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Personality Disorders
Dan Andrei Elbambuena Navarro Navarette
Bagao, RPm
This chapter begins with a general definition of
personality disorder that applies to each of the
10 specific personality disorders. A personality
disorder is an enduring pattern of inner
experience and behavior that deviates markedly
from the expectations of the individual's
culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset
in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over
time, and leads to distress or impairment.
The following personality disorders are included in this
chapter.
• Paranoid personality disorder is a pattern of distrust and
suspiciousness such that others‘ motives are interpreted
as malevolent.
• Schizoid personality disorder is a pattern of detachment
from social relationships and a restricted range of
emotional expression.
• Schizotypal personality disorder is a pattern of acute
discomfort in close relationships, cognitive or perceptual
distortions, and eccentricities of behavior.
• Antisocial personality disorder is a pattern of disregard
for, and violation of, the rights of others.
• Borderline personality disorder is a pattern of
instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and
affects, and marked impulsivity.
• Histrionic personality disorder is a pattern of excessive
emotionality and attention seeking.
• Narcissistic personality disorder is a pattern of
grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy.
• Avoidant personality disorder is a pattern of social
inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to
negative evaluation.
• Dependent personality disorder is a pattern of
submissive and clinging behavior related to an excessive
need to be taken care of.
• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is a pattern of
preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control.
• Personality change due to another medical condition is a
persistent personality disturbance that is judged to be due to
the direct physiological effects of a medical condition (e.g.,
frontal lobe lesion).
• Other specified personality disorder and unspecified
personality disorder is a category provided for two
situations: 1) the individual's personality pattern meets the
general criteria for a personality disorder, and traits of several
different personality disorders are present, but the criteria for
any specific personality disorder are not met; or 2) the
individual's personality pattern meets the general criteria for a
personality disorder, but the individual is considered to have a
personality disorder that is not included in the DSM-5
classification (e.g., passive-aggressive personality disorder).
General Personal ity Disorder
Criteria
A. A n enduring pattern o f inner experience and
behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations
of the individual's culture. This pattern is manifested
in two (or more) of the following areas:
1 . Cognition ( i . e . , ways of perceiving and
interpreting self, other people, and events).
2 . Affectivity (i.e., the range, intensity, lability, and
appropriateness of emotional response).
3. Interpersonal functioning.
4. Impulse control.
B. The enduring pattern is inflexible and pervasive across a
broad range of personal and social situations.
C. The enduring pattern leads to clinically significant
distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other
important areas of functioning.
D. The pattern is stable and of long duration, and its onset
can be traced back at least to
adolescence ,or early adulthood. 
E. The enduring pattern is not better explained as a
manifestation or consequence of another
mental disorder.
F. The enduring pattern is not attributable to the
physiological effects of a substance (e. g . ,
a drug o f abuse, a medication) or another medical condition
(e. g . , head trauma) .
Introduction
Each of us has a personality—a set of uniquely
expressed characteristics that influence our behaviors,
emotions, thoughts, and interactions. Our particular
characteristics, often called personality traits, lead
us to react in fairly predictable ways as we move
through life. Yet our personalities are also flexible.
We learn from experience. As we interact with our
surroundings, we try out various responses to see
which feel better and which are more effective. This is
a flexibility that people who suffer from a personality
disorder usually do not have.
Introduction
People with a personality disorder display an
enduring, rigid pattern of inner experience and
outward behavior that impairs their sense of
self, emotional experiences, goals, capacity for
empathy, and/or capacity for intimacy. Put
another way, they have personality traits that are
much more extreme and dysfunctional than those
of most other people in their culture, leading to
significant problems and psychological pain for
themselves or others.
Introduction
The symptoms of personality disorders last for years
and typically become recognizable in adolescence or
early adulthood, although some start during childhood
(APA, 2013; Westen et al., 2011). These disorders are
among the most difficult psychological disorders to
treat. Many people with the disorders are not even
aware of their personality problems and fail to trace
their difficulties to their maladaptive style of thinking
and behaving. Surveys indicate that between 10 and
15 percent all adults in the United States have a
personality disorder (APA,
2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011).
Introduction
It is common for a person with a personality
disorder to also suffer from another disorder, a
relationship called comorbidity. For example,
many people with avoidant personality disorder,
who fearfully shy away from all relationships, also
display social anxiety disorder. Perhaps avoidant
personality disorder predisposes people to develop
social anxiety disorder. Or perhaps social anxiety
disorder sets the stage for the personality disorder.
Introduction
Then again, some biological factor may create a
predisposition to both the personality disorder and
the anxiety disorder. Whatever the reason for the
relationship, research indicates that the presence of
a personality disorder complicates a person’s
chances for a successful recovery from other
psychological problems (Fok et al., 2014; Abbass
et al., 2011).
Introduction
DSM-5, like its predecessor, DSM-IV-TR, identifies
10 personality disorders (APA, 2013). Often these
disorders are separated into three groups, or clusters.
One cluster, marked by odd or eccentric behavior,
consists of the paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal
personality disorders. A second cluster features
dramatic behavior and consists of the antisocial,
borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality
disorders. The final cluster features a high degree of
anxiety and includes the avoidant, dependent, and
obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.
Introduction
The DSM’s listing of 10 distinct personality
disorders is called a categorical approach. Like a
light switch that is either on or off, this kind of
approach assumes that
(1)problematic personality traits are either present
or absent in people
(2) a personality disorder is either displayed or not
displayed by a person, and (3) a person who
suffers from a personality disorder is not markedly
troubled by personality traits outside of that
disorder.
