Week 9: Personality Disorders Flashcards
What is a personality disorder?
An enduring, infexiable pattern of behaviour that causes significant distress and impaired functioning.
It can affect cognition, mood, social functioning and impulse control
What is the prevelence of personality disorders in the general population?
10-15% (But this is unclear as not everyone seeks treatment
How are personality disorders assessed?
Self report questionaires
Semi-structured interviews
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using self-report questionaires to assess PD?
Reliable
Efficient
Use vaidity scales
But require the person to have insight into themselves which isn’t always possible
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using semi-structured interviews to assess PD?
Good reliability and validity
Biased
Time consuming
What is antisocial PD?
It’s characterised by an extreme disregard and violation of other’s feelings and rights
How old do you need to be to be diagnosed with antisocial PD?
You must be over 18 in order to be diagnosed but have a history of conduct disorder before the age of 15
What are the biological causes of antisocial PD?
Smaller brain
Less physiological response to distress and punishment
Impaired functioning of the prefrontal cortex
How heritable is antisocial PD?
41%
What problems in early life are linked to antisocial PD?
Family conflict, inconsistent parenting and abuse have been linked
Childhood conduct problems
What is histrionic PD?
This is characterised by excessive emotionality and attention seeking behaviour.
How heritable is histrionic PD?
67%
What are the causes of histronic PD?
Maternal overinvolvement
Parental coldness and attitudes towards sex
What is narcissistic PD?
Characterised by grandiosity, a need for exaggeration and a lack of empathy.
How heritable is narcissistic PD?
79%
What is the psychodynamic explanation for narcisisstic PD?
Posessive or rejecting parenting that causes maladaptive development
How is narcissistic PD related to subclinical narcissism?
High overlap
Most research is conducted on subclinical narcissists because people with PD rarely seek help
What is boarderline PD?
This is characterised by instability and impulsivity
How heritable is boarderline PD?
42-69%
What are the biological explanations for boarderline PD?
Dysfunction in the
frontal lobe - impulse control
amygdala - emotional regulation
What environmental factors can lead to boarderline personality disorder?
Childhood verbal, emotional or sexual abuse (Found in 60-90% of individuals)
Extended separations from the mother before the age of 5
Inconsistent parenting
How can PDs be explained by the diathesis stress model?
Build up of verious risk factors which are then combined with life stress to tip people over the edge into developing a disorder
What are the issues in PD diagnosis?
People usually seek treatment for the distress PD causes, not PD itself
High overlap means issues with reliability and validity
Forces people into catergories when in reality they’re on a continium
How do PDs relate to the Big 5?
PD is just extreme combinations of the Big 5
Low exraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, high neuroticism
What is the alternative hybrid model?
Combines the traditional approach with trait domains
