Personality and Personality Disorders Flashcards

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering the definitions, categories, diagnostic clusters, and theoretical explanations of personality disorders based on the lecture notes.

Personality

A characteristic pattern of behaviors and inner experience resulting from an interaction between inborn temperament and psychosocial experience.

Personality Disorders (PDs)

Rigid, extreme, maladaptive patterns of behavior and inner experience that usually have an onset in adolescence or early adulthood and are supposedly stable across time.

Psychodynamic Perspective (PDs)

Views personality disorders as resulting from problematic childhood relationships and maladaptive defense mechanisms.

Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective (PDs)

Views personality disorders as the result of imposing rigid preexisting beliefs or schemas across situations and selectively attending to information that supports those schemas.

Cluster A

A category of personality disorders characterized as odd or eccentric, which includes Paranoid, Schizoid, and Schizotypal personality disorders.

Cluster B

A category of personality disorders characterized as dramatic, emotional, or erratic, which includes Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, and Narcissistic personality disorders.

Cluster C

A category of personality disorders characterized as anxious or fearful, which includes Avoidant, Dependent, and Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorders.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

A pattern of extreme distrust and suspiciousness where the individual suspects others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving them without sufficient basis (lifetime prevalence: $0.5-2.5\%$).

Schizoid Personality Disorder

A pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotional expression, where the individual neither desires nor enjoys close relationships (lifetime prevalence: $0.8\%$).

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

A pattern of eccentricities of behavior, cognitive or perceptual distortions such as ideas of reference, and acute discomfort in close relationships (lifetime prevalence: up to $3\%$).

Antisocial Personality Disorder

A pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others since age $15$, requiring evidence of conduct disorder before age $15$ and at least $18$ years of age (lifetime prevalence: $2\%$).

Psychopathy

A concept predating the DSM's Antisocial PD that focuses on internal thoughts and feelings, including emotional detachment, lack of remorse, and lack of empathy.

Hare’s checklist

A specific tool used to assess psychopathy based on emotional detachment and antisocial behavior.

Identification with the aggressor

A psychodynamic defense mechanism for Antisocial PD where individuals from abusive families manage helplessness by adopting the traits of the abuser.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A pattern of grandiosity, a sense of entitlement, a requirement for excessive admiration, and a lack of empathy (lifetime prevalence: less than $1\%$).

Histrionic Personality Disorder

A pattern of excessive, superficial emotionality and attention seeking, often characterized by theatricality and inappropriate seductive behavior (lifetime prevalence: $2-3\%$).

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

A pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotions, marked by impulsivity and frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment (lifetime prevalence: $2\%$).

Splitting

A psychodynamic concept in BPD involving a failure to integrate the positive and negative qualities of self and others into a cohesive whole.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

Marsha Linehan’s multi-perspective treatment for BPD that is warm and accepting, focusing on emotional regulation techniques, social strategies, and suppressing harmful impulses.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

A pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, where the individual avoids contact due to fears of criticism (lifetime prevalence: $0.5-1.0\%$).

Dependent Personality Disorder

A pattern of submissive and clinging behavior related to an excessive need to be cared for by others and difficulty making everyday decisions independently (lifetime prevalence: $2\%$).

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

A pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control at the expense of flexibility, often involving excessive devotion to work (lifetime prevalence: $1\%$).