Personality Disorders
by David McEvoy
There is some disagreement about how to recognise personality disorders, but essentially, one is said to have a personality disorder when basic character traits cause severe relationship problems. The problems may be for the person or those around the person, but they occur on a regular basis, preventing him or her from leading a normal life.
The DSM-IV categorizes the different personality disorders into three main clusters.
- Cluster A - Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal personality disorders
- Cluster B - Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, and Narcisstic personality disorders
- Cluster C - Avoidant, Dependent and Obsessive Compulsive personality disorders
The following is a brief description of these ten different types of personality disorders:
Paranoid Personality Disorder
People with paranoid personality disorder tend to be extremely distrustful and suspicious of others, including those closest to them. They will often avoid or be unable to form close relationships. They are often highly critical and hostile and so will receive a hostile response from others as a result, which of course serves to validate their original distrust and suspicion.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
This is a particularly rare type of personality disorder. People with Schizoid personality disorder show little or no emotion, including humour, and appear quite happy to be alone. They tend to lack social skills and do not make any effort to attain popularity, acceptance or attention from others.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Characterised by abnormal or bizarre ways of thinking, people with Schizotypal personality disorder will often isolate themselves from others. In some cases they may believe they have extra sensory powers or believe they can influence the world and make things happen. Some researchers believe Schizotypal personality disorder is a mild version of schizophrenia, but without full-blown psychosis.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
People with Antisocial personality disorder lack a social conscience--they have no regard or compassion for others and are therefore prone to carrying out criminal acts. They will often display aggressive behaviour, show no concern for their "victims," and are careless of the consequences of their actions. Deceit and manipulation are characteristic of this type of personality disorder.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Histrionic personality disorder is characterised by attention-seeking behaviour. People with this disorder may dominate conversations, constantly seek praise, or dress outrageously in order to attract attention. They thrive on drama, may be sexually provocative, exaggerate their emotions and are extremely sensitive to criticism.
Narcisstic Personality Disorder
This type of personality disorder is characterised by an inflated sense of self importance. People who have it believe they are special or unique, and as a result they are often preoccupied by fantasises of success, power, beauty and ideal love. They will often take advantage of others to suit their own needs.
Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline personality disorder is characterised by unstable moods, low self esteem and poor self image. Sufferers tend to see things as black and white. They can be prone to sudden bouts of anger, which they may take out on themselves, including threatening suicide or making actual suicidal attempts. Relationships with others are often intense, volatile and riddled with conflict.
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Avoidant personality disorder is characterised by extreme sensitivity to rejection, criticism and confrontation. Sufferers will avoid social situations and interactions due to their feelings of inadequacy and fear of rejection. They feel alienated from society.
Dependent Personality Disorder
People with dependent personality disorders are submissive in nature and extremely dependent. They are clingy, needy, and sensitive to criticism and rejection, and will often go to great lengths to gain reassurance from others. They feel unable to look after themselves.
Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder
People with Obsessive Compulsive personality disorder are characteristically perfectionistic. They have difficulty adapting to new situations and can be overly concerned with rules and doing things the way they think they should be done, particularly with regard to time, money, cleanliness and relationships. Many people show traits of this type of personality but it is not diagnosed unless it is severe enough to keep them from leading a normal life.
What causes personality disorders?
Personality disorders start during childhood or young adulthood and may be due in part to problems during particular developmental stages. Like any disorder, a personality disorder does not develop in a vaccuum -- environmental, social, biological and genetic factors all play a part.
A significant number of people who develop personality disordesr have suffered some sort of abuse or neglect during childhood, but some of the disorders, such as Schizotypal personality disorder, may also be influenced by genes.