Tag: Psychology

Today we move on to the Cluster B disorders, which are known as the “dramatic” or “erratic” disorders. The first of these is Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD).

The stereotypical understanding of ASPD is of a criminal with little-to-no empathy or regard for others; someone who will break things and break people “just because they can”. While elements of that are true for some people with ASPD, this stereotype is more influenced by sensationalism and crime-based media than reality.

In the DSM-5, ASPD is considered to be a long-term pattern of disregard for and violation of other people’s rights, which has occurred since the age of 15. To be diagnosed with ASPD, someone must meet at least three of these criteria:

Previously, I talked about the relationship between schizophrenia, Schizoid PD (SPD) and Schizotypal PD (SzPD). Continuing on from that, today’s topic is SzPD.

Schizotypal PD (SzPD) overlaps with some symptoms of schizophrenia, such as disordered thoughts and perceptions. However, someone with SzPD will not experience reduced motivation or catatonia, and they will have fewer difficulties in thinking and working than someone with schizophrenia. Instead, many SzPD symptoms link back to social situations and social performance. While people with SzPD desire social interaction, they are often anxious in social situations regardless of who they are with. Delusional or paranoid beliefs, such as that others can hear their thoughts, may be behind their anxiety. Alternately, their anxiety may be from the pressure of communicating with minds which work on very different wavelengths to their own.

The DSM-5 describes SzPD as a long-term pattern of being uncomfortable with and unsuccessful at maintaining close relationships, as well as experiencing distorted thoughts and perceptions and odd behaviors. To be diagnosed with SzPD, someone must meet 5 of the following criteria:

Continue reading

Today’s topic is Schizoid Personality Disorder, and the first step with this one is explaining why both a Schizoid and a Schizotypal PD exist. Both names are derived from the Greek prefix skhizein, which means “split”. They are both part of the schizophrenia spectrum, and they are more common in people who have relatives with schizophrenia. However, their symptoms oppose each other.

A common way to explain symptoms of schizophrenia is by sorting them into “positive” and “negative”. Positive symptoms refer to when something atypical is added, such as when a person experiences hallucinations or delusions. Negative symptoms refer to when something typical is lost, such as when a person is unable to feel happy or unable to motivate themselves. (Think of positive and negative as representing plus and minus, rather than good and bad).

Schizotypal PD (SzPD)  lies inbetween a personality disorder and a schizophrenic disorder, as some people who have SzPD later develop schizophrenia while others only ever have SzPD. SzPD includes many positive symptoms of schizophrenia, including disordered thoughts, disordered speech, and near-psychotic experiences. However, it doesn’t feature any negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Schizoid PD (SPD), in contrast, is solely a personality disorder. Its diagnostic criteria include many negative symptoms of schizophrenia, but none of the positive symptoms. To be diagnosed with Schizoid PD, a person needs to meet 4 of these criteria:

• They are emotionally cold and detached, and do not seem to experience strong emotions.
• They do not often express emotions towards others or react strongly to others.
• They consistently prefer to work alone and have solitary hobbies.
• They have few or no close friends or relationships (due to not wanting them rather than anxiety or fear).
• They don’t care about being praised or criticised.
• They find few or no activities pleasurable.
• They are indifferent to social norms and conventions.
• They are preoccupied with fantasy and introspection; they may seem “in their own world” or absent-minded.
• They do not desire or care about having sexual experiences with another person.

Continue reading

The first in the series of personality disoders is Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD). Although experiencing paranoia in a stressful situation is common, PPD refers to a much bigger idea; a permanent fear that someone or something is trying to cause you harm, and that you are in almost-constant danger.

A person with PPD will treat every experience, however neutral or friendly, as a personal attack and a sign of their “put-upon” status. They will feel like they always need to be on guard to defend themselves. Someone with PPD will struggle to trustanything, as they fear (or expect) that everything in their world could be revealed as a lie or trick at any moment. This uncertainty may drive someone with PPD towards anger and constant arguments with other people, who they assume are lying or hiding information. Alternately, the person may isolate themselves from the world and from others so they cannot be decieved.

To be diagnosed with PPD in the DSM-5, someone must meet 4 of these criteria;

The study of psychological differences and “abnormal” behaviour has received more public attention than many other branches of psychology, but this attention isn’t always beneficial. “Abnormal” behaviour is associated with sensationalist news headlines more than sensible conversation. As a result, people often know about psychological conditions through their portrayals in mass media, rather than from factual explanations.

Of the many psychological differences, the category of personality disorders is most frequently misunderstood. The individual personality disorders (PDs) are often mis-represented, while the idea of a “disordered personality” sparks criticism from anti-psychiatry groups and people diagnosed with PDs.

So what are PDs, and what do we mean by “personality” in this context?

Currently, personality disorders are defined as groups of traits, experiences and behaviours that are significantly different from the majority of people; that affect someone’s thinking, emotions and impulses; and are associated with personal distress and dysfunction. These general criteria needs to be met for any PD diagnosis.

So to be diagnosed with a PD, someone needs to have a collection of unusal behaviours and traits which affects a large portion of their everyday life. Those behaviours and traits must start before early adulthood. They need to cause negative consequences for the person, who should be upset by or annoyed at those behaviours.  The name “personality disorder” attempts to represent how far-reaching and impactful those behaviours and experiences are upon almost every aspect of the person’s understanding of themselves and their ability to relate to others.