Personality Disorders: Distinct Features part 2

Personality Disorders: Distinct Features 

Criterion: Extreme Traits: Personality Traits an Example of relatively stable patterns

Example: curiosity, kindness, talkativeness

Criterion: Extreme Traits

Personality traits:

 relatively stable patterns of emotion, motivation, cognition, and behavior, which every person possesses to some extent

Five Factor Model, DSM 5 Model

Neuroticism (+) Negative Affectivity, Extraversion (-) Detachment, Agreeableness ( -)Antagonism, Conscientiousness (-) Disinhibition and Openess (-) Psychoticsm

Belief or Thought Pattern: “ I am Helpless”

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Attachment

Personiality Disorder: Dependent

Belief or Thought Pattern: “ People are dangerous ”

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Wariness

Personiality Disorder: Paranoid

Belief or Thought Pattern: “ I may get hurt”

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Avoidance

Personiality Disorder: Avoidant

Belief or Thought Pattern: “ I am special ”

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Self Arrangeziment

Personiality Disorder: Narcisstic

Belief or Thought Pattern: “ I need to impress”

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Dramatics

Personiality Disorder: Histrionic

Belief or Thought Pattern: “ I must not err”

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Perfectionism

Personiality Disorder: Obsessive-Compulsive

Belief or Thought Pattern: “ Others are to be taken

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Attack

Personiality Disorder: Antisocial

Belief or Thought Pattern: “ I need plenty of space”

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Isolation

Personiality Disorder: Schizoid

Belief or Thought Pattern: Confused thinking and chaotic emotions

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Disorganized and unpredictable behavior

Personiality Disorder: Boredline

Belief or Thought Pattern: Peculiar Thoughts

Behavorial Strategy or Style: Odd actions

Personaility Disorders; Schizotypal

Paranoid personality disorder (PPD)

with at least four or more of the following:

• suspicion that others are exploiting or harming them

• a preoccupation with doubting the loyalty of friends

• a reluctance to share information with others for fear it will be used against them

• views harmless comments or events as threatening or demeaning

• holds grudges

• quick to defend or attack perceived threats to their reputation or character

• has recurrent suspicions about the infidelity of a partner

Schizoid personality disorder

SPD is indicated by at least four of the following:

• Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family.

• Almost always chooses solitary activities.

• Has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person.

• Takes pleasure in few, if any, activities.

• Lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives.

• Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others.

• Shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity.

Schizotypal personality disorder

• ideas of reference

• strange beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms abnormal perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions

• strange thinking and speech 

• suspiciousness or paranoid ideation

• inappropriate or constricted affect

• strange behavior or appearance

• lack of close friends

• excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)

at least five of the following nine criteria:

• Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g. exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).

• Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.

• Believes that he/she/they is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).

• Requires excessive admiration.

• Has a sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with their expectations).

• Is interpersonally exploitative (i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve their own ends).

• Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

• Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him/her/them.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD)

 by three (or more) of the following:

• Failure to conform to social norms concerning lawful behaviors, such as performing acts that are grounds for arrest.

• Deceitfulness, repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for pleasure or personal profit.

• Impulsivity or failure to plan.

• Irritability and aggressiveness, often with physical fights or assaults.

• Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others.

• Consistent irresponsibility, failure to sustain consistent work behavior, or honor monetary obligations.

• Lack of remorse, being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another person.

Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD)

 by five (or more) of the following:

• is uncomfortable in situations in which they are not the center of attention

• interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior

• displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions

• consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self

• has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacking in detail

• shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion

• is suggestible, i.e., easily influenced by others or circumstances

• considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are

Sighs of Schizotypal personality disorder

difficult making friends, serious social anxiety, social awkwardness, magical beliefs, paranoia, odd perceptions, vague odd speech, eccentric clothing, odd emotions and ideas of reference

Borderline personality disorder (BPD)

consists of 5 or more of the following:

• Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. Doesn’t include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior  (Hannah to edit: criterion 5)

• A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation

• Identity disturbance: Markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self

• Impulsivity in at least 2 areas that are potentially self-damaging, for example, spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating. Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in criterion 5.

• Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood, for example, intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days

• Chronic feelings of emptiness

• Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger, for example, frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights

• Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms

Avoidant Personality Disorder (AvPD):

consider themselves to be socially inept or personally unappealing and avoid social interaction for fear of being ridiculed, humiliated, rejected, or disliked. Four of seven symptoms should be present:

Dependent personality disorder (DPD):

At least five of the following factors:

• Has difficulty making everyday decisions without an excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others.

• Needs others to assume responsibility for most major areas of their life.

• Has difficulty expressing disagreement with others because of fear of loss of support or approval.

• Has difficulty initiating projects or doing things on their own (because of a lack of self-confidence in judgment or abilities rather than a lack of motivation or energy).

• Goes to excessive lengths to obtain nurturance and support from others, to the point of volunteering to do things that are unpleasant.

• Feels uncomfortable or helpless when alone because of exaggerated fears of being unable to care for themselves.

• Urgently seeks another relationship as a source of care and support when a close relationship ends.

• Is unrealistically preoccupied with fears of being left to take care of themselves.

Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)

Marked by an excessive obsession with:  

• rules, lists, schedules, and order; 

• a need for perfectionism that interferes with efficiency and the ability to complete tasks

• a devotion to productivity that hinders interpersonal relationships and leisure time

• rigidity and zealousness on matters of morality and ethics

• an inability to delegate responsibilities or work to others.

Avoidant Personality Disorder (AvPD):

Four of seven symptoms should be present:

• avoids occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact, because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection

• is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being liked

• shows restraint within intimate relationships because of the fear of being shamed or ridiculed

• is preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social situations

• is inhibited in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacy

• views self as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others

• is unusually reluctant to take personal risk or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing

What are some modalities of treatment used for personality disorders include:

• Individual psychotherapy

• Family therapy, including couples therapy

• Group therapy for personality dysfunction

• Psychological-education and self-help groups

• Psychiatric medications for treating symptoms of personality dysfunction or co-occurring conditions.

• Milieu therapy, a kind of group-based residential approach, has a history of use in treating personality disorders, including therapeutic communities

• The practice of mindfulness that includes developing the ability to be nonjudgmentally aware of unpleasant emotions appears to be a promising clinical tool for managing different types of personality disorders.

• Dialectical behavior therapy, a form of cognitive-behavior therapy that draws on principles from Zen Buddhism, dialectical philosophy, and behavioral science.