Different Personality Disorders

The character and personality of a person can become a disorder. The changes in the behaviour and personality if they are very frequent and acute, can be a matter of concern as per DSM. It is categorized as a Axis II mental disorder. See the below articles on personality disorders and know more about it.

Personality changes as the time of the day changes, as the minutes in the hours changes, as the feelings in the heart changes, as the desire of things in mind changes, as the change itself changes. This very intriguing personality is something which if goes out of order makes everything else go topsy turvy. Personality Disorders, also referred as character disorders, constitutes a class of personality types and behavior. According to APA, personality disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the culture of the individual who exhibits it. Personality disorders are mentioned in the Axis II of DSM-IV-TR (fourth edition, text revision).

What is a Personality Disorder trait?

The onset of patterns of how one behaves, can typically be related back to setting off of adolescence and the rise of adulthood. Hence it is actually not appropriate to diagnose the personality disorders before the age of 16 years. Not so lately, many of mental health experts and psychologists concluded that treatment does not help people suffering from personality disorder.

But recent developments have shown that there are combination of some special therapies which can help many peple. Psychotherapy with drugs have now been proved to help many people. The key lies in choosing an experienced therapist.

Personality disorders are inflexible across many situations and such behavior is ego-syntonic. Hence, this behavior is perceived to be appropriate by that individual.

Single liners for Personality Disorders

According to the famous encyclopedia Britannica, Personality disorder, is quite often marked by deeply rooted and lasting patterns of inflexible, antiadaptive, or antisocial behaviour.
A personality disorder is an enhancement of one or seldom many personality traits to the state where the trait significantly impacts an individual's social or occupational behaviour.
Strictly speaking Personality disorder is not an illnesses. They need not involve the disruption of emotional, intellectual, or perceptual functioning.
People with personality disorders have difficulty dealing with everyday stresses and problems.
People with Personality Disorder often have stormy relationships with other people.
The exact cause of personality disorders is unknown, however, genes and childhood experiences may play a role.
Personality disorders are long-term patterns of thoughts and behaviors that cause serious problems with relationships and work.
Persons with a personality disorder do not go for psychiatric treatment

Types of Personality Disorder

While most people can lead pretty normal lives with mild personality disorders (or more simply, personality traits), during times of increased stress or external pressures (work, family, a new relationship, etc.), the symptoms of the personality disorder will raise concerns and seriously interfere with affected person and surroundings emotional and psychological functioning. There are ten different types of personality disorders that exist, which all have various emphases.

Challenges with treatment of Personality Disorder

The self-help support groups or communities most of the times are not coherent with a person suffering from personality disorder. The challenge lies in whole setup of groups where people with such suffering comes and shares things. Such approaches would cannot be much of an effect since the affected people will think suspiciously about others and their motivations. This will make group help and dynamics possibly harmful. This makes therapy more difficult, since these patients are not motivated to changes. They on the contrary avoid making changes. They are motivated to stabilize their situation and therefore they often block the efforts of the therapist.

Most of the patients don't seek therapy because of their Personality disorder. Another factor which makes treatment therapy more complicated is that the affected person has a problem with his/her interpersonal relations. Due to this, the relationship between patient and therapist is at high risk.

Treatment types for Personality Disorder

Important treatment options for Personality disorders are:

Cognitive Behavioural therapy
Insight therapy (psychodynamic therapy, gestalt therapy)
Antidepressant medications
Mood-stabilizing medications
Anti-anxiety medications
Antipsychotic medications

Principles behind treatment for Personality Disorder

The involvement of family members is helpful and often essential because they can act in ways that either reinforce or diminish the problematic behavior or thoughts.
Group and family therapy, group living in designated residential settings, and participation in therapeutic social clubs or self-help groups can all be valuable in helping.
Because people with a personality disorder usually do not see a problem with their own behavior, they must be confronted with the harmful consequences of their maladaptive thoughts and behaviors.
A therapist needs to repeatedly point out the undesirable consequences of their thought and behavior patterns.
Sometimes it is necessary to set limits on behavior
Because of overdose risk, tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are usually not prescribed for patients with personality disorders.
The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and newer antidepressants are safe and reasonably effective.
There are no medications specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat personality disorders.
Psychiatric medications may help with certain symptoms of personality disorders.

In ICD-9, personality disorders were described as follows:

severe disturbances in the personality and behavioural tendencies of the individual; not directly resulting from disease, damage or other insult to the brain, or from another psychiatric disorder. They usually involve several areas of the personality and are nearly always associated with considerable personal distress and social disruption. They are usually manifest since childhood or adolescence and continue throughout adulthood.

ICD-10 has a somewhat different definition in terms of enduring patterns of behaviour, but the ICD-9 definition is more concise and still valuable.

A personality disorder is identified by a pervasive pattern of experience and behavior that is abnormal with respect to any two of the following:

thinking, mood, personal relations, and
the control of impulses.

Those with a personality disorder possess several distinct psychological features including disturbances in self-image; ability to have successful interpersonal relationships; appropriateness of range of emotion, ways of perceiving themselves, others, and the world; and difficulty possessing proper impulse control.

Personality Disorder	Short Description
List of Personality Disorders
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)	BPD is a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior.
Schizoid personality	Schizoid personality disorder is a psychiatric condition characterized by a lifelong pattern of indifference to others and social isolation.
Schizotypal personality	Schizotypal personality disorder is primarily characterized by peculiarities of thinking, odd beliefs, and eccentricities of ppearance, behavior, interpersonal style, and thought.
Paranoid personality	Paranoid personality disorder is a psychiatric condition characaterized by extreme distrust and suspicion of others.
Antisocial personality	Antisocial personality disorder is a psychiatric condition characterized by chronic behavior that manipulates, exploits, or violates the rights of others. This behavior is often criminal. Antisocial Personality Disorder Symptom
Avoidant personality	APD is considered to be an active-detached personality pattern, meaning that avoidants purposefully avoid people due to fears of humiliation & rejection.
Narcissistic personality	Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by self-centeredness. Like histrionic disorder, people with this disorder seek attention and praise.
Histrionic (hysterical) personality	Histrionic personality disorder involves a pattern of excessive emotional expression and attention seeking, including an excessive need for approval and inappropriate seductiveness.
Passive-aggressive (negativistic) personality	Passive aggressive personality disorder is a chronic condition in which a person seems to acquiesce to the desires and needs of others, but actually passively resists them and becomes increasingly hostile and angry.
Dependent personality	Dependent personality disorder is a chronic condition involving over-reliance on others to meet emotional and physical needs.
Personality Disorder NOS	Personality Disorder NOS is reserved for disorders that do not fit into the other personality disorder categories.
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder	Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is a condition characterized by a chronic preoccupation with rules, orderliness, and control.
Depressive (masochistic) personality