Introduction to Personality Disorders
Personality disorders are long-standing patterns of maladaptive behavior, which significantly
impairs the individual's ability to function in important areas, for example, the person's work, family and social life. They will cause the person to solve problems in an immature and inappropriate way, and will lead to clinically significant distress, either to the person or to others. Personality disorders are of long duration and are usually observable by teen years and may continue through adulthood. Personality disorders are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g. a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g. head trauma).
Causes
During times of increased stress or external pressures, the symptoms of the personality disorder will gain strength and will develop into a full-blown personality disorder. There are biological, psychological and social factors to most personality disorders. However, studies say that they are unlikely to develop unless they are also exposed to environments that promote these behaviors.
There are many causes of personality disorders, and each case is unique from the others. It may be a result of frequent rejection or punishment from others, lack of parental supervision, or genetic influence from parents
The Ten Personality Disorders
The DSM-IV is one of the most popularly used manuals for psychiatric diagnosis. Here is a brief outline of the diagnostic criteria used for diagnosing the 10 personality disorders classified in DSM-IV.
Cluster A
- Paranoid Personality Disorder
- Schizoid Personality Disorder
- Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Cluster B
- Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Histrionic Personality Disorder
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Cluster C
- Avoidant Personality Disorder
- Dependent Personality Disorder
- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
