Personality Disorders Overview

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Questions and Answers

Which personality trait is positively correlated with the Dirty Dozen measures?

Conscientiousness

Openness (correct)

Extraversion

Agreeableness

In terms of social exploitation, whom do the studies suggest typically scores higher?

Men (correct)

Women

Children

Elderly individuals

What aspect of narcissism might have been overlooked by reducing items on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory?

Self-reflection

Empathy

Social conformity

Self-esteem stability (correct)

What relationship do the Dirty Dozen measures have with neuroticism?

Negatively correlated Signup and view all the answers

Why might exploiting others be more costly for women than for men, according to the content?

Women are generally more dependent on social networks. Signup and view all the answers

What behavior is commonly seen in individuals with histrionic personality disorder?

Seductive and sexually provocative style Signup and view all the answers

Which feature is associated with antisocial personality disorder?

Disregarding and violating rights of others Signup and view all the answers

What is a key characteristic of paranoid personality disorder?

Strong suspicion of others' motives Signup and view all the answers

How do individuals with borderline personality disorder typically react to the fear of abandonment?

They worry frantically about being abandoned Signup and view all the answers

What personality trait is most associated with narcissistic personality disorder?

Feeling superior and deserving of admiration Signup and view all the answers

Which behavior is typically NOT associated with borderline personality disorder?

Stable self-image Signup and view all the answers

What emotional response is common among individuals with paranoid personality disorder?

Quick offense taken to innocent actions Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the relationship dynamics of individuals with histrionic personality disorder?

They consider casual acquaintances as intimate relationships Signup and view all the answers

Which pairs of personality disorders are commonly observed to co-occur?

Avoidant & dependent Signup and view all the answers

What term describes the occurrence of two or more personality disorders in the same individual?

Comorbidity Signup and view all the answers

What is suggested about the classification of personality disorders in terms of symptoms?

They exist on a continuum rather than as discrete categories. Signup and view all the answers

Which characteristic behavior is typically associated with antisocial personality disorder?

Conning and deceitfulness Signup and view all the answers

Which symptom might NOT commonly correlate with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder?

Competitiveness Signup and view all the answers

In terms of personality functioning, what issue might arise under 'self-direction problems'?

Setting unrealistic goals Signup and view all the answers

What does impaired personality functioning primarily involve?

Identity and interpersonal relations Signup and view all the answers

What is claimed about the symptoms of personality disorders regarding individuals diagnosed with the same disorder?

They may not have any symptoms in common. Signup and view all the answers

What primarily characterizes narcissistic personality disorder?

Entitlement to special treatment and admiration Signup and view all the answers

Which of these behaviors is typical of someone with avoidant personality disorder?

Avoiding social interactions due to fear of rejection Signup and view all the answers

Individuals with dependent personality disorder likely exhibit which of the following traits?

Clinging behavior and fear of separation Signup and view all the answers

Which statement about individuals with avoidant personality disorder is accurate?

They have fears of criticism that restrict social interactions. Signup and view all the answers

What distinguishes obsessive-compulsive personality disorder from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?

Inability to complete tasks due to perfectionism Signup and view all the answers

Individuals with narcissistic traits are likely to display which behavior?

Exhibiting envy towards those who are successful Signup and view all the answers

What is a common misconception about obsessive-compulsive personality disorder?

It involves compulsive behaviors like hand washing. Signup and view all the answers

Which characteristic is NOT associated with dependent personality disorder?

Making independent decisions without seeking advice Signup and view all the answers

What aspect of personality disorders often remains impaired even after losing a formal diagnosis?

Occupational and social adaptation Signup and view all the answers

Which personality disorder shows evidence of substantial improvements in certain areas with treatment?

Borderline personality disorder Signup and view all the answers

What is one of the main aims of pharmacological treatments for personality disorders?

To address neurochemical abnormalities Signup and view all the answers

What do psychosocial treatments primarily aim to address in individuals with borderline personality disorder?

Management of acute life-threatening symptoms Signup and view all the answers

What complicates the evaluation of treatment efficacy for personality disorders?

Limited long-term follow-up data Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of the drug trials conducted on personality disorders?

They primarily involve participants with borderline personality disorder Signup and view all the answers

Which factor is considered a primary manifestation of personality disorders according to psychosocial treatments?

Difficulties with personal relationships Signup and view all the answers

What is a limitation of the current research on personality disorders?

It is heavily biased towards borderline and antisocial personality disorders Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Paranoid Personality Disorder

Shares features with schizoid and schizotypal disorder.
Characterized by strong suspiciousness of others’ motives and a sense of being persecuted.
Individuals suspect others are trying to harm, deceive, or exploit them without good reason.
Tend to dwell on doubts about the loyalty of those around them.
Quickly offended by actions/comments that may be innocent.
Hold grudges against people they perceive as causing harm.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Characterized by a tendency to disregard and violate the rights of others.
Individuals are deceitful, exploit others for personal gain, and feel no remorse for the harm caused to others.
Tend to be aggressive, irresponsible, impulsive, and reckless.

