Types Of Personality Disorders

As its name indicates, a personality disorder directly affects how we are, which is why its nature is persistent and influences many spheres of our lives.

The diagnostic manual par excellence in the practice of psychology is the DSM-V⁽¹⁾. In it we can find an entire chapter dedicated to analyzing personality disorders. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines this problem as follows:

A personality disorder is characterized by a permanent internal and personal pattern of behaviors, emotions, and thoughts that strays too far from what is expected in the culture. It usually appears in adolescence or adulthood and without psychological treatment it does not vary over time, causing emotional discomfort in the person and social prejudice towards them due to their “abnormal” behavior.

The main personality disorders are:

1. Group A:

• Paranoid personality disorder
• Schizoid personality Disorder
• Schizotypal personality disorder

2. Group B:

• Antisocial personality disorder
• Borderline personality disorder
• Histrionic personality disorder
• Narcissistic personality disorder

3. Group C:

• Avoidant personality disorder
• Dependent personality disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

Other personality disorders

• Unspecified personality disorder

Next, we are going to briefly describe this classification and what characteristics each disorder has.

Known for their “strange” behavior and outside the social norm. They are reserved personalities, with an absence of close personal relationships and a fairly low emotional expression. They are usually labeled with the adjective “strange” or “eccentric” and we divide them as follows:

Paranoid personality disorder

They are people who continually suspect others, believe that everyone is against them and tend to isolate themselves to avoid being harmed. They do not trust and are usually very spiteful. All of this leads them to have difficulties relating to other people and a practically constant state of anxiety. If you want to know more, you can consult this other article about paranoid personality disorder.

Schizotypal personality disorder

Schizotypal personality disorder is perhaps the most eccentric of the three; a person with schizoid disorder usually has behaviors that are completely different from the norm, lives in their inner world and creates their own system of ideas. However, they do not find it excessively difficult to relate to others either.

Schizoid personality Disorder

People with this disorder interpret events in their lives in a different way. distorted way, so they tend to completely isolate themselves from society. These people do not usually think that their problem is disabling, however, it is necessary to recommend psychological treatment.

Cluster B disorders are usually people who present very extreme and uncontrolled emotions, they are incapable of managing their feelings and this usually causes them enormous discomfort and difficulty making decisions. Another common characteristic of Cluster B personality disorders is that they have many difficulties relating to others.

There are four ways in which type B personality disorder can be expressed:

Antisocial personality disorder

This disorder has been added more recently to cluster B since the symptoms are precisely the lack of expression of emotions towards others. Antisocial personality disorder is closely related to the personality of a psychopath and sociopath.

Borderline personality disorder

Also known as BPD or Borderline disorder. The symptoms of borderline personality disorder are:

• Lack of emotional control
• Impulsiveness
• Unstable personal relationships
• Fear of abandonment
• Constant negative thoughts…

If you identify with these symptoms, you can take the borderline personality disorder test. People with BPD have a great mental suffering which they may sometimes try to mitigate with self-harm, alcohol and drug abuse. There are studies that state that a large percentage of people who make suicide attempts suffer from this type of personality disorder.⁽²⁾.

Histrionic personality disorder

This disorder is characterized by exaggerated behavior and uncontrolled expression of emotions. They tend to be individuals with a very marked and egocentric personality (they want to be the center of attention), for that same reason, they often use seduction and/or victimhood to focus attention on them.

Narcissistic personality disorder

Finally we find this personality disorder. The characteristics of a person with narcissistic disorder are the following:

• Egocentric dialogue: they always talk about themselves
• Superficial belief of superiority
• Envy of others
• Internal insecurity that they try to hide with airs of grandeur…

Finally, we find this way of grouping these pathologies of the mind. This type of personality disorders is characterized by a pattern of anxious and fearful behaviors, they usually live under the fear that something bad will happen and their mind is usually occupied by recurring and obsessive thoughts.

Avoidant personality disorder

As the name suggests, people with this type of personality disorder usually avoid relationships social out of fear and a feeling of inferiority. They tend to be constantly worried about what other people may think of them and that generates a practically constant state of anxiety.

Dependent personality disorder

When a person develops a dependent attachment style, they may end up having this type of personality disorder. Highly dependent people need constant care and attention to feel loved and valued. Their communication style is passive since they are afraid of being rejected for their ideas or feelings. Furthermore, they usually do great efforts and favors to get the support and care they so desperately need.

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

Better known as OCD, people with obsessive-compulsive disorder are those who are dominated by their own recurring thoughts and need to perform compulsive actions to mitigate mental obsessions. This disorder is highly studied and is divided into two very marked phases:

• Obsessive thinking: “if I don’t clean the house, I will get infected and die”
• compulsive action: “I must clean every day at all hours and disinfect my house to avoid contracting an illness”

OCD can appear in many ways and its nature is not reduced to being meticulous with cleanliness and drainage. It is important to note that obsessive thoughts can be very varied and, as a consequence, compulsive actions can be of many types.

The diagnostic manual reserves this category to include the types of personality disorders that They don’t fit any of the boxes mentioned but that meet the definition of a personality disorder. That is to say: patterns of behavior, thought and emotions that last over time and that usually generate strong discomfort to the individual who presents them.

• An example of a personality disorder not otherwise specified is the presence of some traits and characteristics of a specific personality disorder but do not meet the full criteria (i.e. a “mixed personality”).

The most effective treatment has proven to be psychotherapy combined with the use of drugs in strictly necessary cases

Psychotropic drugs such as fluoxetine help maintain a relatively stable mood with which a person can begin to improve their behaviors. However, the key piece in the treatment of personality disorders is psychotherapy: it is essential that the individual learns coping strategies in order to improve over time. These types of disorders usually have a chronic prognosis, so, more than a cure, the objective of treatment is for the patient to learn to live a stable life by controlling and knowing their atypical personality traits.

Causes of personality disorders

The exact cause of these disorders is unknown, however, many experts affirm that they appear due to the interaction of genetic factors, attachment styles insecure, ambivalent or avoidant and by others psychosocial factors.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Types of personality disorders we recommend that you enter our Clinical Psychology category.