Aetiology of PD Flashcards
What is a personality disorder?
Inflexible pattern of inner experiences and outward behaviour
What are the features of personality disorders?
> Pattern seen in most interactions > Continues for years > Cause psychological pain > Social or occupational difficulties > May also bring pain to others
When are Personality Disorders usually diagnosed?
> Adolescence and early adulthood
> Sufferers are not usually aware
What is the frequency of personality disorders?
9-13%
What are the problems with diagnosing personality disorders?
> Overlap
Lack of agreement between clinicians and diagnosticians on categories, validity and reliability
Over-diagnosis is easy
What are the clusters of personality disorder?
> A - Eccentric and socially distant
B - Flamboyant and emotionally unstable
C - Anxious
What are cluster A personality disorders?
> Paranoid
Schizotypal
Schizoid
What are cluster B personality disorders?
> Anti-social
Borderline
Histrionic
Narcissistic
What are cluster C personality disorders?
> Avoidant
Dependant
Obsessive-Compulsive
What are the features of cluster A personality disorders?
> Behaviour similar to, but not as extensive as, schizophrenia
Suspiciousness, social withdrawal, altered perception and reasoning
Isolating
What are the features of cluster B personality disorders?
> Exaggerated or dramatic behaviour
> Attention-seeking, self-centred, demanding
What are the features of cluster C personality disorders?
> Characterised by anxiety and fear
> Low self-confidence, risk of depression, anxiety and eating disorders
What are the features of antisocial personality disorder?
> Persistently disregard and violate others’ rights
Comorbid with drug addiction
Pattern of misbehaviour typically begins before 15
What are the features of histrionic personality disorder?
> Emotional and attention seeking
Demand approval and praise (Nestadt et al, 1990)
Higher risk of suicide and suicide attempts (Nestadt et al, 1990)
What are the features of narcissistic personality disorder?
> Grandiose, seeking admiration
Lack of empathy
Report high level of self-esteem, yet score low on implicit measures of self-esteem (Jordan et al, 2003)
What are the features of avoidant personality disorder?
> Frequently comorbid with social phobia
Fear of close social relationships
1-2% occurrence rate (APA, 1994)
What are the features of dependant personality disorder?
> Associated with neuroticism
Three types (love, exploitable and submissive)
Love more likely to become depressed after loss of a relationship
Submissive more likely to become depressed after loss of a mentor or guide
What are the features of obsessive compulsive personality disorder?
> Preoccupation with order, perfection and control
Unreasonably high standards
Trouble making decisions for fear of making a mistake
What did Cohen et al (2006) and Rettew et al (2003) find?
> 25-70% variance in personality disorder symptoms can be explained by non-shared environment
Major environmental factor is abuse
What did Miller and Lasak (1999) find?
> Looked at 584 college students
11% sexual abuse only, 17% physical abuse only, 10% both physical and sexual abuse
Abuse increased likelihood of PD
Multiple types of sexual abuse increased severity of PD
What did Zanarini (1997) find?
> 91% of BPD suffered child abuse
> 92% of BPD suffered child neglect
What does the biosocial theory of BPD state?
> BPD = Emotional vulnerability + Invalidation
Emotional vulnerability is heightened sensitivity and reaction to emotional stimuli
Invalidation is the punishing, ignoring or trivialising of emotional expression