“Odd” Personality Disorders
The cluster of “odd” personality disorders consists of
the paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality
disorders. People with these disorders typically have
odd or eccentric behaviors that are similar to but not
as extensive as those seen in schizophrenia, including
extreme suspiciousness, social withdrawal, and
peculiar ways of thinking and perceiving things. Such
behaviors often leave the person isolated. Some
clinicians believe that these personality disorders are
related to schizophrenia.
“Odd” Personality Disorders
In fact, schizotypal personality disorder is listed
twice in DSM-5—as one of the schizophrenia
spectrum disorders and as one of the personality
disorders (Rosell et al., 2014; APA, 2013).
Directly related or not, people with an odd cluster
personality disorder often qualify for an additional
diagnosis of schizophrenia or have close relatives
with schizophrenia (Chemerinski & Siever, 2011).
“Odd” Personality Disorders
Clinicians have learned much about the
symptoms of the odd cluster personality
disorders but have not been so successful in
determining their causes or how to treat
them. In fact, as you’ll soon see, people with
these disorders rarely seek treatment.
Paranoid Personality Disorder
A. A pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others such
that their motives are interpreted as malevolent, beginning
by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as
indicated by four (or more) of the following:
1 . Suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are
exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her.
2. Is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty
or trustworthiness of friends or associates.
3. Is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted
fear that the information will be used maliciously against
him or her.
4. Reads hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into
benign remarks or events.
Paranoid Personality Disorder
5. Persistently bears grudges (i.e. , is unforgiving of insults,
injuries, or slights) .
6. Perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are
not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to
counterattack.
7. Has recurrent suspicions, without justification , regarding
fidelity of spouse or sexual partner.
B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of
schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder or depressive disorder with
psychotic features, or another psychotic disorder and is not
attributable to the physiological effects of another medical
condition.
Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of schizophrenia, add
"premorbid," i.e., "paranoid personality disorder (premorbid)."
Paranoid Personality Disorder
People with paranoid personality disorder deeply
distrust other people and are suspicious of their
motives (APA, 2013). Because they believe that
everyone intends them harm, they shun close
relationships. They find “hidden” meanings, which
are usually belittling or threatening, in everything.
In a study that required people to role-play,
participants with paranoia were more likely than
control participants to read hostile intentions into
the actions of others (Turkat et al., 1990). In
addition, they more often chose anger as the
appropriate role-play response.
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Quick to challenge the loyalty or trustworthiness
of acquaintances, people with paranoid
personality disorder remain cold and distant. A
woman might avoid confiding in anyone, for
example, for fear of being hurt; or a husband
might, without any justification, persist in
questioning his wife’s faithfulness. Although
inaccurate and inappropriate, their suspicions are
not usually delusional; the ideas are not so
bizarre or so firmly held as to clearly remove the
individuals from reality (Millon, 2011).
Paranoid Personality Disorder
People with this disorder are critical of weakness
and fault in others, particularly at work (McGurk et
al., 2013). They are unable to recognize their own
mistakes, though, and are extremely sensitive to
criticism. They often blame others for the things that
go wrong
in their lives, and they repeatedly bear grudges
(Rotter, 2011). As many as 4.4 percent of adults in
the United States experience this disorder, which is
apparently more common in men than in women
(APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011).
How Do Theorists Explain Paranoid
Personality Disorder?
Psychodynamic theories, the oldest of these
explanations, trace the pattern to early interactions
with demanding parents, particularly distant, rigid
fathers and overcontrolling, rejecting mothers
(Caligor & Clarkin, 2010; Williams, 2010). (You
will see that psychodynamic explanations for almost
all the personality disorders begin the same way—
with repeated mistreatment during childhood and
lack of love.) According to one psychodynamic
view, some people come to view their environment
as hostile as a result of their parents’ persistently
unreasonable demands.
How Do Theorists Explain Paranoid
Personality Disorder?
They must always be on the alert because they
cannot trust others, and they are likely to develop
feelings of extreme anger. They also project
these feelings onto others and, as a result, feel
increasingly persecuted (Koenigsberg et al.,
2001). Similarly, some cognitive theorists
suggest that people with paranoid personality
disorder generally hold broad maladaptive
assumptions, such as “People are evil” and
“People will attack you if given the chance”
(Beck & Weishaar, 2014; Weishaar & Beck,
2006; Beck et al., 2004).
How Do Theorists Explain Paranoid
Personality Disorder?
Biological theorists propose that paranoid
personality disorder has genetic causes (APA,
2013; Bernstein & Useda, 2007). An early study
that looked at self-reports of suspiciousness in
3,810 Australian twin pairs found that if one twin
was excessively suspicious, the other had an
increased likelihood of also being suspicious
(Kendler et al., 1987). Once again, however, it is
important to note that such similarities
between twins might also be the result of
common environmental experiences.
Treatments for Paranoid Personality
Disorder People
People with paranoid personality disorder do not
typically see themselves as needing help, and
few come to treatment willingly (Millon, 2011).
Furthermore, many who are in treatment view
the role of patient as inferior and distrust and
rebel against their therapists (Kellett & Hardy,
2013; Bender, 2005). Thus it is not surprising
that therapy for this disorder, as for most other
personality disorders, has limited effect and
moves very slowly (Piper & Joyce, 2001).
Treatments for Paranoid Personality
Disorder People
Object relations therapists—the psychodynamic therapists
who give center stage to relationships—try to see past the
patient’s anger and work on what they view as his or her
deep wish for a satisfying relationship (Caligor & Clarkin,
2010; Salvatore et al., 2005). Self-therapists the
psychodynamic clinicians who focus on the need for a
healthy and unified self—try to help clients reestablish
self- cohesion (a unified personality), which they believe
has been lost in the person’s continuing negative focus on
others (Vermote et al., 2010; Silverstein, 2007).
