personality disorders

Question 1

What is a personality disorder

Answer 1

An enduring disturbance characterised by problems in functioning of aspects of the self and/or interpersonal dysfunction in relationships

Question 2

How long does a disturbance have to last to be characterised as a personality disorder

Answer 2

> 2 years

Question 3

What are the characteristics for a personality disorder

Answer 3

An enduring disturbance characterized by problems in functioning of aspects of the self (e.g., identity, self-worth, accuracy of self-view, self-direction), and/or interpersonal dysfunction (e.g., ability to develop and maintain close and mutually satisfying relationships, ability to understand others’ perspectives and to manage conflict in relationships).

The disturbance has persisted over an extended period of time (e.g., lasting 2 years or more).

The disturbance is manifest in patterns of cognition, emotional experience, emotional expression, and behaviour that are maladaptive (e.g., inflexible or poorly regulated).

The disturbance is manifest across a range of personal and social situations (i.e., is not limited to specific relationships or social roles), though it may be consistently evoked by particular types of circumstances and not others.

The symptoms are not due to the
direct effects of a medication or substance, including withdrawal effects, and are not better accounted for by another mental disorder, a Disease of the Nervous System, or another medical condition.

The disturbance is associated with substantial distress or significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.

Personality Disorder should not be diagnosed if the patterns of behaviour characterizing the personality disturbance are developmentally appropriate (e.g., problems related to establishing an independent self-identity during adolescence) or can be explained primarily by social or cultural factors, including socio-political conflict.

Question 4

What is negative affectivity

Answer 4

Low self esteem and low confidence

Question 5

What is detachment

Answer 5

Tendency towards social and emotional detachment from others

Question 6

What is dissociality

Answer 6

Harmful behaviour to others with a lack of empathy

Question 7

What is disinhibition

Answer 7

Tendency to impulsiveness and recklessness

Question 8

What is anankastia

Answer 8

Tendency towards rigid insistence of order, cleanliness and abiding to the rules

Question 9

What are cluster A disorders and what are examples

Answer 9

Characterised by severe problems of basic interpersonal trust
- Paranoid personality disorder
- Schizoid personality disorder - detachment from others
- Schizotypal personality disorder - use of fantasy life and development of odd manner from significant disturbance in the past

Question 10

What is BPD - borderline personality disorder

Answer 10

loss of ability to manage emotions in situations when felt that they would be abandoned by important person as well as gross instability to ones identity

Question 11

What are Cluster B disorders and what are the examples

Answer 11

Characterised by problems of impulse control and emotion regulation

• Borderline personality disorder
• Histrionic personality disorder
• Narcissistic personality disorder
• Antisocial personality disorder

Question 12

What is Histrionic personality disorder

Answer 12

Dramatic and shallow show of emotions as well as use of interpersonal seductiveness to manage disturbance of identity

Question 13

What is narcissistic personality disorder

Answer 13

Someone being extremely self-important and selfish in their ways as covering a very low self-esteem

Question 14

What is anti-social personality disorder

Answer 14

Repeated and violent criminal behaviour with some amount of remorsefullness

Question 15

What are cluster C disorders and examples

Answer 15

Characterised by abnormal management of anxiety

• OCD - obsessive compulsory personality disorder
• Avoidant personality disorder
• Dependent personality disorder

Question 16

What is obsessive compulsive personality disorder

Answer 16

Over rigidity and reliance of management of ones environment to reduce anxiety

Question 17

What is avoidant personality disorder

Answer 17

Avoiding anxiety provoking situations which eventually leads to a build up of problems

Question 18

What is dependent personality disorder

Answer 18

Avoiding anxiety by delegating major responsibility for ones decisions to someone else

Question 19

What are the features of a borderline personality disorder

Answer 19

The Borderline pattern specifier may be applied to individuals whose pattern of personality disturbance is characterized by a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.

A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships, which may be characterized by vacillations between idealization and devaluation, typically associated with both strong desire for and fear of closeness and intimacy.

Identity disturbance, manifested in markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.

A tendency to act rashly in states of high negative affect, leading to potentially self-damaging behaviours (e.g., risky sexual behaviour, reckless driving, excessive alcohol or substance use, binge eating).

Recurrent episodes of self-harm (e.g., suicide attempts or gestures, self-mutilation).
Emotional instability due to marked reactivity of mood.

Fluctuations of mood may be triggered either internally (e.g., by one’s own thoughts) or by external events. As a consequence, the individual experiences intense
dysphoric mood states, which typically last for a few hours but may last for up to several days.

Chronic feelings of emptiness.
Inappropriate intense anger or difficulty controlling anger manifested in frequent displays of temper (e.g., yelling or screaming, throwing or breaking things, getting into physical fights).

Transient dissociative symptoms or psychotic-like features (e.g., brief hallucinations, paranoia) in situations of high affective arousal.

Other manifestations of Borderline pattern, not all of which may be present in a given individual at a given time, include the following:

A view of the self as inadequate, bad, guilty, disgusting, and contemptible.

An experience of the self as profoundly different and isolated from other people; a painful sense of alienation and pervasive loneliness.

Proneness to rejection hypersensitivity; problems in establishing and maintaining consistent and appropriate levels of trust in interpersonal relationships; frequent misinterpretation of social signals.