Personality Disorders
Modified: 2020-04-22
Personality disorders are long lasting, consistent, extreme personality
characteristics that cause unhappiness or impaired adjustment. They include:
paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal
personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality
disorder, histrionic personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder,
dependent personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and
antisocial personality disorder. Personality disorders are ingrained,
pervasive, and resistant to change. Their effects on personality may range from
mild to severe. Individuals are not very likely to change behaviors under the
control of a personality disorder. Many marital break-ups, for example, may be
caused by one party's premarital expectation of a partner's ability to change
such behavior.
The major characteristics of each personality disorder are given below:
- Paranoid: suspicious, expect bad treatment, blame others
- Schizoid: difficult in relationships, indifferent to others
- Schizotypal: seriously eccentric or bizarre, magical thinking, may be
mildly schizophrenic.
- Borderline: self-important, selfish, lack empathy, manipulative,
fantasize about past and future successes.
- Histrionic: "on stage," attention seeking, showy but shallow emotions,
manipulative and demanding.
- Avoidant: avoid relationships for fear of rejection; very low
self-esteem.
- Dependent: low self-confidence, reluctant to take responsibility,
subordinate needs in favor of close others, sensitive to criticism.
- Obsessive-compulsive: high concern for details and rules, work oriented,
cold and distant, relationship difficulties.
- Antisocial: superficially charming and sincere but actually very
self-centered and insincere; formerly psychopathic personality disorder.
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