OCTY 2105 Personality Disorders

What is personality?

A sum of distinctive features that characterise a person as an individual. Personality is generally held to be relatively stable over time in the abscence of brain disease.

What is temperament?

A collection of behaviours evident shortly after birth.

What are the 5 personality traits from the 5-factor theory

Neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientious.

what is neuroticism?

The propensity to experience and express negative emotion.

What is extraversion?

The propensity to be outgoing and gregarious

What is openness to experience?

the propensity to be curious and intentive

what is agreeableness?

The propensity to be friendly and compassionate

What is Conscientiousness?

The propensity to be dutiful and self disciplined.

What are the (2) ways that Personality is assessed?

History and mental state examination

What is history referring to when talking about personality assessment?

The habitual mood, relationships, work record, criminal record, interests, religious and philosophical views.

What is the mental state examination referring to?

The clinician should use themselves as a barometer of the personality of the patient, taking careful note of the countertransference as a yardstick.

What is transference?

The patient’s emotional reaction to the therapist, originally, the feelings they had for someone the therapist brought up, and may direct those feelings onto the therapist.

What is counter transference?

The therapist’s emotional reaction to the patient, the patients influence on the therapist’s unconscious feelings.

What is splitting?

A very dualistic way of thinking, as if everything is black or white, right or wrong. Patient’s can describe members of their family as totally good, and then totally bad. w

What are the clusters of Personality disorders?

Cluster A (schizoid, Schizotypal and paranoid)

Cluster B (borderline, histrionic, antisocial, narvissistic)

Cluster C (Dependent, avoidant, OCD, passive aggressive)

What is the criteria for personality disorders?

An enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviates from the expectations of the person’s culture. This must manifest in 2 or more of the following: cognition (perceiving self and others) Affectivity (range intensity), interpersonal functioning and impulse control.

What is a paranoid personality disorder?

A pattern of distrust and suspiciousness that others motivations are perceived as malevolent.

What is a Schizoid personality disorder?

A pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotion.

What is a schizotypal personality disorder?

A pattern of acute discomfort in close relationships, cognitive/ perceptual distortions and eccentric behaviours,

What is antisocial personality disorder?

A pattern of disregard for/violation/ rights of others.

What is borderline personality disorder?

A pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, affects and marked impulsivity.

What is histrionic personality disorder?

A pattern of excessive and emotionality and attention seeking.

What is narcissistic personality disorder?

A pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and a lack of empathy.

What is avoidant personality disorder?

A pattern of social disinhibition, feelings of inadequacy and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation.

What is dependent personality disorder?

A pattern of submissive and clinging behaviour related to an excessive need to be taken care of.

What is an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder?

A pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism and control.

What are the indicators of borderline personality disorder?

Frantic efforts to avoid real/ imagined abandonment, a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships (alternating between idealisation and devaluation), Identity disturbance, impulsivity, recurrent suicidal behaviour (gestures, threats, self mutilating behaviour).

What sums up borderline personality disorder?

Affective instability, chronic feelings of emptiness, inappropriate and intense anger, transient stress related paranoid ideation/ severe. dissociative symptoms.

What does treatment look like for borderline personality disorder?

Drugs dont work, dialectal behaviour therapy (DBT) and mentalisation based therapy (MBT)

What are the key elements of DBT?

Individual therapy (establishing treatment goals and targets, with homework assignments)

Telephone consultation (providing support and coaching)

Group skills training ( mindfulness, emotional regulation, interpersonal effectiveness and distress tolerance)