Treatments for Paranoid Personality
Disorder People
Cognitive and behavioral techniques have also been used
to treat people with paranoid personality disorder, and are
often combined into an integrated cognitive-behavioral
approach. On the behavioral side, therapists help clients to
master anxiety-reduction techniques and to improve their
skills at solving interpersonal problems. On the cognitive
side, therapists guide the clients to develop more realistic
interpretations of other people’s words and actions and to
become more aware of other people’s points of view
(Kellett & Hardy, 2013; Leahy, Beck, & Beck, 2005).
Antipsychotic drug therapy seems to be of limited help
(Birkeland, 2013; Silk & Jibson, 2010).
Schizoid Personality Disorder
A. A pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships
and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal
settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of
contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:
1 . Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being
part of a family.
2 . Almost always chooses solitary activities.
3 . Has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with
another person.
4. Takes pleasure in few, if any, activities.
5. Lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree
relatives.
6. Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
7. Shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened
affectivity.
B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of
schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder or depressive disorder
with psychotic features, another psychotic disorder, or
autism spectrum disorder and is not attributable to the
physiological effects of another medical condition .
Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of
schizophrenia, add "premorbid," i . e . , "schizoid
personality disorder (premorbid) ."
Schizoid Personality Disorder
People with schizoid personality disorder
persistently avoid and are removed from social
relationships and demonstrate little in the way of
emotion (APA, 2013). Like people with paranoid
personality disorder, they do not have close ties
with other people. The reason they avoid social
contact, however, has nothing to do with
paranoid feelings of distrust or suspicion; it is
because they genuinely prefer to be alone.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
People with this personality disorder often described
as “loners,” make no effort to start or keep
friendships, take little interest in having sexual
relationships, and even seem indifferent to their
families. They seek out jobs that require little or no
contact with others. When necessary, they can form
work relations to a degree, but they prefer to keep to
themselves. Many live by themselves as well. Not
surprisingly, their social skills tend to be weak. If
they marry, their lack of interest in intimacy may
create marital or family problems.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
People with schizoid personality disorder focus
mainly on themselves and are generally unaffected
by praise or criticism. They rarely show any
feelings, expressing neither joy nor anger. They
seem to have no need for attention or acceptance;
are typically viewed as cold, humorless, or dull; and
generally succeed in being ignored. This disorder is
present in 3.1 percent of the adult population (APA,
2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011). Men are slightly
more likely to experience it than are women, and
men may also be more impaired by it.
How Do Theorists Explain Schizoid
Personality Disorder?
Many psychodynamic theorists, particularly object relations
theorists, propose that schizoid personality disorder has its
roots in an unsatisfied need for human contact (Caligor &
Clarkin, 2010; Kernberg & Caligor, 2005). The parents of
people with this disorder, like those of people with paranoid
personality disorder, are believed to have been unaccepting
or even abusive of their children. Whereas people with
paranoid symptoms react to such parenting chiefly with
distrust, those with schizoid personality disorder are left
unable to give or receive love. They cope by avoiding all
relationships.
How Do Theorists Explain Schizoid
Personality Disorder?
Cognitive theorists propose, not surprisingly, that
people with schizoid personality disorder suffer
from deficiencies in their thinking. Their thoughts
tend to be vague, empty, and without much
meaning, and they have trouble scanning the
environment to arrive at accurate perceptions
(Kramer & Meystre, 2010). Unable to pick up
emotional cues from others, they simply cannot
respond to emotions. As this theory might predict,
children with schizoid personality disorder develop
language and motor skills very slowly, whatever
their level of intelligence (APA, 2013; Wolff, 2000,
1991).
Treatments for Schizoid Personality
Disorder
Their social withdrawal prevents most people
with schizoid personality disorder from entering
therapy unless some other disorder, such as
alcoholism, makes treatment necessary (Mittal et
al., 2007). These clients are likely to remain
emotionally distant from the therapist, seem not
to care about their treatment, and make limited
progress at best (Colli et al., 2014; Millon, 2011).
Treatments for Schizoid Personality
Disorder
Cognitive-behavioral therapists have sometimes
been able to help people with this disorder
experience more positive emotions and more
satisfying social interactions (Beck & Weishaar,
2011; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al.,
2004). On the cognitive end, their techniques
include presenting clients with lists of emotions
to think about or having them write down and
remember pleasurable experiences.
Treatments for Schizoid Personality
Disorder
On the behavioral end, therapists have sometimes
had success teaching social skills to such clients,
using role-playing, exposure techniques, and
homework assignments as tools. Group therapy
is apparently useful when it offers a safe setting
for social contact, although people with schizoid
personality disorder may resist pressure to take
part (Piper & Joyce, 2001). As with paranoid
personality disorder, drug therapy seems to offer
limited help (Silk & Jibson, 2010; Koenigsberg
et al., 2002).
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
A. A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by
acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as
well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of
behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of
contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
1 . Ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference) .
2. Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is
inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g. , superstitiousness, belief in
clairvoyance, telepathy, or "sixth sense"; in children and adolescents,
bizarre fantasies or preoccupations) .
3. Unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
4. Odd thinking and speech (e. g . , vague, circumstantial,
metaphorical , overelaborate , or stereotyped ) .
5. Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation .
6. Inappropriate or constricted affect.
7. Behavior or appearance that is odd , eccentric, or peculiar.
8. Lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives.
9. Excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and
tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative
judgments about self.
