Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Personality Disorders We Hope the Characters Get Treated For in Season 2

Greg Serrano: Avoidant Personality Disorder

People with Avoidant Personality Disorder tend to shy away from activities that might result in failure, which is pretty much everything.

Criteria:

• Avoids occupational activities involving significant interpersonal contact, due to fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection. 
• Is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of acceptance
• Shows restraint within intimate relationships due to fears of shame or ridicule
• Preoccupied with fears of receiving criticism or rejection in social situations
• Inhibited in new interpersonal situations due to feelings of inadequacy
• Considers self as inferior to others, socially inept, or personally unappealing
• Is unusually reluctant to take personal risks or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing

Evidence:

Like most of our Crazy Ex-Girlfriend faves, Greg was born and raised in West Covina, but blames his inability to leave on the woes of his ailing father (who resoundingly calls Greg out on his excuses). Unlike the rest of the cast, however, Greg has grown increasingly into his disorder over time, going from simply lamenting his circumstances to actively refusing to do anything about it:

https://youtu.be/Tu5l3r8IT1c

In the Season 1 finale, Greg intentionally sabotages his relationship with Rebecca, first by playing it cool (“shows restraint within intimate relationships”) and then by drinking himself into a wedding stupor, driven by the fear that Rebecca will never want him as much as she wants Josh (“considers self inferior to others”), so why bother?

Unfortunately, by the time he realizes that he genuinely does love Rebecca, she’s already moved on. Or backward. Either way.

Valencia Perez: Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Though we all know someone who’s a little full of themselves, people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are driven by the need for encouragement or praise, have no concept of empathy, and thus, are genuinely unaware that they aren’t the universe’s gift to humanity.

Criteria:

• Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment from others
• Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.
• Self-perception of being unique, superior and associated with high-status people and institutions
• Needing constant admiration from others
• Sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others
• Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain
• Unwilling to empathize with others’ feelings, wishes, or needs
• Intensely envious of others and the belief that others are equally envious of them
• Pompous and arrogant demeanor

Evidence:

Valencia here is a fun case, having been originally established as a sexy, if abrasive, foil to Rebecca, with a warranted distrust of Rebecca’s motives for moving to West Covina. Eventually, however, she evolved into a self-involved queen bee who stays with Josh because he’ll do whatever she tells him (“sense of entitlement to… obedience from others”).

She can’t even get through an empowerment song without making sure everyone knows she’s the most baddest chick in the room.

In the Season 1 finale, Josh calls off their 15-year relationship when he finds out that she manipulated his Aunt Myrna into giving Josh his grandmother’s ring so that he would propose to her (“exploitative of others”) and accuses her of never listening to him (“unwilling to empathize with others’ feelings”).

Of course, seeing as how Gabrielle Ruiz was just upgraded to series regular for Season 2, we’ve undoubtedly not seen the last of Valencia’s ego.

Heather Davis: Social Anhedonia

While not a “disorder” as recognized by the DSM-V, which categorizes disorders as “causing suffering and poor ability to function in life,” Social Anhedonia is the general disinterest in social contact and an indifference to other people. Unlike introverts, who enjoy moderate social contact but find it draining, people with social anhedonia get no satisfaction from talking to people at all.

Criteria:

• Decreased ability to experience interpersonal pleasure
• Social withdrawal/isolation
• Decreased need for social contact
• Lack of close friends and intimate relationships, and decreased quality of those relationships
• Poor social adjustment
• Decreased positive affect
• Flat affect
• Depressed mood

Evidence:

Heather’s entire deadpan demeanor is the perfect example of “flat affect,” and her only relationships seem to be with Rebecca—whom she finds more a fascinating psychological study specimen (“decreased quality of…relationships”)—and Greg, with whom she broke up effortlessly and continued working side-by-side.

Heather is an interesting subversion of this diagnosis, however, because while she may not react emotionally, she has turned out to be a surprisingly sympathetic character. As of the Season 1 finale, Heather is still living next door.

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