4.2. Personality Disorders
Master Psychology
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, Theme 1. Clinical picture
Sources
DSM-5 Personality Disorders (2013)
Emmelkamp & Kamphuis – Chapter 3 (p. 65-71), 4, 5-9
Ludäscher et al. (2014)
DSM-5; Personality Disorders
Personality disorders
- General personality disorder applies to each of the 10 specific personality disorders.
- Personality disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates
markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, and
has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or
impairment.
- Overview of all the personality disorders:
- Personality disorders are grouped into three clusters based on descriptive similarities.
- Cluster A (paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal): Odd or eccentric.
- Cluster B (antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic): Dramatic, emotional, or
erratic.
- Cluster C (avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive): Anxious or fearful.
- However, these clusters are not always validated.
, - Individuals frequently have co-occurring personality disorders from different clusters.
- Prevalence estimates for the different clusters are 5.7% for disorders in Cluster A,
1.5% for disorders in Cluster B, 6.0% for disorders in Cluster C, and 9.1% for any
personality disorder, indicating frequent co-occurrence of disorders from different
clusters.
- 15% of US adults have at least one personality disorder.
Dimensional models for personality disorders
- DSM manual suggests categorical approach, namely qualitatively distinct clinical
syndromes.
- Another perspective is the dimensional approach, where personality disorders represent
maladaptive variants of personality traits that merge imperceptibly into normality and into
one another.
- Their integration, clinical utility, and relationship with the personality disorder diagnostic
categories and various aspects of personality dysfunction are under active investigation.
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General Personality Disorder
Diagnostic features
- Personality traits are enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the
environment and oneself that are exhibited in a wide range of social and personal contexts.
- Only when these traits are inflexible and maladaptive and cause distress or impairment,
they constitute personality disorders.
- Diagnosis requires an evaluation of the individual’s long-term patterns of functioning (e.g.,
characteristics do not emerge because of bipolar disorder), and the particular personality
features must be evident by early adulthood.
- More than one interview spaced over time is mostly needed.
