Research

PERSONALITY DISORDERS

DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA

* Involve a long lasting maladaptive pattern of inner experience and behavior, dating back to adolescence or young adulthood, that is manifested in at least 2 of the following areas:

1. Cognition – ways of perceiving self, other people, and events

2. Affectivity – range, intensity and appropriateness of emotional expression

3. Interpersonal functioning

4. Impulse control

* The expression of psychological disturbance is quite different for each, yet the problems that people with personality disorders experience are present everyday and in most of their interactions with others.

* several distinct psychological features:

1. including disturbances in self-image;

2. inability to have successful interpersonal relationships;

3. inappropriateness of range of emotion, ways of perceiving themselves, others, and the world;

4. and difficulty possessing proper impulse control.

* These disturbances come together to create a pervasive pattern of behavior and inner experience that is quite different from the norms of the individual's culture and that often tend to be expressed in behaviors that appear more dramatic than what society considers usual.

* In evaluating whether an individual has a personality disorder, a clinician considers the following:

1. The person’s life history

2. Is the problem been long term or pervasive throughout life?

3. connection to a particular event or relationship

4. Are the characteristics deeply entrenched or longstanding.

THREE CLUSTERS

* CLUSTER A -

Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal PD

* CLUSTER B -

Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic PD

* CLUSTER C –

Avoidant, Dependent, Obssessive-Compulsive PD

TYPES OF PERSONALITY DISORDERS:

1. Antisocial Personality Disorder

In 1801, Philippe Pinel first recognized this disorder as a form of madness in which the individual exhibited...