” The “Thankless Man” (Character 17, μεμψιμοιρία) always sees the negative aspects and is incapable of enjoying life; he is presenting traits that might be qualified today as anhedonia, resentfulness,

and negativism. For instance, “when his sweetheart kisses him, he says ‘I wonder if you really do love me so in your heart’.” Theophrastus’ book exerted much Belinostat molecular weight influence in the 17th and 18th U0126 century in Western Europe, where it prompted much literature on Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical character description. There is a well-known French translation by La Bruyere (Paris, 1688). Because of Theophrastus, European languages have adopted the term character. As suggested by the etymology of the Greek χαρακτήρ (instrument for marking or graving, impress, stamp), character refers to a permanent or long-standing mode of functioning that is inscribed in the fabric of the person, like a coin that has been stamped. Long before DSM-III, the permanence of traits Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical has been part of the definition of a personality disorder, although

certain personality disorders may be acquired to some degree, and are amenable to change as a result of treatment. Besides “character,” other terms such as “temperament” and “personality” were well also defined by the 18th century. According to the Encyclopedic, the very influential French-language Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical encyclopedia edited between 1751 and 1772 by Denis Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Diderot and Jean d’Alembert,4 temperament (temperament) originates from the natural constitution of the individual. The definition goes on to mention the four temperaments described by the GrecoRoman physician Galen, on the basis of the four humors of the Hippocratic school: phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic, and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical choleric. This illustrates how humoral theories of personalities remained influential well into the 18th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “personality” has been used since the 18th century to designate the distinctive

individual qualities of a person. Personality traits are a continuum, ranging from the normal to the pathological. However, in current usage, personality tends to refer to the traits or qualities that are strongly developed or strikingly displayed, rather than to usual features. This raises the issue of defining abnormality, a task complicated Batimastat by the fact that the same terms are often used to designate both normal personality traits and psychiatric diagnoses. Personality and the birth of psychiatry Psychiatry, as a medical science, began to take shape toward the end of the 18th century. One very popular way of describing personality characteristics at that time was phrenology. Although this science is now discredited, it was a sincere attempt to describe personality on a neuroanatomical basis.