Personality Disorders

Question 1

Paranoid Personality Disorder

Answer 1

4 or more:

S - Spousal infidelity suspected
U - Unforgiving & bears grudges
S - Suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving them
P - Perceives attacks and reacts quickly
E - Enemy or friend? Doubts loyalty
C - Confiding in others feared (reluctant)
T - Threats perceived from benign acts

Question 2

Schizoid Personality Disorder

Answer 2

4 or more:

D - Detached/flattened affect
I - Indifferent to criticism & praise
S - Sexual experiences of little interest
T - Tasks (activities) - chooses solitary
A - Absence of close friends
N - Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships
T - Takes pleasure in few activities

Question 3

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Answer 3

5 or more:

M - Magical thinking/odd beliefs (suspiciousness, belief in telepathy, sixth sense)
E - Experiences unusual perceptions (bodily illusions)
P - Paranoid ideation
E - Eccentric behaviour/appearance (odd/peculiar)
C - Constricted/inappropriate affect
U - Unusual thinking/speech (vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate)
L - Lacks close friends
I - Ideas of reference
A - Anciety in social situations
R - Rule out Autism Spectrum Disorder and Psychotic Disorders

Question 4

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Answer 4

3 or more traits since 15 years but individual at least 18 years:

C - Conformity to the law lacking
O - Obligations ignored
R - Reckless disregard for self and others
R - Remorse lacking
U - Underhanded
P - Planning insufficient
T - Temper (poor control)

Question 5

Borderline Personality Disorder

Answer 5

5 or more:

A - Abandonment (fear of)
M - Mood instability/reactivity
S - Suicidal/self-mutilating behaviours
U - Unstable and intense relationships
I - Impulsivity (in at least 2 areas)
C - Control of anger poor
I - Identity disturbance
D - Dissociative/transient paranoid symptoms
E - Emptiness (chronic feelings of)

Question 6

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Answer 6

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy. 5 or more:

S - Special (believes unique)
P - Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited power, success, love
E - Entitlement
E - Envious (of others and believes others are envious of them)
E - Excessive admiration required
C - Conceited (grandiose sense of self-importance)
I - Interpersonal exploitation
A - Arrogant (haughty)
L - Lacks empathy

Question 7

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Answer 7

A pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention-seeking. 5 or more:

P - Provocative/sexually seductive behaviour
R - Relationships considered far more intimate than they are
A - Attention (uncomfortable if not the centre of it)
I - Influenced easily
S - Style of speech (impressionistic, flowery)
E - Emotions rapidly shifting and shallow
M - Made up (physical appearance used to draw attention to
E - Emotions exaggerated

Question 8

Avoidant Personality Disorder

Answer 8

A pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation. 4 or more:

C - Certainty of being liked before willing to get involved with others
R - Rejection or criticism preoccupied thoughts in social situations
I - Intimate relationships - shows restraint
N - New interpersonal relationships (inhibited in)
G - Gets around/out of occupational activities involving significant interpersonal contact
E - Embarrassment prevents new activities/taking risks
S - Self viewed as unappealing/inept/inferior

Question 9

Dependent Personality Disorder

Answer 9

A pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of that leads to submissive and clinging behaviours and fears of separation. 5 or more:

R - Reassurance required for decisions
E - Expressing disagreement difficult - due to the fear of loss of support or approval
L - Life responsibilities need to be assumed by others
I - Initiating projects difficult due to lack of confidence
A - Alone; feels helpless and discomfort when alone
N - Nurturance; goes to excessive lengths to obtain
C - Companionship sought urgently when one relationship ends
E - Exaggerated fears of being left to care for self

Question 10

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Answer 10

Preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism and mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness and efficiency. 4 or more:

L - Loses point of activity due to preoccupation with detail
A - Ability to complete tasks affected by perfectionism
W - Worthless objects (unable to discard)
S - Stubbornness and rigidity
F - Friendships and leisure activities excluded
I - Inflexible, scrupulous, overconscientious
R - Reluctance to delegate
M - Miserly spending attitude towards self and others