The problem of dealing with difficult and abrasive personalities is pervasive and growing. In order for there to be hope, we must educate and inform and become more proactive in resolving this heartbreaking issue.
Personality pathology in its many forms and disorders is not rare. According to Sandra Brown, author of Women Who Love Psychopaths: “One out of five people has a personality disorder and one in a hundred has a form of Psychopathy.”[1] And “60 million people are negatively impacted by the 1 in 5 persons who have severe pathological personality disorders.”[2] 88,000 of them are in New York City alone and more than 9,000 in Ottawa. It’s a different form of pandemic, the number one Public Health Problem in the United States, according to Brown.
The pandemic situation of women being abused in the world continues to grow. In France, nearly 1,400 women have been killed in the last ten years by their partner or ex-partner. Most often this occurs at the time of a separation. The facts are very disturbing: women represent more than 80% of the victims of conjugal homicides.
On any given night in Canada, over 6,000 women and children sleep in shelters because it isn’t safe at home. Seventeen women in Quebec in 2021, have been killed, primarily by their partner or ex-partner. Clearly, the statistics are terrifying. During the Covid pandemic, on average, another woman is killed by a man every few days. And 2020 saw a 65 per cent increase in calls to National Domestic Abuse Helplines.
In England and Wales, two women are killed every week by a current or former partner. Despite ongoing efforts, this terrible statistic has not altered in several decades. Thousands of lives have been lost. Since early February of 2022, the military in Canada have reported a series of revelations and allegations of sexual misconduct against women, involving some of its highest-ranking leaders, including current Chief of the Defence staff Admiral Art McDonald. In addition, it has been reported that over a half dozen senior-ranking commanders have either been the subjects of complaints or have been sidelined over how they handled misconduct cases.[1]
A global study by the United Nations reveals that some 47,000 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members in 2020. This means that, on average, a woman or girl is killed by someone in her own family every 11 minutes.
Education and empowerment are necessary to alter these facts. Each day that my information on how to deal with difficult personalities is not out in the world, a woman dies. That’s why I feel a passionate urge to bring it forward in the most successful and effective ways possible.
Jocelyne Durand is a keynote speaker and consultant who provides exceptional one-on-one specialized coaching for individuals and also provides executive consulting. She often is called upon to provide private sessions for individuals. In addition, she does corporate executive consulting and coaching to achieve greater harmony and balance with high level business talent. She offers an extensive executive program that often leads to higher levels of cooperation and success in the workplace. In addition, she offers specialized analysis and individualized personal or executive consulting, and serves as an executive coach for abrasive leaders.
[1] Brown, Sandra (2009-2018). Women Who Love Psychopaths, p. 65
[2] Brown, Sandra (2009-2018). Women Who Love Psychopaths, p. 11
[3] CBC News, Government, military set to formally apologize to sexual misconduct victims, Murray Brewster (11-16-21)
