Personality disorders Flashcards
DSM criteria for general personality disorder
A. Enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviates markedly from the individual’s culture. This pattern is manifested in ≥2 of the following areas:
- Cognition i.e. ways of perceiving/interpreting self, other people and event
- Affectivity i.e. the range, intensity, lability and appropriateness of emotional response
- Interpersonal functioning
- Impulse control
B. Enduring pattern is inflexible and
pervasive across a broad range of
persona/social situations
C. Enduring pattern causes clinically
significant distress or impairment (in social, occupational or other areas of functioning)
D. The pattern is stable and of long duration with onset traceable back to at least adolescence of early adulthood
E. Not better explained as a manifestation or consequence of another psychiatric disorder
F. Enduring pattern is not attributable to the psychological effects of a substance (drug of abuse, medication) or another medical condition (e.g. head trauma)
What are the 3 clusters and types under each
Cluster A (Mad)
- paranoid
-schizotypal
-schizoid
Cluster B (Bad)
- antisocial
- narcissistic
- histrionic
- borderline
Cluster C (Sad)
- dependent
-avoidant
- obsessive compulsive
Symptoms of paranoid personality disorder
- Highly suspicious of others - reluctant to confide, bears grudges
- Hypersensitivity and unforgiving attitude when insulted
- Questions loyalty of friends when this is unwarranted
- Reluctance to confide in others
- Preoccupation with conspiratorial beliefs and hidden meaning
- Unwarranted tendency to perceive attacks on their character
Symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder
- Ideas of reference
- Odds beliefs and magical thinking
- Unusual perceptual disturbances
- Paranoid ideation and suspiciousness
- Odd/eccentric behaviour
- Lack of close friends other than family
- Inappropriate affect
- Odd speech without being incoherent
Symptoms of schizoid personality disorder
- Solitary activity, detached, emotionally cold
- Indifference to praise and criticism
- Preference for solitary activities
- Lack of interest in sexual interactions
- Lack of desire for companionship
- Few interests
- Few friends/confidants other than family
Symptoms of antisocial personality disorder
- History of conduct disorder/oppositional defiant disorder
- More common in men
- Failure to conform to social norms with
respect to lawful behaviours as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest - Deception - repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit/pleasure
- Impulsiveness and failure to plan ahead
- Irritability and aggressiveness - repeated physical fights or assaults
- Reckless disregard for safety of self/others
- Consistent irresponsibility - repeated failure to sustain consistent work behaviour or honour financial obligations
- Lack of remorse - indifference to or
rationalising having hurt/mistreated/stolen from another
Symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder
Grandiose sense of self importance
- Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success/power/beauty
- Sense of entitlement
- Taking advantage of others to achieve own needs
- Lack of empathy
- Excessive need for admiration
- Chronic envy
- Arrogant/haughty attitude
Symptoms of histrionic personality disorder
-Pervasive excessive emotionality and
attention seeking
- Inappropriate sexual seductiveness
- Need to be centre of attention
- Rapidly shifting/shallow emotions
- Suggestibility
- Physical appearance used for attention seeking purposes
- Impressionistic speech which lacks detail
- Self-dramatisation
- Relationships considered more intimate than they actually are
Symptoms of borderline personality disorder
- Efforts to avoid real/imagine abandonment
- Unstable interpersonal relationships which alternate between idealisation and devaluation
- Unstable self image
- Impulsivity in potentially self-damaging areas (e.g. spending, sex, substance abuse)
- Recurrent suicidal behaviour as a means to release feelings/tension (not as a means to end life)
- Affective instability
- Chronic feelings of emptiness
- Difficulty controlling temper
- Quasi psychotic thoughts - dissociative
Symptoms of dependent personality disorder
Difficulty making everyday decisions without excessive reassurance from others
- Need for others to assume responsibility for major areas of their life
- Difficulty in expressing disagreement with others due to fear of losing support
- Lack of initiative
- Unrealistic fears of being left to care for themselves
- Urgent search for another relationship/source of care/support when a close relationship ends
- Extensive efforts to obtain support from others
- Unrealistic feelings that they cannot care for themselves
Symptoms of avoidant personality disorder
- Social discomfort + low self-esteem
- Avoidance of occupational activities
involving significant interpersonal contact due to fears of criticism/rejection - Unwillingness to be involved unless certain of being liked
- Preoccupied by ideas that they are being criticized/rejected in social situations
- Restraint in intimate relationships due to fear of being ridiculed
- Reluctance to take personal risks due to fears of embarrassment
- Views self as inept and inferior to others
- Social isolation despite craving for social contact
symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder
- Preoccupation with perfectionism (which impedes task completion)
- Occupied with details/rules/lists/order/
organisation/agenda to the point that the key part of the activity is gone - Extremely dedicated to work/efficiency to the point of eliminating spare time activities
- Is meticulous, scrupulous and rigid about etiquettes of mortality, ethics or values
- Not capable of disposing worn out/
insignificant things even when they have no sentimental meaning - Unwilling to pass on tasks or work with
others except if they surround to exactly their way of doing things - Stingy spending style towards self/others - shows stiffness and stubbornness
