
because they’re heedless of social rules. They love parties, also sex, drugs,
rock ’n’ roll, and anything else exciting, like maybe a good fight. Anything
is better than boredom. All they want out of life is a good time, a little
action, and immediate gratification of their every desire. If they don’t get
it, they get angry. Their anger is an attempt to engage you, either to get
you to give them what they want or simply for the joy of fighting. Bran-
don, with his drinking and shameless aggression-turned-outward, is a fairly
typical example of an antisocial.
Brittany is also an example. Like teenagers, antisocials get huffy
when you tell them what to do. That’s a good way to understand them—
as perpetual adolescents. Rebellion is the nearly inexhaustible power
source that drives them into one brick wall after another. There is an up
side, however. Without antisocial personalities, there would be no coun-
try and western music.
HISTRIONIC PERSONALITY DISORDER. Histrionics are addicted to atten-
tion and approval. Some want to look good, others are satisfied with just
making you look. Histrionic means dramatic, so scenes of all sorts are a
specialty. Their emotions run a mile wide and an inch deep. What you
see is mostly for show, and definitely not what you get.
Histrionics are experts at hiding their own motivation from them-
selves. They believe that they never do anything unacceptable, like making
mistakes, having bad thoughts about anyone, or ever getting angry.
They’re just nice people who only want to help. If you question that, you’re
likely to suffer their disguised wrath.
The important thing to understand about histrionics is that their
behavior is directed more toward fooling themselves than toward fooling
you. Zack, for instance, the toaster terminator, sees himself as an easygoing,
happy-go-lucky guy.
OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE PERSONALITY DISORDER. Obsessive-compul-
sives want the world to be perfect. They believe they can achieve that goal
through rigid rules, scrupulous attention to detail, and swift correction of
Explosions into Anger ❧ 211