Personality Disorders

The Personality Disorders

We cannot have a website devoted to personalities without spending some time understanding the personality disorders. Personality disorders are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM IV TR). The DSM is used by mental health and general health professionals to diagnose various disorders and conditions. Whereas Schizophrenia and Bi-Polar Disorder are serious conditions caused by a chemical imbalance and require medication and treatment, the personality disorders are characterized by:

An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time and leads to distress or impairment. -- DSM, 1996, p. 629

As always, a diagnosis is quite elastic; two people with the same diagnosis may have very diverse experiences ranging from grave to relatively mild.

To be diagnosed with a personality disorder the symptomatic behavior must cause distress or impairment. In other words, the disorder must limit the person's quality of life in some significant way. Although we may find someone's behavior terribly annoying, that alone does not meet the criteria.

The Personality Disorders

• Schizoid
• Borderline
• Paranoid
• Histrionic
• Narcissistic
• Avoidant
• Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (not the same as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
• Delusional
• Anti-Social

I hope you will want to learn more about these largely misunderstood disorders. To help you do just that, I will be writing a series of articles on the various personality disorders. Though, you will probably find this a fascinating area of study, please resist the urge to diagnose your friends, coworkers and family members - they are prone to become quarrelsome -- and you are apt to be mistaken. The professional expertise required to make an accurate diagnosis is forged over many years of training, education and experience. Leave assessment to the experts -- we need the work.

Personality Disorders Series

Watch for our personality disorders series.

• Schizoid Personality Disorder
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Paranoid Personality Disorder
• Histrionic Personality Disorder
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder
• Avoidant Personality Disorder
• Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder
• More coming soon.

Tell A Friend • Comment • Print • Feedback