B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of schizophrenia, a
bipolar disorder or depressive disorder with psychotic features,
another psychotic disorder, or autism spectrum disorder.
Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of schizophrenia, add
"premorbid," e . g . , "schizotypal personality disorder (premorbid)."
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
People with schizotypal personality disorder
display a range of interpersonal problems
marked by extreme discomfort in close
relationships, very odd patterns of thinking
and perceiving, and behavioral eccentricities
(APA, 2013). Anxious around others, they
seek isolation and have few close friends.
Some feel intensely lonely.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
People with schizotypal personality disorder can be
noticeably disturbed. These symptoms may include ideas
of reference— beliefs that unrelated events pertain to
them in some important way— and bodily illusions, such
as sensing an external “force” or presence. A number of
people with this disorder see themselves as having special
extrasensory abilities, and some believe that they have
magical control over others. Examples of schizotypal
eccentricities include repeatedly arranging cans to align
their labels, organizing closets extensively, or wearing an
odd assortment of clothing. The emotions of these
individuals may be inappropriate, flat, or humorless.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
People with schizotypal personality disorder often have
great difficulty keeping their attention focused.
Correspondingly, their conversation is typically digressive
and vague, even sprinkled with loose associations (Millon,
2011). They tend to drift aimlessly and lead an idle,
unproductive life (Hengartner et al., 2014). They are likely
to choose undemanding jobs in which they can work below
their capacity and are not required to interact with other
people. Surveys suggest that 3.9 percent of adults—slightly
more males than females—display schizotypal personality
disorder (Rosell et al., 2014; Sansone & Sansone, 2011).
How Do Theorists Explain Schizotypal
Personality Disorder?
Because the symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder
so often resemble those of schizophrenia, researchers have
hypothesized that similar factors may be at work in both
disorders. A wide range of studies have supported such
expectations (Hazlett et al., 2014; Rosell et al., 2014;
Thompson et al., 2014). Investigators have found that
schizotypal symptoms, like schizophrenic patterns, are often
linked to family conflicts and to psychological disorders in
parents. They have also learned that defects in attention and
short-term memory may contribute to schizotypal
personality disorder, just as they apparently do to
schizophrenia.
How Do Theorists Explain Schizotypal
Personality Disorder?
For example, research participants with either disorder
perform poorly on backward masking, a laboratory test of
attention that requires a person to identify a visual
stimulus immediately after a previous stimulus has
flashed on and off the screen. People with these disorders
have a hard time shutting out the first stimulus in order to
focus on the second. Finally, researchers have linked
schizotypal personality disorder to some of the same
biological factors found in schizophrenia, such as high
activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine, enlarged brain
ventricles, smaller temporal lobes, and loss of gray matter
(Ettinger et al., 2014).
How Do Theorists Explain Schizotypal
Personality Disorder?
Although these findings do suggest a close relationship
between schizotypal personality disorder and
schizophrenia, the personality disorder also has been
linked to disorders of mood (Lentz, Robinson, & Bolton,
2010). More than half of people with schizotypal
personality disorder also suffer from major depressive
disorder at some point in their lives (APA, 2013).
Moreover, relatives of people with depression have a
higher than usual rate of schizotypal personality disorder,
and vice versa. Thus, at the very least, this personality
disorder is not tied exclusively to schizophrenia.
Treatments for Schizotypal Personality
Disorder
Therapy is as difficult in cases of schizotypal personality
disorder as it is in cases of paranoid and schizoid
personality disorders. Most therapists agree on the need to
help these clients “reconnect” with the world and
recognize the limits of their thinking and their powers.
The therapists may thus try to set clear limits—for
example, by requiring punctuality—and work on helping
the clients recognize where their views end and those of
the therapist begin. Other therapy goals are to increase
positive social contacts, ease loneliness, reduce
overstimulation, and help the individuals become more
aware of their personal feelings (Colli et al., 2014; Sperry,
2003; Piper & Joyce, 2001).
Treatments for Schizotypal Personality
Disorder
Cognitive-behavioral therapists further combine cognitive
and behavioral techniques to help people with schizotypal
personality disorder function more effectively. Using
cognitive interventions, they try to teach clients to evaluate
their unusual thoughts or perceptions objectively and to
ignore the inappropriate ones (Beck & Weishaar, 2011;
Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). Therapists may
keep track of clients’ odd or magical predictions, for
example, and later point out their inaccuracy. When clients
are speaking and begin to digress, the therapists might ask
them to sum up what they are trying to say.
Treatments for Schizotypal Personality
Disorder
In addition, specific behavioral methods,
such as speech lessons, social skills training,
and tips on appropriate dress and manners,
have sometimes helped clients learn to blend
in better with and be more comfortable
around others (Farmer & Nelson-Gray,
2005).
Treatments for Schizotypal Personality
Disorder
Antipsychotic drugs have been given to
people with schizotypal personality disorder,
again because of the disorder’s similarity to
schizophrenia. In low doses the drugs appear
to have helped some people, usually by
reducing certain of their thought problems
(Rosenbluth & Sinyor, 2012; Silk & Jibson,
2010).
“Dramatic” Personality Disorders
The cluster of “dramatic” personality
disorders includes the antisocial, borderline,
histrionic, and narcissistic personality
disorders. The behaviors of people with these
problems are so dramatic, emotional, or
erratic that it is almost impossible for them
to have relationships that are truly giving and
satisfying.
“Dramatic” Personality Disorders
These personality disorders are more commonly
diagnosed than the others. However, only the
antisocial and borderline personality disorders
have received much study, partly because they
create so many problems for other people. The
causes of the disorders, like those of the odd
personality disorders, are not well understood.
