1) Distorted thinking patterns

2) Problematic emotional responses

3) Over- or under-regulated impulse control
4) Interpersonal difficulties
These four core features are common to all personality
disorders. Before a diagnosis is made, a person must
demonstrate significant and enduring difficulties in at
least two of those four areas. Furthermore, personality
disorders are not usually diagnosed in children because
of the requirement that personality disorders represent
enduring problems across time.
 odd, eccentric disorders
characterized by a form of
distorted thinking that may
result in social awkwardness
and withdrawal
 PARANOID PERSONALITY DISORDER
• have a distinct and pervasive distrust and suspicion of others
• assume that others are out to harm, humiliate, or take advantage of
them
• put significant effort into distancing themselves from others
• resist treatment, believing that they do not have a problem
 CAUSES
PSYCHOLOGICAL BIOLOGICAL SOCIAL/CULTURAL
INFLUENCES INFLUENCES INFLUENCES

• Early mistreatment • Having relatives with • Certain groups of

• Traumatic childhood Schizophrenia people in unique
experiences (possible, but situations (prisoners,
• Behavior based on unclear) immigrants)
mistaken assumptions • Parents’ early
• Thoughts that people teaching
are malicious,
deceptive, threatening
5
 TREATMENT
• Psychotherapy/Talk Therapy
• Medication
- Antidepressants
- Benzodiazepines
- Antipsychotics
 SCHIZOID PERSONALITY DISORDER
• socially detached and display a limited range of emotions
• remain socially isolated and do not seek out, or even enjoy, close
relationships or friendships with others
• display a lack of understanding, or even acknowledgement, of social
gestures
• come across as detached or cold
 CAUSES
PSYCHOLOGICAL BIOLOGICAL SOCIAL/CULTURAL
INFLUENCES INFLUENCES
INFLUENCES
• Experiencing abuse or
neglect as a child • Having relatives with • Having an
• Childhood shyness emotionally detached
autism parent
• Experiencing
psychological trauma • May be associated • Lack of interest in
or chronic stress with lower density of close relationships
• Very limited range of dopamine receptors • Lack of social skills
emotions
• Apparently cold and • Preference for social
unconnected isolation

9
 TREATMENT
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Group Therapy
• Medication
- Bupropion to increase feelings of pleasure
- Antipsychotic medications to treat feelings of indifference
• Learning value of social relationships
• Social Skills Training with role playing
 SCHIZOTYPAL PERSONALITY DISORDER
• socially isolated and distant
• have odd behaviors and beliefs, such as perceptual and cognitive
distortions
• odd behaviors may lead to paranoia or suspicion of others, which can
contribute to social anxiety
• example: seeing lights or shadows that others cannot
• magical thinking, such as having the belief that they can see the
future or read other’s thoughts
 CAUSES
PSYCHOLOGICAL BIOLOGICAL SOCIAL/CULTURAL
INFLUENCES INFLUENCES INFLUENCES

• Abuse and neglect • Brain abnormalities • Childhood

• Trauma and stress maltreatment
• Irregularities in the
• Suspiciousness left hemisphere of • Excessive social
• Unusual beliefs, the brain anxiety
behavior, dress
• Having relatives with • Lack of social skills
• Expressing little schizophrenia
emotion

13
 TREATMENT
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Family Therapy
• Psychotherapy/Talk Therapy
CLUSTER B
DRAMATIC, EMOTIONAL
OR ERRATIC DISORDERS
 1. ANTISOCIAL
PERSONALITY DISORDER
• psychopathy, sociopathy, or dyssocial
personality disorder
• Characterized as having a history of
failing to comply with social norms
• may also experience dysphoria, including
complaints of tension, inability to
tolerate boredom, and depressed mood.
CONDUCT DISORDER
• Separate diagnosis for children who
engage in behaviors that violate
society’s norms
• 3 subtypes:
• Childhood-onset type
• Adolescent-onset type
• Callous-unemotional presentation

17
CAUSES
• PSYCHOLOGICAL • BIOLOGICAL • SOCIAL/CULTURAL
INFLUENCES INFLUENCES INFLUENCES
• Difficulty learning to • Genetic vulnerability • Criminality
avoid punishment combined with • Stress/exposure to
• Indifferent to environmental trauma
concerns of others influences • Inconsistent parental
• Abnormally low discipline
cortisol arousal • Socio-economic
• High fear threshold disadvantage

18
• The likelihood of developing antisocial personality disorder in adult life
is increased if the individual experienced childhood onset of conduct
disorder (before age 10 years) and accompanying attention-
deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
• Child abuse or neglect, unstable or erratic parenting, or inconsistent
parental discipline may increase the likelihood that conduct disorder
will evolve into antisocial personality disorder.

