| PERSONALITY DISORDERS |
| You have been diagnosed with a personality disorder or you know someone who has been but what exactly is a personality disorder? and what are the different types of disorders? According to DSM-IV a personality disorder is "an enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviated markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress of impairment". Personality disorders are basically where the person's behaviour deviates from the norm and is often unacceptable to others. Somehow the person's thinking has become altered and in some cases this may be caused by a traumatic and troubled childhood. There are eleven different personality disorders identified by DSM-IV as follows: Paranoid Personality Disorder - "a pattern of distrust and suspiciousness such that others' motives are interpreted as malevolent" Schizoid Personality Disorder - "a pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotional expression" Schizotypal Personality Disorder - "a pattern of acute discomfort in close relationships, cognitive or perceptual distortions, and eccentricities of behaviour" Antisocial Personality Disorder - "a pattern of disregard for, and violattion of, the rights of others" Borderline Personality Disorder - "a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity" Histrionic Personality Disorder - "a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking" Narcisstic Personality Disorder - "a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy" Avoidant Personality Disorder - "a pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation" Dependent Personality Disorder - " a pattern of submissive and clinging behaviour related to an excessive need to be taken care of" Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder - "a pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control" Personality Disorder Not Otherwise Specified - this is diagnosed if either: "1) the individual's personality pattern meets the general criteria for a Personality Disorder and the traits for several different Personality Disorders are present, but the criteria for any specific Personality Disorder are not met; or 2) the individuals's personality pattern meets the general criteria for a Personality Disorder, but the individual is considered to have a Personality Disorder that is not included in the classification (e.g., passive-aggressive personality disorder" Many doctors, therapists and psychiatrists still refuse to believe that Personality Disorders do exist so it can be hard to get a diagnosis or get treatment. They are treatable though and as personality is believed to stabilise as we get older and although although a complete recovery is not always reached individuals are able to learn to deal with their symptoms. Please follow the links below for more information on the various personality disorders and also check out the classification of mental health disorders page for diagnostic criteria. This site is still in the construction stages so please bear with me as I try to put up information about the different personaltiy disorders. |
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