Treatments range from ineffective to moderately
effective.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
A. A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of
the rights of others, occurring since age 1 5 years, as
indicated by three (or more) of the following:
1 . Failure to conform to social norms with respect to
lawful behaviors, as indicated by repeatedly performing
acts that are grounds for arrest.
2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of
aliases, or conning others for
personal profit or pleasure.
3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead .
4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated
physical fights or assaults.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others.
6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated
failure to sustain consistent
work behavior or honor financial obligations.
7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or
rationalizing having hurt,
mistreated, or stolen from another.
B. The individual is at least age 1 8 years.
C. There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset
before age 1 5 years.
D . The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not
exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or bipolar
disorder.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Sometimes described as “psychopaths” or
“sociopaths,” people with antisocial personality
disorder persistently disregard and violate others’
rights (APA, 2013). Aside from substance use
disorders, this is the disorder most closely linked to
adult criminal behavior. DSM-5 stipulates that a
person must be at least 18 years of age to receive
this diagnosis; however, most people with antisocial
personality disorder displayed some patterns of
misbehavior before they were 15, including truancy,
running away, cruelty to animals or people, and
destroying property.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
People with antisocial personality disorder lie
repeatedly (APA, 2013). Many cannot work
consistently at a job; they are absent frequently
and are likely to quit their jobs altogether
(Hengartner et al., 2014). Usually they are also
careless with money and frequently fail to pay
their debts. They are often impulsive, taking
action without thinking of the consequences
(Millon, 2011). Correspondingly, they may be
irritable, aggressive, and quick to start fights.
Many travel from place to place.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Recklessness is another common trait: people with
antisocial personality disorder have little regard for their
own safety or for that of others, even their children. They
are self-centered as well, and are likely to have trouble
maintaining close relationships. Usually they develop a
knack for gaining personal profit at the expense of other
people. Because the pain or damage they cause seldom
concerns them, clinicians commonly say that they lack a
moral conscience. They think of their victims as weak and
deserving of being conned, robbed, or even physically
harmed (see PsychWatch on page 534).
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Surveys indicate that 3.6 percent of adults in
the United States meet the criteria for
antisocial personality disorder (Sansone &
Sansone, 2011). The disorder is as much as
four times more common among men than
women.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Because people with this disorder are often arrested,
researchers frequently look for people with antisocial
patterns in prison populations (Pondé et al., 2014; Black
et al., 2010). It is estimated that at least 40 percent of
people in prison meet the diagnostic criteria for this
disorder (Naidoo & Mkize, 2012). Among men in urban
jails, the antisocial personality pattern has been linked
strongly to past arrests for crimes of violence (De Matteo
et al., 2005). The criminal behavior of many people with
this disorder declines after the age of 40; some, however,
continue their criminal activities throughout their lives
(APA, 2013).
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Studies and clinical observations also indicate
that people with antisocial personality disorder
have higher rates of alcoholism and other
substance use disorders than do the rest of the
population (Brook et al., 2014; Reese et al.,
2010). Perhaps intoxication and substance
misuse help trigger the development of antisocial
personality disorder by loosening a person’s
inhibitions.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Perhaps this personality disorder somehow
makes a person more prone to abuse substances.
Or perhaps antisocial personality disorder and
substance use disorders both have the same
cause, such as a deep-seated need to take risks.
Interestingly, drug users with the personality
disorder often cite the recreational aspects of
drug use as their reason for starting and
continuing it.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
It appears that children with conduct disorder and an
accompanying attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder
have a heightened risk of developing antisocial
personality disorder (APA, 2013; Black et al., 2010). Like
adults with antisocial personality disorder, children with a
conduct disorder persistently lie and violate rules and
other people’s rights, and children with attention-
deficit/hyperactivity disorder lack foresight and judgment
and fail to learn from experience. Intriguing as these
observations may be, however, the precise connection
between the childhood disorders and antisocial
personality disorder has been difficult to pinpoint.
How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial
Personality Disorder?
Explanations of antisocial personality
disorder come from the psychodynamic,
behavioral, cognitive, and biological models.
As with many other personality disorders,
psychodynamic theorists propose that this
one begins with an absence of parental love
during infancy, leading to a lack of basic
trust (Meloy & Yakeley, 2010; Sperry, 2003).
How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial
Personality Disorder?
In this view, some children—the ones who develop
antisocial personality disorder—respond to the early
inadequacies by becoming emotionally distant, and
they bond with others through the use of power and
destructiveness. In support of the psychodynamic
explanation, researchers have found that people with
this disorder are more likely than others to have had
significant stress in their childhoods, particularly in
such forms as family poverty, family violence, child
abuse, and parental conflict or divorce (Kumari et
al., 2014; Martens, 2005).
How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial
Personality Disorder?
Many behavioral theorists have suggested that antisocial
symptoms may be learned through modeling, or imitation
(Gaynor & Baird, 2007). As evidence, they point to the
higher rate of antisocial personality disorder found among
the parents of people with this disorder (APA, 2013; Paris,
2001). Other behaviorists have suggested that some
parents unintentionally teach antisocial behavior by
regularly rewarding a child’s aggressive behavior
(Kazdin, 2005). When the child misbehaves or becomes
violent in reaction to the parents’ requests or orders, for
example, the parents may give in to restore peace.
Without meaning to, they may be teaching the child to be
stubborn and perhaps even violent.
How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial
Personality Disorder?
The cognitive view says that people with
antisocial personality disorder hold attitudes that
trivialize the importance of other people’s needs
(Elwood et al., 2004). Such a philosophy of life,
some theorists suggest, may be far more common
in our society than people recognize. Cognitive
theorists further propose that people with this
disorder have genuine difficulty recognizing
points of view or feelings other than their own (
Herpertz & Bertsch, 2014).
