Understanding Personality Disorders

Description

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013) defines personality disorders as a pattern of internal experience and behavior that greatly differs from what is normally expected in the person’s culture. They are also considered omnipresent and inflexible that is stable and causes both distress and impairment. Antisocial personality disorder is a severe disorder of personality. It is a disorder that helps compromise the dramatic, emotional, or erratic disorders, also known as the Cluster B disorders. The Cluster B disorders are also composed of borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and histrionic personality disorder. The National Institute of Health (2012) stated that people suffering from antisocial personality disorder have a history of manipulation, exploitation, and violating of the rights of others. They describe symptoms of antisocial personality disorder as: possessing charm, readily able to manipulate other’s emotions, pattern of criminal behavior, disregard for the safety of self or others, problems with lying, stealing, and fighting, and lack of guilt (National Institute of Health, 2012). The DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) also stated that individuals with antisocial personality disorder may be irresponsible, which impedes on their ability to get or keep a job. They also cite lack of empathy, self-assured, aggressiveness, and high risk sexual and substance use as additional symptoms.

To demonstrate antisocial personality disorder, a case example from DSM-IV Case Studies: A Clinical Guide to Differential Diagnosis by Frances and Ross is presented (1996).

Mr. Y is a 26-year old man who is tr...

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...rlapping concepts, with blurred boundaries that have historically been interchangeable. The understanding of these three terms is vital in understanding the history of antisocial personality disorder.

Antisocial personality disorder is a mental disorder described in the DSM’s for clinicians to assign diagnoses. Psychopathy is more severe than antisocial personality disorder, and is not listed as a mental disorder in the DSM.

Preceding the DSM

Though the term “antisocial personality disorder”, was not coined until much later in history, the idea and diagnosis of a similar disorder goes back much farther than the first version of the DSM. J. C. Prichard is credited with the formation of the term moral insanity, which was defined as a mental derangement

DSM-I

The first version of the DSM was published in 1952 in order to standardize mental disorder diagnoses.