Personality Disorders

Question 1

Cluster A

Answer 1

Odd or eccentric

• paranoid PD - irrational, suspicious, interpret motivations, fear that others will harm them in some way
• schizoid PD - lack of interest and detachment from social relationships, lack of interest and attachment, restricted emotional expression
• schizotypical PD - extreme discomfort, interacting socially, distorted cog. and perceptions - odd or eccentric beliefs

Question 2

Cluster B

Answer 2

Dramatic, emotion and erratic

• antisocial PD - pervasive disregard for violation of rights of others, maybe psychopathyand sociopathy, lack of empathy, lack of externalised rules, deceitful
• borderline PD - impulsive instability in interpersonal relationships, self image and mood, borderline of neurosis and psychosis, low self worth
• historic PD - pattern os excessive emotionally and attention seeking in order to gain self worth
• narcissistic PD - pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, lack empathy, superior and entitles, better than others

Question 3

Cluster C

Answer 3

• avoidant - social inhibition, inadequacy felt, hypersensitive to negative evaluation
• dependent - excessive need to be taken care of, leads to submissive behaviours and fears of separation, strain on relationships, excessive need to please others
• obsessive comulsive - pattern of preoccupation, perfectionism, mental and interpersonal control, expense of flexibility, openness and efficiency, sense of control, feel as though do not want to change

Question 4

Issues of diagnosis

Answer 4

• not consistent over time (50% of people diagnosed do not receive same diagnosis two years later)
• some PDs are very rare e.g histrionic
• comorbidity
• everyone has each of these to some extent - hard to tell what is normal and what is abnormal

Question 5

Prevalence rates

Answer 5

• 15-95%v mental health setting
• 35% of prison population (may be higher - most APD)
• normally a history of trauma
• high in eating disorders
• similar diagnosis in UK and USA … although, slightly higher in USA (different diagnostic criteria?)
• alternative model suggested, but not adopted yet
• should be continual rather than categorical

Question 6

Torgesson et al. (2000)

Answer 6

• biological genetic study
• 35% MZ ans 7% DZ
  AND
• short allele variant of 5HTTLPR polymorphism, regulates expression of serotonin transporter gene

Question 7

Lieb et al (2004)

Answer 7

• BPD limbic system
• involved in emotions and learning
• excessive activation of the limbic system and amygdala - threat response, reflection of other mental health problems
• amygdala - response to fear, threat perception, ordinates and initiates
• hippocampus - spatial learning, contextualising, memory
• cause and effect?
• maybe substance misuse causes this

Question 8

Norra et al (2003)

Answer 8

• neurotransmitters
• dopamine hypothesis - mood, regulating voluntary movement, motivation, reward, attention, learning, processing emotion information, impulse control
• neurone need to communicate together to function well
• serotonin - mood and impulsivity
• low levels of serotonin related to impulsivity, regulates dopamine levels

Question 9

Olabi and Hall (2010)

Answer 9

• medication treatments usually treat the comorbidity compared to the symptoms of PD