How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial
Personality Disorder?
Finally, studies suggest that biological factors may
play an important role in antisocial personality
disorder. Researchers have found that antisocial
people, particularly those who are highly impulsive
and aggressive, have lower serotonin activity than
other people (Thompson, Ramos, & Willett, 2014;
Patrick, 2007). As you’ll recall (see page 300), both
impulsivity and aggression also have been linked to
low serotonin activity in other kinds of studies, so
the presence of this biological factor in people with
antisocial personality disorder is not surprising.
How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial
Personality Disorder?
Other studies indicate that individuals with this
disorder display deficient functioning in their
frontal lobes, particularly in the prefrontal cortex
(Liu et al., 2014; Thompson et al., 2014). Among
other duties, this brain region helps people to
plan and execute realistic strategies and to have
personal characteristics such as sympathy,
judgment, and empathy. These are, of course, all
qualities found wanting in people with antisocial
personality
disorder.
How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial
Personality Disorder?
In yet another line of research, investigators
have found that people with antisocial
personality disorder often feel less anxiety
than other people, and so lack a key
ingredient for learning (Blair et al., 2005).
This would help explain why they have so
much trouble learning from negative life
experiences or tuning in to the emotional
cues of others.
How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial
Personality Disorder?
Why should people with antisocial personality
disorder experience less anxiety than other
people? The answer may lie once again in the
biological realm. Research participants with the
disorder often respond to warnings or
expectations of stress with low brain and bodily
arousal, such as slow autonomic arousal and
slow EEG waves (Thompson et al., 2014;
Perdeci et al., 2010). Perhaps because of the low
arousal, they easily tune out threatening or
emotional situations, and so are unaffected by
them.
How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial
Personality Disorder?
It could also be argued that because of their
physical underarousal, people with antisocial
personality disorder would be more likely than
other people to take risks and seek thrills. That is,
they may be drawn to antisocial activity precisely
because it meets an underlying biological need
for more excitement and arousal. In support of
this idea, as you read earlier, antisocial
personality disorder often goes hand in hand with
sensation-seeking behavior.
Treatments for Antisocial Personality
Disorder
Treatments for people with antisocial personality
disorder are typically ineffective (Millon, 2011;
Meloy & Yakeley, 2010). Major obstacles to
treatment include the individuals’ lack of
conscience, desire to change, or respect for
therapy (Colli et al., 2014; Kantor, 2006). Most
of those in therapy have been forced to
participate by an employer, their school, or the
law, or they come to the attention of therapists
when they also develop another psychological
disorder (Agronin, 2006).
Treatments for Antisocial Personality
Disorder
Some cognitive therapists try to guide clients
with antisocial personality disorder to think
about moral issues and about the needs of other
people (Beck & Weishaar, 2011; Weishaar &
Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). In a similar vein,
a number of hospitals and prisons have tried to
create a therapeutic community for people with
this disorder, a structured environment that
teaches responsibility toward others (Harris &
Rice, 2006).
Treatments for Antisocial Personality
Disorder
Some patients seem to profit from such
approaches, but it appears that most do not. In
recent years, clinicians have also used
psychotropic medications, particularly atypical
antipsychotic drugs, to treat people with
antisocial personality disorder. Some report that
these drugs help reduce certain features of the
disorder, but systematic studies of this claim are
still needed (Brown et al., 2014; Thompson et al.,
2014; Silk & Jibson, 2010).
Borderline Personality Disorder
A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal
relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked
impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a
variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the
following:
1 . Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
(Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior
covered in Criterion 5 . )
2 . A pattern o f unstable a n d intense interpersonal
relationships characterized b y alternating between
extremes of idealization and devaluation .
3 . Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently
unstable self-image or sense of self.
Borderline Personality Disorder
4. Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging
(e. g . , spending, sex, substance abuse , reckless driving , binge
eating) . (Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior
covered in Criterion 5.)
5. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating
behavior.
6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g.,
intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few
hours and only rarely more than a few days).
7. Chronic feelings of emptiness.
8. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g . ,
frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights).
9 . Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative
symptoms.
Borderline Personality Disorder
People with borderline personality disorder
display great instability, including major
shifts in mood, an unstable self-image, and
impulsivity (APA, 2013). These
characteristics combine to make their
relationships very unstable as well (Paris,
2010, 2005).
Borderline Personality Disorder
People with borderline personality disorder
swing in and out of very depressive, anxious, and
irritable states that last anywhere from a few
hours to a few days or more. Their emotions
seem to be always in conflict with the world
around them. They are prone to bouts of anger,
which sometimes result in physical aggression
and violence (Scott et al., 2014). Just as often,
however, they direct their impulsive anger
inward and inflict bodily harm on themselves.
Many seem troubled by deep feelings of
emptiness.
Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline personality disorder is a complex
disorder, and it is fast becoming one of the more
common conditions seen in clinical practice.
Many of the patients who come to mental health
emergency rooms are people with this disorder
who have intentionally hurt themselves. Their
impulsive, self-destructive activities may range
from alcohol and substance abuse to delinquency,
unsafe sex, and reckless driving (Kienast et al.,
2014; Coffey et al., 2011).
Borderline Personality Disorder
Many engage in self-injurious or self-mutilation
behaviors, such as cutting or burning themselves or
banging their heads (Bracken-Minor & McDevitt-
Murphy, 2014; Chiesa, Sharp, & Fonagy, 2011). As you
saw in Chapter 9, such behaviors typically cause immense
physical suffering, but those with borderline personality
disorder often feel as if the physical discomfort offers
relief from their emotional suffering. It may serve as a
distraction from their emotional or interpersonal upsets,
“snapping” them out of an “emotional overload” (Sadeh
et al., 2014; Stanley & Brodsky, 2005).
