Personality Disorders · 3:01pm Nov 2nd, 2013
Since this is a shortie, I'll write about eating disorders as a follow-up.
Psychotic Syndromes
Humour Disorders
Anxiety, Dissociative and Somatoform Disorders
Personality Disorders
Eating Disorders
The concept of normality: A psychopathological approach
Organic Mental Disorders
The term personality can be defined as a bundle of emotional and behavioral traits that characterize the individual in his daily life; under normal conditions these traits are relatively stable and rather predictable. A personality disorder represents a variation of these traits in a way that goes beyond the normal variation "levels" on most individuals.
The patients with personality disorders present profoundly bizarre, inflexible and ill-adjusted patterns of relationship, environmental perception and the self. They are patients that are very unwilling to accept psychiatric help, with a tendency to deny their problems. These disorders seem to manifest themselves first at the end of the person's childhood (or adolescence) and continue to manifest themselves in the adult age. However, we avoid handing out these diagnoses before the person has reached 16 years of age, as their personality isn't completely formed yet.
I - Paranoid Personality Disorder
It is characterized by:
- Excessive sensibility to setbacks and rejections.
- A tendency to hold grudges persistently, refusing to forgive.
- Wariness and a tendency to distort and erroneously interpret neutral or amiable actions as hostile or ill-willed.
- Recurrent suspicion, without proper justification, about his/her partner's fidelity.
- Tendency to reach conspiracy-like explanations, with no logical foundation, about events that happen next to him/her.
One should be careful in order to diferentiate it from Persistent Delusional Disorders. It is a condition that lasts for the patient's entire life, keeping the patient knee-deep in problems related to him/herself and the place where he/she lives.
II - Schizoid Personality Disorder
It is characterized by:
- A very small number of activities that produce personal pleasure.
- Emotional coldness; distant or dull affection.
- Limited capacity to demonstrate feelings.
- Preference for solitary activities.
- Little friends or relationships.
- Introspective or a fantasy-like behavior.
One should be careful not to mistake this for Schizophrenia, other Psychotic Syndromes or with the Paranoid Personality Disorder. They tend to last throughout the patient's entire life and a fraction of these patients can eventually develop Schizophrenia.
III - Schizotypal Personality Disorder
It is characterized by:
- Bizarre beliefs and magical thoughts (for instance, believing in telepathy, superstitions or a sixth sense).
- Uncommon perceptive experiences, such as illusions.
- Extravagant speech and thought process.
- Wariness or paranoid indicators.
One should differentiate this from Paranoid, Schizoid and Avoiding Personalities. They can be mistaken with Schizophrenia and other Psychotic Syndromes. The condition lasts for the patient's entire life and a percentage of them can evolve to Schizophrenia.
IV - Antisocial Personality Disorder
It is characterized by:
- Indifference and insensibility towards others' feelings.
- Irresponsibility and disrespect for norms, rules and social obligations.
- Incapacity to maintain a stable relationship, although there is no difficulty in starting them.
- A very low tolerance to frustrating events, with aggressive reactions and, sometimes, violence.
- Incapacity to feel guilt and learn with experience.
- Propensity to blame others and offer rational explanations to their behaviors.
It is very common to be accompanied with alcohol and psychoactive substance abuse. It also has a chronic course.
V - Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder
Also known as: Borderline Personality Disorder. These are patients that stand on the limit between neurosis and psychosis. They have a pattern of affection, humour, behavior and relationship that are extraordinarily unstable.
It is characterized by:
- Frantic efforts to avoid real or imaginary abandon.
- Suicidal or self-mutilating behavior.
- Self-image and identity perturbations.
- Intense and unstable personal relationships.
- Strong impulsiveness.
- Affective instability.
- Chronic feelings of emptiness.
- Difficulty in managing anger.
- Paranoid ideation.
- Severe dissociative symptoms.
The course is stable; the patients change little as time passes.