Borderline Personality Disorder

Involves extreme instability in self-image and relationships with others, along with extreme impulsivity in various contexts.
Individuals have intense and unstable love/hate relationships with others.
Worry frantically about the possibility of being abandoned.
Impulsive behavior includes drug abuse, eating binges, spending sprees, sexual escapades, and self-harming behaviors (e.g., self-mutilation or suicide attempts).
Extremely moody, have little sense of personal identity or meaning in life.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Characterized by an exaggerated display of emotions and excessive attention-seeking.
Individuals have an intense need to be the center of attention and feel uncomfortable when they are not.
Use their physical appearance to draw attention and have a seductive, sexually provocative style.
Display emotions in a dramatic and exaggerated way, yet these emotions are shallow and volatile.
Easily influenced by others and consider casual acquaintances as much closer relationships than they are

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Involves the tendency to consider oneself as a superior individual who deserves the admiration of others, and a selfish lack of concern for others’ needs.
Individuals think they are entitled to special treatment and admiration, and generally have an arrogant style, often exploiting others and failing to appreciate their needs.
Tend to fantasize about having high status and envy those who are highly successful.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

Defined by social inhibition and shyness, feelings of inadequacy, and oversensitivity to potential negative evaluation.
Individuals have strong fears of criticism, disapproval, and rejection, which severely restricts their social interactions.
Unwilling to participate socially unless certain of being liked and tend to avoid work activities that involve interpersonal contact.
Lack social connection but actually want it – they are just afraid of rejection.

Dependent Personality Disorder

Characterized by an excessive need to be taken care of and by submissive, clinging behavior, and fears of separation.
Individuals require a great deal of advice and reassurance even in making everyday decisions and lack the confidence to undertake projects on their own.
Need other people to take responsibility for important features of their lives and feel unable to take care of themselves when alone.
Willing to sacrifice a lot to maintain the support and nurturance of others, e.g., by volunteering to do unpleasant tasks or by avoiding any expression of disagreement.
Desperately seek a new relationship if a close relationship ends.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Involves preoccupation with orderliness, perfection, and control.
The individual tends to be so preoccupied with details (e.g., lists, schedules) that the entire point of an activity is lost.
May be so concerned with attaining perfection and following specific rules that they fail to complete their tasks or projects, or delegate any tasks to others.
Tend to put work ahead of personal relationships and to be highly stubborn and inflexible.
There is a tendency to hoard money unnecessarily (rather than spend it) and to hoard objects unnecessarily (rather than discard them).
This is not OCD. OCD involves repeated behaviors (e.g., hand washing, counting or tapping) and is not a personality disorder.

Problems with the DSM-5 Personality Disorders

Symptoms of a given disorder do not necessarily co-occur.
It is possible in some cases that two persons diagnosed with the same disorder might not have any symptoms in common.
There are some symptoms that tend to co-occur despite being listed in different personality disorders.
Many people are diagnosed with 2 or more personality disorders at the same time.
Comorbidity is often observed for the following pairs of disorders:
- Schizoid & schizotypal
- Avoidant & dependent
- Histrionic & borderline
Clusters of disorders do not match factor analysis results.

A Personality Disorder as a Continuum

A personality disorder should be seen as a continuum, not as a category.
Most researchers believe that having a personality disorder is a matter of degree:
- Some people may have slight indications of a disorder,
- Whereas other people may have a severe case.

An Alternative System for Personality Disorders

A new system has been proposed that includes 2 essential features of a personality disorder:
- Impaired personality functioning
- The presence of pathological personality traits.

Impaired Personality Functioning

Problems in personality functioning can involve the self or can be interpersonal.
Self problems:
- Identity problems
- Self-direction problems

Treatment Approaches

There are 2 main approaches to the treatment of personality disorders:
- Psychosocial treatments
- Pharmacological treatments

Psychosocial Treatments

Based on the fact that personality and its disorders arise from a complex gene-environment interaction and developmental processes, are affected by adverse life events, and the primary manifestations of the disorder are difficulties with personal and social relationships.

Pharmacological Treatments

Based on the idea that behavioral traits associated with personality disorders may be associated with neurochemical abnormalities in the CNS.
More than 70% of all drug trials on personality disorders were on participants with borderline personality disorder.
These trials tend to have poor design.
Therefore, this psychobiological model remains largely untested for other personality disorders.

Aims of Treatment

Drug treatment focuses on specific aspects of personality disorders' pathological effects (e.g., affective instability & cognitive-perceptual disturbances).
Psychosocial treatment, mainly for borderline, aims to reduce acute life-threatening symptoms and improve distressing mental state symptoms.
A few psychosocial treatments focus on personal identity, some on interpersonal interaction, on social adjustment, or on the general difficulties of people with mixed personality disorders by using psychoeducation and problem-solving.

The Dirty Dozen Measures

Negatively correlated with neuroticism and positively correlated with openness.
Both findings are consistent with work that suggests the Dark Triad reflects a latent dimension of social exploitation, where this profile of lower order personality traits is expected.
Correlations between measures of self-esteem and the Dirty Dozen were some of the weakest reported.
It may be that the reduction of items from the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory to the four items used to measure narcissism caused one or more specific aspects of narcissism that relate to self-esteem instability to be lost (e.g., entitlement, grandiosity, superiority).
The Dirty Dozen measures showed some sex differences across all studies, confirming that men tend to be more socially exploitative than women are through personality traits like the Dark Triad.
Exploiting others may come at a higher cost for women than for men, because women are more dependent on social networks than men are on average.
From an evolutionary perspective, men should benefit more from social exploitation and therefore should have higher scores on personality traits that reflect social exploitation.

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Description

This quiz covers key features of Paranoid, Antisocial, and Borderline Personality Disorders. Test your understanding of the characteristics, behaviors, and distinctions of these complex mental health conditions. Enhance your knowledge about personality disorders and their impact on individual behavior.