Borderline Personality Disorder
Many try to hurt themselves as a way of
dealing with their chronic feelings of
emptiness, boredom, and identity confusion.
Scars and bruises also may provide them
with a kind of concrete evidence of their
emotional distress (Paris, 2010, 2005). Many
theorists believe that borderline patterns are
more severe among people who injure
themselves (Whipple & Fowler, 2011).
Borderline Personality Disorder
Suicidal threats and actions are also common
(Amore et al., 2014; Zimmerman et al., 2014;
Leichsenring et al., 2011). Studies suggest that
around 75 percent of people with borderline
personality disorder attempt suicide at least once
in their lives; as many as 10 percent actually
commit suicide. It is common for people with
this disorder to enter clinical treatment by way of
the emergency room after a suicide attempt.
Borderline Personality Disorder
People with borderline personality disorder
frequently form intense, conflict ridden
relationships in which their feelings are not
necessarily shared by the other person. They may
come to idealize another person’s qualities and
abilities after just a brief first encounter. They
also may violate the boundaries of relationships (
Lazarus
et al., 2014; Skodol et al., 2002).
Borderline Personality Disorder
Thinking in dichotomous (black-and-white) terms,
they quickly feel rejected and become furious when
their expectations are not met; yet they remain very
attached to the relationships (Berenson et al., 2011).
In fact, they have recurrent fears of impending
abandonment and frequently engage in frantic
efforts to avoid real or imagined separations from
important people in their lives (Gunderson, 2011;
Sherry & Whilde, 2008). Sometimes they cut
themselves or carry out other self-destructive acts to
prevent partners from leaving.
Borderline Personality Disorder
People with borderline personality disorder
typically have dramatic identity shifts. Because
of this unstable sense of self, their goals,
aspirations, friends, and even sexual orientation
may shift rapidly (Westen et al., 2011; Skodol,
2005).They may also occasionally have a sense
of dissociation, or detachment, from their own
thoughts or bodies (Zanarini et al., 2014). Indeed,
at times they may have no sense of themselves at
all, leading to the feelings of emptiness described
earlier.
Borderline Personality Disorder
According to surveys, 5.9 percent of the
adult population display borderline
personality disorder (Zanarini et al., 2014;
Sansone & Sansone, 2011). Close to 75
percent of the patients who receive the
diagnosis are women (Gunderson, 2011).
The course of the disorder varies from
person to person.
Borderline Personality Disorder
In the most common pattern, the person’s
instability and risk of suicide peak during young
adulthood and then gradually wane with
advancing age (APA, 2013; Hurt & Oltmanns,
2002). Given the chaotic and unstable
relationships characteristic of borderline
personality disorder, it is not surprising that the
disorder tends to interfere with job performance
even more than most other personality disorders
do (Hengartner et al., 2014).
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
Because a fear of abandonment tortures so many
people with borderline personality disorder,
psychodynamic theorists have looked once again
to early parental relationships to explain the
disorder (Gabbard, 2010). Object relations
theorists, for example, propose that an early lack
of acceptance by parents may lead to a loss of
self-esteem, increased dependence, and an
inability to cope with separation (Caligor &
Clarkin, 2010; Sherry & Whilde, 2008).
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
Research has found that this is consistent with
the early childhoods of people with borderline
personality disorder. In many cases, when they
were children, their parents neglected or rejected
them, verbally abused them, or otherwise
behaved inappropriately (Martín-Blanco et al.,
2014). Their childhoods were often marked by
multiple parent substitutes, divorce, death, or
traumas such as physical or sexual abuse.
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
Indeed, research suggests that early sexual abuse is
a common contributor to the development of
borderline personality disorder (Newnham & Janca,
2014; Huang, Yang, & Wu, 2010). Indeed, children
who experience such abuse are four times more
likely to develop the disorder than those who do not
(Zelkowitz et al., 2001). At the same time, it is
important to recognize that the vast majority of
people with histories of physical, sexual, or
psychological abuse do not go on to develop
borderline personality disorder (Skodol, 2005).
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
Borderline personality disorder also has been
linked to certain biological abnormalities,
such as an overly reactive amygdala, the
brain structure that is closely tied to fear and
other negative emotions, and an underactive
prefrontal cortex, the brain region linked to
planning, self-control, and decision making
(Mitchell et al., 2014;
Richter et al., 2014; Stone, 2014).
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
Moreover, people with borderline personality
disorder who are particularly impulsive—those
who attempt suicide or are very aggressive
toward others—apparently have lower brain
serotonin activity (Soloff et al., 2014; Herpertz,
2011). Some, although not all, studies have tied
this lower activity to an abnormality of the 5-
HTT gene (the serotonin transporter gene)
(Amad et al., 2014; Ni et al., 2006).
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
As you may recall, this gene also has been linked
to major depressive disorder, suicide, aggression,
and impulsivity (see page 223). In accord with
these various biological findings, close relatives
of those with borderline personality disorder are
five times more likely than the general
population to have the same personality disorder
(Amad et al., 2014; Torgersen, 2000, 1984;
Kendler et al., 1991).
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
A number of theorists currently use a biosocial theory to
explain borderline personality disorder (Neacsiu &
Linehan, 2014; Rizvi et al., 2011). According to this view,
the disorder results from a combination of internal forces
(for example, difficulty identifying and controlling one’s
emotions, social skill deficits, abnormal neurotransmitter
reactions) and external forces (for example, an
environment in which a child’s emotions are punished,
ignored, trivialized, or disregarded). Parents may, for
instance, misinterpret their child’s intense emotions as
exaggerations or attempts at manipulation rather than as
serious expressions of unsettled internal states.