19
 TREATMENT PREVENTION
• Seldom successful • Emphasize behavioral supports for good
• Parent training if problems are caught behavior and skills training to improve
early social competence
• Early intervention (parent training)
• Making friends and sharing

20
 2. BORDERLINE
PERSONALITY DISORDER
• pervasive pattern of instability of
interpersonal relationships, self-image,
and affects, and marked impulsivity
• Dysfunction in the area of emotion

21
 CAUSES
• PSYCHOLOGICAL • BIOLOGICAL • SOCIAL/CULTURAL
INFLUENCES INFLUENCES INFLUENCES
• Suicidal • Familial link to • Early trauma,
• Erratic moods mood disorders especially
• impulsivity • Possibly inherited sexual/physical
tendencies abuse
(impulsivity or • Rapid cultural
volatility) changes
(immigration) may
trigger symptoms

22
 TREATMENT
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
• Medication:
• Tricyclic antidepressants
• Minor tranquilizers
• Lithium

23
 3. HISTRIONIC
PERSONALITY DISORDER
• Tend to be overly-dramatic and often
seem almost to be acting
• Inclined to express their emotions in an
exaggerated fashion
• Tend to be vain, self-centered and
uncomfortable when not in the limelight

24
 CAUSES

• PSYCHOLOGICAL • BIOLOGICAL • SOCIAL/CULTURAL

INFLUENCES INFLUENCES INFLUENCES
• Vain and self- • Possible link to • Overly dramatic
centered antisocial disorder behavior attracts
• Easily upset if ignored attention
• Vague and hyperbolic • Seductive
• Impulsive; difficulty • Approval seeking
delaying gratification

25
 TREATMENT

• Little evidence of success

• Rewards and fines
• Focus on interpersonal relations

26
 4. NARCISSISTIC
PERSONALITY DISORDER
• People with this disorder have an
unreasonable sense of self-importance
and are preoccupied with themselves
• Their exaggerated feelings and their
fantasies of greatness, called grandiosity,
create a number of negative attributes.
• They are often depressed

27
 CAUSES AND TREATMENT
• Arises largely from a profound failure by the parents of modelling
empathy early in a child’s development.

• When therapy is attempted, it often focuses on their grandiosity, their

hypersensitivity to evaluation and their lack of empathy to others

• Cognitive therapy strives to replace their fantasies with a focus on the

day-to-day pleasurable experiences that are truly attainable

28
 CLUSTER C
Personality
Disorder
 AVOIDANT PERSONALITY DISORDER
• Individuals with avoidant personality feels chronically rejected by
others and are pessimistic about their future.
 CAUSES
• Some evidence has found that avoidant personality
disorder is related to other subschizophrenia-related
disorders, occurring more often in relatives of people
who have schizophrenia (Fogelson et al., 2007).

• A number of theories have been proposed that integrate

biological and psychosocial influences as the cause of
avoidant personality disorder.
 TREATMENT
• Behavioral intervention techniques for anxiety and social skills
problems have had some success.

• Therapeutic alliance – the collaborative connection between

therapist and client – appears to be an important predictor for
treatment success in this group (Strauss et al., 2006).
 DEPENDENT PERSONALITY DISORDER
• People with this disorder rely on others to make ordinary decisions as well as
important ones, which results in an unreasonable fear of abandonment.
 CAUSES
• It was thought that such disruptions as the early death of a parent
or neglect or rejection by caregivers could cause people to grow up
fearing abandonment (Stone, 1993).

• It also is clear, however , that genetic influences are important in

the development of this disorder.
 TREATMENT
• The treatment literature for this disorder is mostly descriptive; little
research exists to show whether a particular treatment is effective
(Borge et al., 2010; Paris, 2008).

• Therapy therefore progresses gradually as the patient develops

confidence in his ability to make decisions independently (Beck et
al., 2007).
 OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE PERSONALITY
DISORDER
• People with this disorder are characterized by a fixation on things being done
“the right way”.
 CAUSES
• There seems to be a weak genetic contribution to obsessive-
compulsive personality disorder (Cloninger & Svakic, 2009).

• Some people may be predisposed to favor structure in their lives as

to parental reinforcement of conformity and neatness.
 TREATMENT
• Therapy often attacks the fears that seem to underlie the
need for orderliness.

• Therapists help the individual relax or use distraction

techniques to redirect the compulsive thoughts. This
form of cognitive-behavioral therapy-following along the
lines of treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder
appears to be effective for people with this personality
disorder (Svartberg et al., 2004).