Definitions
- A personality disorder is a disorder in which people display an enduring, rigid pattern of inner experience and also an outward behavior that impairs their sense of self, emotional experiences, goals, capacity for empathy, and/or capacity for intimacy.
- Personality disorder is a condition in which an individual perceives, thinks, feels, behaves, and relates significantly different from other people of the same culture or society in an unhealthy manner.
- It is a disorder in which the symptoms are long lasting and accordingly become a part of personality and makes it distorted and lead to distress and impair the ability to function normally.
PS: These people generally do not have good or close social relationships.
Let us understand with an example:
A person experiencing personality disorder has traits which are extreme in relation to the other people of his/her culture. Riya thinks that she is very smart and demeans others as brainless , does not have empathy for others and always looks for praise and admiration and this kind of strong attitude which overpowers her all the time at high level due to which it is causing her psychological pain.
Also all her actions and behaviors are based on these only. Here these attitudes have become her personality traits or part of her personality and are consequently affecting her relationships and behaviors . Hence she is most likely to be diagnosed with a type of personality disorder.
- A person with a personality disorder may also suffer from another disorder, a relationship called comorbidity.
- The symptoms of personality disorders become recognizable in adolescence or early adulthood, although few start during childhood.
- Many people with the disorders are certainly not even aware of their personality problems and often fail to recognize about their problems and maladaptive way of functioning.
- These disorders are among the most difficult psychological disorders to treat
Types and Symptoms of Personality Disorder
The classification of personality disorder has been done on the basis of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
According to DSM-5 there are 10 types of personality disorders divided into 3 categories based on similarity of symptoms. The three categories are Cluster A(Odd) , Cluster B(Dramatic), and Cluster C(Anxiety).
Cluster A (ODD)
These personality disorders are marked by “odd” and “eccentric” behavior patterns.
It includes three personality disorders namely paranoid , schizoid and schizotypal.
Paranoid Personality Disorder
- Unjustified suspicion that others are harming them.
- Consistent doubt about the loyalty of friends.
- Find “hidden” meanings that are threatening in everything and everywhere.
- Hold grudges with people.
- Blame others for their own mistakes or if anything goes wrong.
- Constantly doubt the faithfulness of life partners without any justified reason.
- Remain cold and distant.
- Do not have close relationships due to suspicion and distrust.
Marking feature and symptom- “Suspicious and Distrustful personality”.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
- Avoid social relationships.
- Prefer to be alone and isolated.
- Little or no interest in intimate or sexual relationships.
- Take no effort to begin or maintain friendships.
- Tend to have weak social skills.
- Rarely show or express any feeling and are unaffected by any appraisal or criticism.
- Have no need for attention or acceptance.
- Remain indifferent to others.
Marking feature and symptom- “Prefer to be isolated and alone”.
Men are more prone to this disorder than women.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
- Odd pattern of thinking and perceiving, unusual behavior
- Flat or humorless emotions
- Face extreme discomfort in close relationships
- Have few close friends
- Believe to have special abilities or magical powers in them
- Dress in an oddly manner or wear odd assortment of clothes
- Bodily illusions – sense presence of external force
- Ideas of reference – unrelated events apply to them in an important way.
- Face difficulty in focusing attention
- Work below their capacity where interaction with others is less and lead an unproductive life.
Marking feature and symptom- “Face interpersonal problems and have extreme discomfort in close relationships”.
Cluster B (DRAMATIC)
These personality disorders are marked by “dramatic”, “emotional” and “erratic” behavior .
Due to these behavior problems they fail to form good and close relationships.
These disorders are more commonly diagnosed.It includes 4 personality disorders namely antisocial, borderline, histrionic and narcissistic.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Sometimes known as “psychopaths” or sociopaths”.
