The Evolutionary Theory of Theodore Millon

Basic Polarities (Pleasure-Pain, Active-Passive, Self-Others)

One of the most influential perspectives for understanding the architecture of personality is based on an evolutionary approach, which places human behavior in the same survival framework that governs any other biological species.

According to this model, personality is not a mere psychological ornament, but an adaptive mechanism designed to solve four major imperatives of existence: to survive as an individual, to adapt to the ecological niche, to reproduce to perpetuate the species, and to develop the capacity for abstract planning.

To meet these challenges, the theorist proposes that personality is organized around fundamental motivational polarities or axes. The first polarity, linked to Existence, is the Pleasure-Pain axis.

Here the basic motivation is at stake: do we actively seek rewards and improvements in life (pleasure) or do we focus primarily on the avoidance of harm and threat (pain)?

The second polarity refers to Adaptation and defines the coping style: the Active-Passive axis.

A passive style tends to accommodate to the environment as it is, seeking to fit in, while an active style tries to modify the environment to fit one's needs. The third polarity, related to Replication, is the I-Other axis.

This conflict defines where the individual invests his or her life energy: is it focused on self-preservation and self-benefit (Self) or is it oriented towards the care and protection of offspring and the social group (Others)?

Finally, there is a fourth polarity related to the capacity for Abstraction, which oscillates between Thought (reason) and Feeling (emotion).

Personality disorders, from this point of view, are understood as evolutionary solutions which, although they try to be adaptive, become rigid and dysfunctional in the face of abnormal conditions.

Classification of personalities according to deficit or conflict

Using these polarities as a compass, disorders can be categorized according to the type of failure in the evolutionary matrix.

The first group is constituted by personalities with pleasure deficits. These individuals, like those with schizoid or avoidant profiles, exhibit a structural inability to experience joy or reward.

Imagine someone whose emotional "thermostat" is broken, unable to feel warmth or enthusiasm, living in perpetual anhedonia or a hypersensitivity to suffering that prevents them from enjoying themselves.

The second group comprises personalities with interpersonal imbalance. Here, the balance between Self and Others is dangerously tipped.

On the one hand, there are those who excessively turn to others, such as dependent or histrionic profiles, who need external validation like air to breathe, either through passive submission or active attention seeking.

At the opposite extreme, we find those who withdraw into themselves, such as narcissists or antisocials, who seek gratification exclusively in their own ego or through the exploitation of others, distrustful of reciprocity.

The third group describes personalities with intrapsychic conflict. These subjects live in an internal civil war; their motivations pull in opposite directions.

In obsessive-compulsive disorder, for example, there is a struggle between obedience to t