Personality Disorders

A comprehensive vocabulary review set covering the classification, clinical characteristics, theoretical models, and treatments of Cluster A, Cluster B, and Cluster C personality disorders based on lecture material.

Personality

An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior.

Personality Disorder

An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior characterized by marked cultural deviation, pervasiveness, inflexibility, stability over time, clinical distress or impairment, and onset in adolescence or early adulthood.

Odd-Eccentric Cluster (Cluster A)

A diagnostic cluster of personality disorders characterized by odd or eccentric behavior and thinking, comprising Paranoid, Schizoid, and Schizotypal personality disorders.

Dramatic-Emotional Cluster (Cluster B)

A diagnostic cluster of personality disorders characterized by dramatic, emotional, or erratic presentation, comprising Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, and Narcissistic personality disorders.

Anxious-Fearful Cluster (Cluster C)

A diagnostic cluster of personality disorders characterized by anxious and fearful behaviors or thoughts, comprising Avoidant, Dependent, and Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorders.

Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD)

A Cluster A personality disorder defined by pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others without sufficient basis, preoccupation with doubts about associates' loyalty, reluctance to confide, persistent bearing of grudges, and interpreting benign remarks as threatening.

Cycle of Paranoia

A maintenance model wherein an initial appraisal of a social situation generates dysphoric self-consciousness, escalating into hypervigilance and rumination, triggering paranoid cognitive biases and behaviors, which in turn exacerbates self-consciousness.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

A Cluster A personality disorder characterized by a persistent pattern of detachment from social relationships, preference for solitary activities, restricted emotional expression, lack of close confidants, and apparent indifference to praise or criticism.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

A Cluster A personality disorder characterized by ideas of reference, odd beliefs or magical thinking, unusual perceptual experiences, eccentric behavior or appearance, and excessive social anxiety driven by paranoid fears rather than negative self-evaluation.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)

A Cluster B disorder characterized by repeated failure to conform to lawful norms, deceitfulness, impulsivity, irritability and aggressiveness, reckless disregard for the safety of self or others, chronic irresponsibility, and a marked lack of remorse.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

A Cluster B disorder characterized by pervasive instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, along with marked impulsivity, frantic efforts to avoid abandonment, chronic feelings of emptiness, and recurrent suicidal or self-mutilating behavior.

Diathesis-Stress Model of BPD

An etiological model proposing that a biological diathesis of emotional dysregulation interacts with an invalidating environment—where parents punish or ignore demands until emotional outbursts occur—to produce borderline personality pathology.

Dr. Marsha Linehan

The clinical psychologist who developed the diathesis-stress model for Borderline Personality Disorder and created Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

An evidence-based psychotherapeutic approach developed specifically to treat Borderline Personality Disorder and manage recurrent suicidal and self-injurious behavior.

Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD)

A Cluster B personality disorder characterized by pervasive attention-seeking behavior and excessive emotionality, discomfort when not the center of attention, inappropriate seductive conduct, shallow shifting emotions, impressionistic speech, and theatricality.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)

A Cluster B disorder defined by a grandiose sense of self-importance, preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success or brilliance, requirement for excessive admiration, a sense of entitlement, exploitative relationships, lack of empathy, and arrogance.

Self Psychology Model of NPD

A psychodynamic framework asserting that narcissism originates from fragile self-esteem and an unending search for external validation, frequently stemming from parental emotional coldness combined with overemphasis on the child's accomplishments.

Social Cognitive Model of NPD

Also called the dynamic self-regulatory processing model; posits that individuals with NPD maintain fragile self-esteem by using interpersonal interactions as self-esteem enhancers, overestimating positive self-ratings, and attributing success internally.

Narcissistic Awareness View

A cognitive perspective demonstrating that narcissists recognize that their self-perceptions are more favorable than the views others hold of them (meta-perception), defending their self-concept by devaluing critics and minimizing undesirable traits.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

A Cluster C personality disorder characterized by pervasive social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and extreme hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, causing avoidance of social or occupational contact due to fear of criticism, rejection, or embarrassment.

Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD)

A Cluster C disorder defined by an excessive and pervasive need to be taken care of, resulting in submissive and clinging behaviors, separation fears, difficulty making everyday decisions independently, and urgency to find replacement relationships.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)

A Cluster C personality disorder characterized by an intense preoccupation with orderliness, rules, lists, organization, and perfectionism that interferes with task completion, alongside excessive devotion to productivity and rigidity.

Personality Change Due to Another Medical Condition

A personality disturbance judged to be the direct pathophysiological result of a general medical condition, which can be diagnosed in both children and adults.

Other Specified Personality Disorder

A classification applied when symptoms of a personality disorder cause significant clinical distress or impairment but do not meet the full criteria for any specific disorder, allowing the clinician to state the precise reason.

Unspecified Personality Disorder

A classification used when a personality disturbance produces significant distress or impairment, but the clinician chooses not to specify the reason or there is insufficient information to reach a specific diagnosis.

Depressive Personality Disorder

A condition proposed for further study characterized by pervasive and enduring depressive cognitions, feelings, and behaviors.

Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder

A condition proposed for further study marked by negativistic attitudes, a chronic sense of being cheated, and covert, passive resistance to demands for adequate social and occupational performance.

Personality Disorder – Trait Specified

A proposed hybrid dimensional classification system that retains six core personality disorders (Schizotypal, Antisocial, Borderline, Narcissistic, Avoidant, and Obsessive-Compulsive) while evaluating pathology through specific trait profiles.

Latent Disease Model vs. Network Model

A theoretical comparison contrasting the traditional view that personality disorder symptoms stem from a common underlying disease entity (left) with the network view that traits and symptoms directly cause and sustain one another in a reciprocal causal system (right).