Download Personality Disorders: Understanding the Different Types and Their Characteristics and more Slides Abnormal Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Personality Disorders Docsity.com An Overview of Personality Disorders • Personality disorders – Enduring maladaptive patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and oneself, exhibited in a wide range of contexts that cause significant functional impairment or subjective distress (some individuals do not feel distressed) • Not well responsive to treatment • 0.5% to 2.5% of general population • Originate in childhood and continue into the adult years • High comorbidity Docsity.com Schizoid Personality Disorder • Pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and limited range of emotions in interpersonal situations • Possibly caused by lower density of dopamine receptors in combination with psychological factors • Treatment involves social skills training but very few would seek help Docsity.com Schizotypal Personality Disorder • Socially isolated but also behave in unusual ways, tend to be suspicious and have odd beliefs (small proportion develops schizophrenia) • Possibly phenotype of schizophrenia genome (milder form) • Caution – different cultural beliefs can lead to a mistaken diagnosis • Almost a half suffers also from depression • Treatment often involves social skills training and medication Docsity.com Antisocial Personality Disorder • Pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, deceitful, irresponsible, impulsive, lack of empathy Y-Antisocial • Psychopathy partially overlaps with APD but is defined in terms of personality traits (superficial charm, manipulative etc.) rather than overt behavior • Not all people with psychopathy or APD are criminals (only about 15% predominantly low IQ) • Interaction between genes and environmental influence • Neurobiological theories – The Underarousal Hypothesis – The Fearlessness Hypothesis (conditioning) • Treatment is not very successful but prevention programs (parenting skills, family support programs) are promissing Docsity.com Narcissistic Personality Disorder • Pervasive pattern of grandiosity in fantasy or behavior, need for admiration, and lack of empathy • Possible cause – Parent’s failure of empathic “mirroring” in development • Increasing prevalence in Western cultures (emphasis of short-term hedonism, individualism, competitiveness, and success) • Therapy focuses on grandiosity, hypersensitivity to evaluation, lack of empathy, relaxation Docsity.com Avoidant Personality Disorder • Pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to criticism (fear of rejection) • Difficult temperament combined with parental rejection (problem with retrospective studies) • Treatment involves systematic desensitization and behavioral rehearsal Docsity.com Dependent Personality Disorder • Pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of (submissive and clinging behavior, fear of separation, need for reassurance etc.) • Possible cause – Interruption of early bonding can cause people to be anxious that they will lose people close to them • Therapy focuses on learning to make decisions independently and developing confidence Docsity.com
