Week 9: Personality Disorders

Question 1

What is a personality disorder?

Answer 1

An enduring, infexiable pattern of behaviour that causes significant distress and impaired functioning.

It can affect cognition, mood, social functioning and impulse control

Question 2

What is the prevelence of personality disorders in the general population?

Answer 2

10-15% (But this is unclear as not everyone seeks treatment

Question 3

How are personality disorders assessed?

Answer 3

Self report questionaires

Semi-structured interviews

Question 4

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using self-report questionaires to assess PD?

Answer 4

Reliable
Efficient
Use vaidity scales

But require the person to have insight into themselves which isn’t always possible

Question 5

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using semi-structured interviews to assess PD?

Answer 5

Good reliability and validity

Biased
Time consuming

Question 6

What is antisocial PD?

Answer 6

It’s characterised by an extreme disregard and violation of other’s feelings and rights

Question 7

How old do you need to be to be diagnosed with antisocial PD?

Answer 7

You must be over 18 in order to be diagnosed but have a history of conduct disorder before the age of 15

Question 8

What are the biological causes of antisocial PD?

Answer 8

Smaller brain
Less physiological response to distress and punishment
Impaired functioning of the prefrontal cortex

Question 9

How heritable is antisocial PD?

Answer 9

41%

Question 10

What problems in early life are linked to antisocial PD?

Answer 10

Family conflict, inconsistent parenting and abuse have been linked
Childhood conduct problems

Question 11

What is histrionic PD?

Answer 11

This is characterised by excessive emotionality and attention seeking behaviour.

Question 12

How heritable is histrionic PD?

Answer 12

67%

Question 13

What are the causes of histronic PD?

Answer 13

Maternal overinvolvement

Parental coldness and attitudes towards sex

Question 14

What is narcissistic PD?

Answer 14

Characterised by grandiosity, a need for exaggeration and a lack of empathy.

Question 15

How heritable is narcissistic PD?

Answer 15

79%

Question 16

What is the psychodynamic explanation for narcisisstic PD?

Answer 16

Posessive or rejecting parenting that causes maladaptive development

Question 17

How is narcissistic PD related to subclinical narcissism?

Answer 17

High overlap

Most research is conducted on subclinical narcissists because people with PD rarely seek help

Question 18

What is boarderline PD?

Answer 18

This is characterised by instability and impulsivity

Question 19

How heritable is boarderline PD?

Answer 19

42-69%

Question 20

What are the biological explanations for boarderline PD?

Answer 20

Dysfunction in the

frontal lobe - impulse control

amygdala - emotional regulation

Question 21

What environmental factors can lead to boarderline personality disorder?

Answer 21

Childhood verbal, emotional or sexual abuse (Found in 60-90% of individuals)
Extended separations from the mother before the age of 5
Inconsistent parenting

Question 22

How can PDs be explained by the diathesis stress model?

Answer 22

Build up of verious risk factors which are then combined with life stress to tip people over the edge into developing a disorder

Question 23

What are the issues in PD diagnosis?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

How do PDs relate to the Big 5?

Answer 24

PD is just extreme combinations of the Big 5

Low exraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, high neuroticism

Question 25

What is the alternative hybrid model?

Answer 25

Combines the traditional approach with trait domains