Ccharacter Traits Of Doctor Patch Adams

I would characterize Patch Adams’ personality as emotionally stable. According to Schulz and Schulz (2012), “…neurotics are characterized as anxious, depressed, tense, irrational, and moody. They may also have low self-esteem and be prone to guilt feelings” (The Dimensions of Personality, para. 12.). Patch Adams does not fit into the category of a neurotic, as he isn’t any of the aforementioned. I think that he is emotionally stable because he isn’t irrational, his ideas might seem so to others but they do make sense when thought about in depth. He doesn’t feel guilty for his ideas or the fact that they go against what others might think of the way a doctor should behave.

I would consider Patch Adams’ to be an extrovert because he has a very outgoing personality. According to Schulz and Schulz (2012), “Extraverts are oriented to toward the outside world, prefer the company of other people, and tend to be sociable, impulsive, adventurous, assertive, and dominant” (The Dimensions of Personality, par. 8.). I think one of the things that make him an extrovert based on the trailer of the movie is that he wants to treat his patients with love and laughter. He seems to get his energy from the outside world and the fact that his patients laugh at his jokes and antics. He can also be impulsive as seen by him deciding to follow his philosophy instead of following the more traditional way of approaching medicine. He is adventurous as him thinking outside of the box when seeing his patients such as putting on a clown nose and having a giant pool of pasta outside the hospital.

I would consider Patch Adams to be high on agreeableness. He seems to put the needs of others above his own. He comes across as warm, friendly, and sensitive. This is evidenced by the way in which he chooses to approach the idea of being a doctor. It isn’t the conventional way of approaching medicine, some doctors may seem cold and down to business whereas Patch chooses to treat his patients with laughter and warmth, qualities that some might not use to describe someone in the medical profession. He chose a career that allows him to help others in need and do so with a very friendly personality. Being high in agreeableness made it difficult for him to fit in as evidenced by the trailer but it also allows him to come off as someone who patients enjoy seeing especially in a place that most people would choose not to be in.

I would consider Patch Adams to be open to new experiences as evidenced by him choosing not to treat his patients the traditional way. There is this certain coldness in doctors, something that Patch does not represent. He choose to be a doctor to help others but not in an impersonal manner. Patch has the idea to treat his patients as friends, making them laugh and not being serious around him. I think he treats patients the way he would have liked to be treated. Even the way in which he dresses isn’t the standard of what you would expect of a doctor. The fact that he is open to new experiences allows him to diverge from what he is being taught to do as a doctor and to follow and eventually establish this philosophy that in his time many would have considered irrational.

I would consider Patch Adams to be conscientious because he does what he does with a purpose. He believes in treating his patients as human beings that have feelings and he wishes to make the time that they spend in a hospital less miserable than it has to be. He does not adhere to the rules that he should follow as a doctor but he does care about doing his job well and is very diligent in the way in which he works. He may come across as childish but in reality, he is responsible and hard-working. He takes his job so seriously that one could say that he doesn’t do it so much for the recognition of being in a white coat and being called doctor, but rather to truly help people with a smile on his face. He is goal-directed as evidenced by him pushing his philosophy even when it seems odd to others.