From the moment a person is born, his or her personality begins to take shape. As they grow and develop, they may become extroverted, introverted, kind, strict, or take on any number of traits that will define who they are. However when certain traits, such as lack of empathy, recklessness, and anxiety, seem to cause strange patterns of behavior that interfere with their daily lives and relationships with other people, it is easy to assume that some form of mental disorder may be the culprit. What many people fail to realize is that instead of it being a mental issue, it may be something in their personality. Although mental disorders and personality disorders are associated with one another, clinicians often pay more attention to mental disorders and disregard the fact that a personality disorder may have been the catalyst for the development of a certain mental disorder, such as depression and schizophrenia. If signs of a personality disorder can be identified in early childhood or adolescence, which is when they are most ignored, this will not only make the disorder more manageable for the person and everyone close to them, but it will also prevent the disorder from spiraling out of control and affecting their adult life.
Author Stuart C. Yudofsky, MD and practitioner in psycho-pharmacology and neuropsychiatry, defines a personality disorder as a persistent pattern of behavior that markedly diverges from a person’s culture and leads to “significant distress and relationship issues.” However, there is some controversy when it comes to diagnosing what exactly defines a personality disorder. This is because many of the traits found in an individual with a personality disorder are also found in normal people. For example, a pers...
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...vigation Destructive Relationships with People with
Disorders of Personality and Character. Washington D.C: America Psychiatry
Pub. 2005. Print.
This book is partly a psychiatric textbook and partly a self-help book. It reviews the biology, psychology, and genetics of different personality disorders, such as narcissism, paranoia, antisocialism, and obsessive compulsive. The author, Stuart C. Yudofsky MD, graduated with an MD from Baylor College of Medicine. His practice focuses in two areas: psycho-pharmacology and neuropsychiatry. He is the D.C. of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Baylor College of Medicine and the chairman of the Psychiatry Department of The Methodist Hospital. The publisher, American Psychiatric Pub., is a global publisher of books, journals, and multimedia on psychiatry, mental health and behavioral science.
Torgersen, S. (2009). The nature (and nurture) of personality disorders. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 50(6), 624-632. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00788.x
This essay will explore one of the possible combinations of theories on personality and explain how it can be applied in practical therapy.
A possible rule/out in Peter’s case is obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). Peter reported potential symptoms of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder as he mentioned that prior to his parents’ divorce; he was “obsessive” about his work. Peter showed preoccupation with perfectionism in which he worried about failing rather than actually completing the task. His obsessive behavior caused him to have little or no time for social interaction, therefore excluding his leisure time for activities with his partner and friends. Symptoms of OCPD such as excess devote to work and exclusion of leisure time for friendship and relationship is met. Further questioning is required to determine the diagnosis of OCPD.
This paper will discuss the Cluster B personality disorder known as antisocial personality disorder. More specifically, it will attempt to explain various theories formulated about the difference in prevalence in male and female populations and why men are so much more likely to receive a diagnosis.
particular group of people whose symptoms are indicative of personality disorders, and are between neuroses and psychoses (Manning, 2011, p. 12). Personality disorders are extremely pervasive because they effect a person’s “mood, actions, and relationships” (Manning,
Personality, defined by Merriam-Webster, is a set of enduring behavioral and mental traits that distinguish human beings from one another. Therefore, a personality disorder “is a type of mental illness in which you have trouble perceiving and relating to situations and to people—including yourself” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In general, someone who suffers from a personality disorder has a long-term pattern of behaviors and emotions that are very different from the society’s view of “normal”.
Personality disorders and mental illnesses are viewed by the general public as similar attributes that are equally harmful. However, when one delves into the diagnostics and patterns of the individual disorders and illnesses, it can be seen that there are major differences between each one. There are many levels of severity of the effects each disorder or illness has on society as a whole. They range from affecting only the individual on a solely personal basis to affecting a large amount of people on a highly violent level. Generally, it is found that mental illnesses have an influence on an individual level while personality disorders have an influence on a widespread level. As in every medical topic, there are outliers, or cases that are far outside the expected outcome, but for the most part, illnesses have less far reaching effects than disorders. On the spectrum of the societal effects of personality disorders and mental illnesses, the obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is actually a mental illness, is on the lowest level in terms of widespread consequences; just above this illness is schizophrenia which has the ability to affect more than the individual unless treated; the narcissistic disorder has farther reaching effects in society, such as in bureaucratic situations, than the two previously mentioned illnesses, placing it higher on the spectrum, and last, but not least, the schizoid personality disorder has proven to have the most wide spread consequences in the form of both emotional trauma and violence allocating it the highest level.
