personality disorder

(noun)

A state in which an individual displays patterns of cognition, behavior, and emotion that differ from cultural norms, cause distress and impairment, apply across many contexts, and have been exhibited over a long duration of time.

Related Terms

Examples of personality disorder in the following topics:

  • Cluster A: Paranoid, Schizoid, and Schizotypal Personality Disorders

    • Cluster A personality disorders have a likely genetic component and are characterized by personality styles that are odd or eccentric.
    • The DSM-5 recognizes 10 personality disorders, organized into 3 different clusters (A, B, and C).
    • Cluster A disorders include paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder.
    • Socialization groups may also help some people with schizoid personality disorder.
    • Schizotypal personality disorder (STPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a need for social isolation, anxiety in social situations, odd behavior and thinking, and unconventional beliefs.

  • Introduction to Personality Disorders

    • According to the DSM-5, "personality disorder" refers to when an individual displays a personality style (i.e., patterns of cognition, behavior, and emotion) that:
    • The patterns found in personality disorders develop early and are inflexible.
    • Personality disorders are often researched within these clusters, since the disorders in a cluster exhibit many common disturbances.
    • Dependent personality disorder: A pervasive psychological need to be cared for by other people.
    • Differentiate among mood disorders and the three clusters of personality disorders identified in the DSM-5

  • Cluster C: Avoidant, Dependent, and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders

    • Cluster C personality disorders are characterized by personality styles that are nervous and fearful.
    • The DSM-5 recognizes 10 personality disorders, organized into 3 different clusters.
    • Cluster C disorders include avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (which is not the same thing as obsessive-compulsive disorder).
    • Avoidant personality disorder is usually first noticed in early adulthood.
    • There is controversy as to whether avoidant personality disorder is a distinct disorder from generalized social phobia, and it is contended by some that they are merely different conceptualizations of the same disorder, where avoidant personality disorder may represent the more severe form.

  • Cluster B: Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, and Narcissistic Personality Disorders

    • Cluster B personality disorders are characterized by personality styles that are impulsive, dramatic, highly emotional, and erratic.
    • Cluster B disorders include antisocial personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder.
    • ASPD is considered to be a difficult personality disorder to treat.
    • Another theory suggests that histrionic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder could have a possible relationship to one another.
    • Research has found two-thirds of patients diagnosed with histrionic personality disorder also meet criteria similar to that of the antisocial personality disorder.

  • Factitious Disorders

    • A person with factitious disorder deliberately produces, feigns, or exaggerates physical or mental symptoms in themselves or in another.
    • A factitious disorder is a condition in which a person acts as if they have an illness by deliberately producing, feigning, or exaggerating symptoms.
    • Factitious disorder imposed on another is a condition in which a person deliberately produces, feigns, or exaggerates symptoms in a person in their care.
    • If factitious disorder is determined, therapeutic and medical treatment may center on changing the person's behavior and, in the case of factitious disorder imposed on another, ensuring the safety of any dependents who are being unnecessarily subjected to medical treatment.
    • If an underlying mood or personality disorder is detected, that disorder should be treated with the appropriate psychotherapy and/or medication.

  • The Schizophrenia Spectrum

    • The spectrum of psychotic disorders includes schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, and catatonia.
    • A person with this disorder has features of both schizophrenia and a mood disorder (either bipolar disorder or depression) but does not strictly meet the diagnostic criteria for either.
    • The DSM-5 distinguishes schizoaffective disorder from psychotic depression or psychotic bipolar disorder by additionally requiring that a psychotic condition must last for at least two continuous weeks without mood symptoms (although a person may be mildly depressed during this time).
    • Delusional disorder is a psychiatric condition in which the person presents with delusions but no accompanying hallucinations, thought disorder, mood disorder, or significant flattening of affect.
    • Persecutory type: Delusion that the person (or someone the person is close to) is being treated badly or malevolently.

  • Somatic Symptom Disorders

    • A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder, is a category of mental disorder included in a number of diagnostic schemes of mental illness, including the recent DSM-5 section Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders.
    • To meet the criteria for this diagnosis, a person must be experiencing physical symptoms that suggest physical illness or injury but that are not explained by medical test results or a diagnosed medical condition.
    • The person's physical symptoms are not fully explained by a general medical condition, substance use, or a different mental disorder (e.g., panic disorder).
    • The person must be excessively worried about their symptoms out of proportion to the severity of the physical complaints.
    • Consequently, any person suffering from a poorly understood physical illness could be seen as fulfilling the criteria for this psychiatric diagnosis.

  • Explaining Mood Disorders

    • Mood disorders (also called affective disorders) characterize a group of psychological disorders where disturbance in the person's mood is thought to be the main underlying feature.
    • When most people think of mood disorders, they typically think of depression (also called major depressive disorder and clinical depression) and bipolar disorder.
    • However, there are two milder versions of these mood disorders, respectively termed dysthymic disorder (or dysthymia) and cyclothymic disorder (or cyclothymia).
    • Major depression significantly affects a person's family and personal relationships, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health.
    • To meet the diagnostic criteria for cyclothymia, a person must experience this alternating pattern of emotional highs and lows for a period of at least two years, with no more than two consecutive symptom free months.

  • Bipolar Disorders

    • For all of these diagnoses to be made, the symptoms must indicate a major change from the person's typical mood.
    • A person experiencing mania may exhibit pressured speech, racing thoughts, low attention span, high distractibility, or poor judgment; they may engage in risky behavior or become aggressive.
    • In order for bipolar II to be diagnosed, the person must not have experienced a full manic episode; however, one or more hypomanic episodes and one or more major depressive episodes are required to merit diagnosis.
    • A diagnosis requires that a person experience hypomanic episodes with periods of a milder form of depression, known as dysthymia, for at least 2 years.
    • There is a low-grade cycling of mood which typically appears to the observer as a personality trait and interferes with functioning.

  • Introduction to Anxiety Disorders

    • Anxiety disorders, however, are dysfunctional responses to anxiety-inducing situations.
    • The difference between normal anxiety and an anxiety disorder is that anxiety disorders cause such severe distress as to interfere with someone's ability to lead a normal life.
    • "Anxiety disorder" refers to any of a number of specific disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, phobia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social anxiety disorder.
    • Treatment options for anxiety disorders include lifestyle changes, therapy, and medication.
    • The most common intervention is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to help the person identify and challenge their negative thoughts (cognitions) and change their reactions to anxiety-provoking situations (behaviors).