Chapter 13 (Personality) Flashcards
personality disorder
- Persistent pattern of emotions, cognitions,
behaviour resulting in enduring emotional
distress for affected person and others - Distress may (or may not) be subjective
- Causes difficulties with work and relationships
- The DSM-5 lists 10 specific personality
disorders
When does a personality disorder typically become recognizable
in adolescence or early adulthood
Personality disorder clusters
– Cluster A: odd or eccentric
– Cluster B: dramatic, emotional, erratic
– Cluster C: anxious, fearful
Comorbidity
Being diagnosed with more than one disorder,
multiple diseases
Cluster A
“odd”: People with these disorders display behaviors similar to, but not as extensive as, schizophrenia
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Cluster A
Suspicious, mistrustful of others without justification, argumentative and hostile.
Causes of Paranoid Personality Disorder
- Genetics
- Relatives with schizophrenia
- Mistreatment or traumatic childhood experiences
- Cognitive cultural factors
Treatment for Paranoid Personality Disorder
- Cognitive therapy to change mistaken assumptions
about others - Most don’t see themselves as needing help (makes treatments slow and ineffective)
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Cluster A
* Detachment from social relationships, no desire to
enjoy closeness with others, cold, aloof
* Homelessness
* Extreme social deficiencies
* Social isolation, poor rapport, and constricted affect
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Cluster A
- Magical thinking
- Symptoms resemble those of schizophrenia
- linked to family conflicts and to
psychological disorders in parents
– linked to some of the same biological factors found in schizophrenia, such as high dopamine activity
Cluster B
dramatic, emotional, erratic
- The behaviors of people with these disorders are so dramatic, emotional, or erratic that it is almost impossible for them to have relationships that are truly giving and satisfying
Antisocial Personality Disorder
- Aggressive, lying, cheating, no remorse, substance
abuse, unnatural death in boys with this disorder - Moral insanity, egopathy, sociopathy, and
psychopathy - 50% to 80% of male offenders diagnosed with this
disorder
name for Antisocial Personality Disorder in children
Conduct disorder in children
Children with Conduct disorder are at higher risk for Antisocial Personality Disorder when they also have
ADHD
% of convicted felons
meet criteria for psychopathy
15-25%
Causes of Borderline Personality Disorder
- Genetics, related to mood disorders
- Memory bias (for negative cognitions typical of this
disorder) - Childhood sexual abuse; similarities with PTSD
- Early trauma and biological predisposition
- Experienced rapid cultural changes
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder
- Fear of abandonment linked to early parental relationship
- Borderline personality disorder are particularly
likely to emerge in cultures that change rapidly
Linehan’s Diathesis-Stress Theory
– Individuals with BPD have difficulty
controlling their emotions
* Possible biological diathesis
– Family invalidates or discounts
emotional experiences and expression
– Interaction between extreme emotional
reactivity and invalidating family
Dialectical behavior therapy
– Developed by Marsha Linehan
– Psychological therapy of choice
– Incorporates skill development and cognitive restructuring from CBT
– Underscores importance of a warm and collaborative bond between patient and therapist
How Do Theorists Explain Histrionic
Personality Disorder?
To defend against deep-seated fears of loss, the individuals learned to behave dramatically, inventing crises that would require people to act protectively
Working with Histrionic
-Working with them can be difficult because of
their demands, tantrums, seductiveness, and
attempts to please the therapist
Cluster C Disorders
anxious, fearful
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Cluster C
Interpersonally anxious, fear rejection, pessimistic
about their future
Causes of Avoidant Personality Disorder
- Born with difficult temperament, parental rejection,
uncritical love
– Low self-esteem, social alienation persisting into
adulthood - Overreactive behavioural inhibition system
Dependent Personality Disorder
Cluster C
* People with dependent personality disorder have a
pervasive, excessive need to be taken care of
– As a result, they are clinging and obedient, fearing
separation from their loved ones
– They rely on others so much that they cannot make the
smallest decision for themselves
* The central feature of the disorder is a difficulty with
separation
Obsessive-Compulsive
Personality Disorder
Cluster C
- so preoccupied
with order, perfection, and
control that they lose all
flexibility, openness, and
efficiency
- They set unreasonably high
standards for themselves and
others
- These individuals tend to be
rigid and stubborn
- They may have trouble
expressing affection
Personality Disorders
Under Study
Not included in DSM-5:
* Sadistic personality disorder
* Passive-aggressive personality disorder
Sadistic personality disorder
receiving pleasure by inflicting pain on others
Passive-aggressive personality disorder
people are defiant and refuse to cooperate with requests
Age
Personality disorders are rarely diagnosed before age 18