Personality disorders are inflexible maladaptive personality traits that cause significant impairment of social and occupational functioning. Personality disorders can affec...
Halle is diagnosed with pattern of thoughts, behaviors and feelings that make her who she is in her everyday life. Halle’s personality disorder feelings are depended on her situation. She was born of an alcohol addict and abusing father. Halle began receiving therapy from abusing parents at the age of 19. Her marriage broke; divorce and single parenting became part of her life. People suffering from personality disorders can be described as shy, lively but selfish. For Halle, the selfishness was seen from her attempt to commit suicide. Since personality disorder does not change much, people with these conditions adopt with time through life experience, but unfortunately their behaviors tend to remain unchanged, difficult to change and with limited range of predictable emotions. Personality disorder makes things difficult for self and for other people. Also, people suffering from personal disorders tend to have behaviors, beliefs and attitudes that are different from those of other people. Their behaviors are unusual and unexpected. They also feel hurt and insecure and always avoiding the company of other
Raja M, Azzoni A. (2007). The impact of obsessive–compulsive personality disorder on the suicidal risk of
Every person that has different characteristics that influence how they think, act, and build relationships. While some people are introverted, others are extroverted. Some people are strict and do not take risks, while others are carefree and free spirited. However, there are times where a person’s behavior becomes destructive, problematic, and maladaptive (Widger, 2003). The key to examining a person for a possible personality disorder is not if they have quirks, but if they display severe behavioral, emotional, and social issues. A diagnosis of having a personality disorders involves identifying if their extreme behaviors, emotions, and thoughts that are different than cultural expectations interfere with the ...
Obsessive Compulsive disorder is seen in 2.3% of Americans. It’s more prominent in adults than in children. Antisocial Personality Disorder, also informally known as psychopathy/sociopathy, is a disorder where people elicit manipulative behaviors and lack morals. This includes disregard for rules, violence, superficial charm, promiscuity, a superiority complex, and difficulty forming attachments. This is said to be caused by genetics as well as modeling, or watching other people perform this kind of behavior.
For psychologists, one of the more popular theories espoused is the trait approach to personality, or “the idea that people have consistent personality characteristics that can be measured and studied” (Kalat, 2002, 512). However there are several problems that arise. First, there are significant cross-cultural differences, so one set of personality traits for one culture may differ considerably for another. The next problem would concern the creation of a test that could accurately measure these traits. While psychologists have for the most part addressed these issues, I will focus on the latter of the two. There has been a number of multiple personality tests put to use such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), the Rorschach Inkblots and others. In our class we were instructed to take the 16 PF personality test in which we would judge for ourselves how accurate the test was based on our own personal experiences. In judging the usefulness of this test we took into consideration its reliability and validity. For a test to be reliable it must be able to accurately reflect consistent results for various people that can be agreed upon by researchers and therapists alike. Reliability in turn relates to validity. To be valid a test must be dependable producing data that can be used to detect a mental illness or otherwise certain personality dimensions within psychologically healthy individuals. Furthermore personality tests must be standardized, having data capable of being “interpreted in a prescribed fashion” (Kalat, 2002, 528). These standards are based on a comparison of a large number of people who have taken the test, one group with a particular disorder and another group who consist of the normal range. These allow researchers to identify people who score within a certain range to be more typical of a particular disorder. While the 16 PF personality test meets these criteria, whether or not the test is accurate remains to be explored. Within the next couple of pages I will describe the results of the test and discuss whether or not the data is an accurate reflection of my own personality.
The topic that I chose for this paper is Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. When thinking about psychology of personality as a whole, there are many different approaches, topics and dynamics that are associated with personality. According to Burger (2015), “personality can be defined as consistent behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within the individual” (p. 4). The reason I chose obsessive compulsive personality disorder as my topic is because I find its contents to be interesting, the behaviors associated with the disorder are intriguing and it is a personality disorder that often times doesn’t get talked about.
Personality is the study of an individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving over time and across situations and it is what distinguishes one individual from another. In the past changes in personality were thought to have only occurred in the developmental stages of childhood and solidifies in adolescence. After the teenage years it was thought to be set like plaster or the change seen to be inconsequential or absent( Srivastava, John, Gosling, and Potter, 2003). However, recent studies have suggested that changes in personality traits continue to occur throughout an individual’s lifespan due to multiple reasons.