Week 7: Personality Disorders

Question 1

What are the general requirements for the diagnosis of a personality disorder?

Answer 1

• pervasive and inflexible
• stable and of long duration
• clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning
• manifested in at least two areas

Question 2

Why is it difficult to conduct research into personality disorders? (biopsychosocial

Answer 2

• not much is known about what causes development of personality disorders
• biological factors: infants’ temperament may predispose them to developing particular personality traits and disorders
• psychological factors: psychodynamic theories (excessive versus insufficient gratification of impulses in early life), learning based (habit patterns and maladaptive cognitive styles)
• sociocultural factors: social stressors, societal changes, and cultural values

Question 3

What are the clinical features of personality disorders?

Answer 3

• chronic interpersonal difficulties
• problems with identify or sense of self

Question 4

What is the difference between clusters A, B, and C?

Answer 4

A: paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal

B: histrionic, narcissistic, antisocial, borderline

C: avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive

Question 5

What are the treatments for personality disorders?

Answer 5

Difficult to treat because they are relatively enduring, pervasive, and inflexible patters of behaviour and inner experience.
Goals of treatment may be reducing subjective distress, changing specific dysfunctional behaviours, and changing whole patterns of behaviour