VI - Histrionic Personality Disorder
It is characterized by:
- Dramatization; theatricalism and an exaggerated expression of one's own emotions.
- Higher suggestibility; easily influenced by others.
- Superficial and labile affection.
- A constant need to be the "center of attention".
- Seductive, inappropriate behavior.
- Excessive worrying with one's own self appearance.
As time passes, such patients tend to demonstrate less symptoms, since they no longer possess the "energy" they had in their youth. One should be careful, as it is easily confused with Borderline Personality Disorder.
VII - Narcissist Personality Disorder
It is characterized by:
- Grandiosity and feelings of self-importance.
- Worries about imaginary situations of unlimited success, power, intelligence or beauty.
- Believes in being "special"; "unique".
- Has a demand for constant admiration.
- It is a relationship explorer, taking advantage of others to achieve his/her needs.
- Lack of empathy.
- Arrogant behaviors and attitudes.
- Frequently feels envy of others and tells him/herself to be one envied by others.
The patients tend to become more vulnerable as time passes, when the youth's attributes are no longer the same.
VIII - Anankastic Personality Disorder
Also known as: Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder. It is characterized by:
- Excessive feelings of doubt and care.
- Worrying with rules, lists, orders and organization.
- Perfectionism that interferes in the completion of tasks.
- Excessive conscientiousness.
- Pedantry and excessive adherence to social norms.
- Rigidity and stubbornness.
- Intrusion of insistent and inconvenient thoughts or impulses.
One should be careful not to confuse it with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. The course is variable; the patients can either show a better maintenance or exacerbation of their symptoms as time goes.
IX - Anxious or Avoiding Personality Disorder
It is characterized by:
- Persistent and invasive feelings of tension and apprehension.
- The belief of being socially inept, personally uninteresting or inferior to others.
- Excessive worrying about being criticized or rejected in social situations.
- Reluctance in involving with other people.
- Low self-esteem.
- Restrictions on the way he/she lives his/her life due to the need of physical safety.
- Avoiding social and occupational activities that demand an interpersonal involvement due to the fear of criticism, disapproval or rejection.
These individuals are capable of functioning as long as they are in a safe environment. Some are married and have kids, but they live all their lives surrounded by family. They are very susceptible to depression and anxiety.
X - Dependent Personality Disorder
It is characterized by:
- Allowing others to make most of their life decisions.
- Exaggerated fear of the incapacity to care for him/herself.
- Limited capacity to make quotidian decisions without someone else's consent.
- Worries about fearing being abandoned by the person they have an intimal relationship with.
They are a group of people who are very vulnerable to severe depressive episodes when they lose the person which they are dependent of.
Told you guys it was a quickie. Now, off to eating disorders!
Also: Dissociative Identity Disorder should be called Matryoshka Syndrome.
I have recently been diagnosed as schizotypal... now I hope I don't become schizophrenic
1627600 I am not your doctor, but I will give you some useful tips:
First and foremost: be very open with your psychiatrist. He needs to know how you are on a constant basis. Don't lie to him; it's the worst possible thing! And, if he finds that it is better for you to start taking anti-psychotics (even if only to avoid the chance of you becoming a schizophrenic), don't feel bad for having a mental pathology; as it is not your fault and it can be controlled with the medicine.
Be sure to also be open with a trusty friend/family member, as they are the ones that will help you if such scenario becomes real.
Ask your doctor as many questions as you'd like and, if you're not feeling well coping with the fact that you have a mental pathology, ask him to forward you to a psychologist, so he/she can also help you in this troublesome time.
(I say troublesome because the hardest part for the patient is the actual diagnosis, when that shock hits.)
Don't be scared! Be informed! Remember: there is a way!
Hope you have a grand time.
Sorry for the delayed reply.
1662231 Thanks, and I don't mind about the delayed reply
And that is exactly what I'm already doing, I'm always 100% sincere with my doctors and I even open up with my friends. Either way, thanks for your sympathy