- Disregard and violate others rights. (APA,2013)
- Lie repeatedly
- Impulsive, take action without thinking about the consequences
- Cannot work consistently over one thing
- Careless about financial resources
- Self centered, aggressive, irritable , quickly take up fights
- Recklessness: little regard for safety of self or others
- Closely linked to adult criminal behavior and prone to substance abuse
- Think of gaining personal profit at the cost of others’ damage.
Marking feature and symptom : “involved in criminal behavior and have disregard for others”
According to DSM-5, a person in order to be diagnosed with this disorder should be atleast the age of 18. However the symptoms start reflecting at the age of 15.
Borderline Personality Disorder
- Unstable behavior: intra personal and interpersonal instability (For ex: putting someone at first priority at one moment and disrespecting or showing no care at another moment, tend to have intense relationships)
- Frequent shifts in mood i.e mood swings
- High impulsivity
- Often talk about conflict relationships
- Violate boundaries of relationship
- Involved in self-destructive activities like unsafe sex, substance abuse, rash driving etc.
- Suicidal threats and actions (10% actually commit suicide).
- Feels physical harm reliefs emotional suffering as it serves as distraction
- Become highly aggressive and furious when expectations are not met.
- Issue with identity or self-image (Who am I?)
Marking features and symptoms: “instability in behavior , wide mood swings, suicidal actions”.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
- Earlier know as “Hysterical Personality Disorder”
- Extremely emotional and emotionally expressive
- Constantly try to become center of attention
- Change their own self to the extent of changing opinions and beliefs to gain attraction and impress others
- Distorted self image i.e they lack the sense of who they really are
- Constant need for appreciation and approval.
- Self-centered, demanding, unable to delay gratification for long
- Will do any possible activity to gain attention even physical harm to self.
- Proactive and try to achieve goals through sexual seduction
- Exaggeration of relationships and self
- Concerned about looks and others perception about them
Marking features and symptoms: “Highly emotional and do anything to grab attention of others”.
More commonly diagnosed in women than men.
Narcissist Personality Disorder
- Have unrealistic sense of superiority
- Need constant admiration and attention
- Feel no empathy with others
- Convinced of own great success, beauty and power
- Perfectionist personality tendencies
- Excessively self centered
- Exaggerate their achievements
- Very choosy about friends and associates
- Accordingly, do not have healthy social relationships
- Feel their problems are unique and can be understood by special people only
- Often take advantage of other people in order to fulfill their wants
- Envious and thinks others to be envy of them
- Also seem to be arrogant
- Put self above all
Marking features and symptoms: “ Thinks themselves to be superior, need constant admiration and lack feelings or empathy for others”
Cluster C (ANXIETY)
Avoidant Personality Disorder
- Unwillingness to take risks or try new things due to a fear of failure or embarrassment.
- Hypersensitivity for criticism or rejection from others
- Extremely self-conscious or uncomfortable in social situations
- Fear of being judged
- Low self-esteem and feelings of inferiority or inadequacy
- Limited social or occupational functioning due to social anxiety
- Express carefully in intimate relationships due to fear of being shamed.
- Unwillingness to perform activities which may lead to embarrassment or failure.
Marking features and symptoms:
Dependent Personality Disorder
- Rely on others even for the smallest decisions of life.
- Difficulty starting or completing tasks without the help or support of others
- Needing others to take responsibility for major areas of one’s life
- Do not disagree with others due to the fear of losing their support or approval
- Difficulty initiating or maintaining relationships without excessive help or support from others
- Feelings of helplessness or discomfort when alone
- Urgently seeking another relationship when a close one has ended
- Feel helpless and inadequate
- Sensitive to disapproval
- Clinging and obedient
- Me below others attitude
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
- Set unreasonably high standards for themselves
- Never satisfied with their performance
- Refuse to take help of others
- Try to do things right like perfectionist
- Display rigid and stubborn behavior
- Think other people to be careless, and unrighteous for a job
- Afraid of mistakes and indecisive
- Face difficulty in expressing affection
- Trouble in discarding useless or torn objects
- Focus on organization and detail
