Is it possible to make sudden, dramatic life and personality changes?
PERSONALITY CHANGE CAN BE SUDDEN, DRAMATIC, AND ENDURING Many people (including many psychologists) either believe that radical personality changes can’t happen at all or believe that they take a tremendous amount of time and effort to achieve. They believe that years of therapy are required. Personality change, as measured by most personality tests, usually takes awhile. Yet, how do you explain someone deeply involved with drugs and the drug culture who suddenly stops taking drugs; stops stealing; seeks help; gets an honest job that pays far less than dealing drugs; leaves his old friends and lifestyle behind; and becomes more open, honest, and caring toward others? How can all of these changes occur almost overnight? I have known many people who have made such radical changes. There are many documented cases of people making profound changes in their identity, their values, their goals, and their behavior as the result of one experience. Often the people making these changes refer to