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
According to the biosocial theory, if children have
intrinsic difficulty identifying and controlling their
emotions and if their parents teach them to ignore their
intense feelings, they may never learn how properly to
recognize and control their emotional arousal, how to
tolerate emotional distress, or when to trust their
emotional responses (Herpertz & Bertsch, 2014; Lazarus
et al., 2014; Gratz & Tull, 2011). Such children will be at
risk for the development of borderline personality
disorder. This theory has received some, but not
consistent, research support (Gill & Warburton, 2014).
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
Note that the biosocial theory is similar to one of the
leading explanations for eating disorders. As you saw in
Chapter 11, theorist Hilde Bruch proposed that children
whose parents do not respond accurately to the children’s
internal cues may never learn to identify cues of hunger,
thus increasing their risk of developing an eating disorder
(see pages 359–360). Small wonder that a large number of
people with borderline personality disorder also have an
eating disorder (Gabriel & Waller, 2014; Rowe et al.,
2010).
How Do Theorists Explain Borderline
Personality Disorder?
Finally, some sociocultural theorists suggest that
cases of borderline personality disorder are
particularly likely to emerge in cultures that change
rapidly. As a culture loses its stability, they argue, it
inevitably leaves many of its members with
problems of identity, a sense of emptiness, high
anxiety, and fears of abandonment. Family units
may come apart, leaving people with little sense of
belonging.
Changes of this kind in society today may explain
growing reports of the disorder
(Millon, 2011; Paris, 2010, 1991).
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
It appears that psychotherapy can eventually lead to
some degree of improvement for people with
borderline personality disorder (Omar et al., 2014;
Neville, 2014). It is, however, extraordinarily
difficult for a therapist to strike a balance between
empathizing with the borderline client’s dependency
and anger and challenging his or her way of
thinking (Goodman, Edwards, & Chung, 2014;
Gabbard, 2010). Given the emotionally draining
demands of clients with borderline personality
disorder, some therapists refuse to treat such people.
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
The wildly fluctuating interpersonal attitudes of
clients with the disorder can also make it difficult
for therapists to establish collaborative working
relationships with them (Colli et al., 2014;
Goodman et al., 2014). Moreover, clients with
borderline personality disorder may violate the
boundaries of the client–therapist relationship
(for example, calling the therapist’s emergency
contact number to discuss matters of a less
urgent nature) (Colli et al., 2014; Gutheil, 2005).
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
Traditional psychoanalysis has not been effective
with people with borderline personality disorder
(Doering et al., 2010). The clients often
experience the psychoanalytic therapist’s
reserved style and encouragement of free
association as suggesting disinterest and
abandonment. The clients may also have
difficulty tolerating interpretations made by
psychoanalytic therapists and see them as
attacks.
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
Contemporary psychodynamic approaches, such as relational
psychoanalytic therapy, in which therapists take a more
supportive and egalitarian posture, have been more effective than
traditional psychoanalytic approaches. In approaches of this
kind, therapists work to provide an empathic setting within
which borderline clients can explore their unconscious conflicts
and pay particular attention to their central relationship
disturbance, poor sense of self, and pervasive loneliness and
emptiness (Goodman et al., 2014; Gabbard, 2010, 2001; Muran
et al., 2010). Research has found that contemporary
psychodynamic treatments sometimes help reduce suicide
attempts, self-harm behaviors, and the number of
hospitalizations and bring at least some improvement to those
with the disorder (Neville, 2014; Clarkin et al., 2010, 2001).
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
Over the past two decades, an integrative
treatment for borderline personality disorder,
called dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), has
been receiving considerable research support and
is now considered the treatment of choice in
many clinical circles (Neacsiu & Linehan, 2014;
Linehan et al., 2006, 2002, 2001). DBT,
developed by psychologist Marsha Linehan,
grows largely from the cognitive-behavioral
treatment model.
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
It includes a number of the same cognitive and,
at the same time, behavioral techniques that are
applied to other disorders: homework
assignments, psycho-education, the teaching of
social and other skills, modeling by the therapist,
clear goal setting, reinforcements for appropriate
behaviors, ongoing assessment of the client’s
behaviors and treatment progress, and
collaborative examinations by the client and
therapist of the client’s ways of thinking
(Neacsiu & Linehan, 2014; Rizvi et al., 2011).
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
DBT also borrows heavily from the humanistic and
contemporary psychodynamic approaches, placing the
client–therapist relationship itself at the center of
treatment interactions, making sure that appropriate
treatment boundaries are adhered to and providing an
environment of acceptance and validation of the client.
Indeed, DBT therapists regularly empathize with their
borderline clients and with the emotional turmoil they are
experiencing; locate kernels of truth in the clients’
complaints or demands; and examine alternative ways for
them to address valid needs.
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
DBT is often supplemented by the clients’
participation in social skill-building groups
(Roney & Cannon, 2014). In these groups,
clients practice new ways of relating to other
people in a safe environment and receive
validation and support from other group
members.
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
DBT has received more research support than any other
treatment for borderline personality disorder (Neacsiu &
Linehan, 2014; Roepke et al., 2011). Many clients who
receive DBT become more able to tolerate stress; develop
new, more appropriate, social skills; respond more
effectively to life situations; and develop a more stable
identity. They also have significantly fewer suicidal
behaviors and require fewer hospitalizations than those
who receive other forms of treatment (Klein & Miller,
2011). In addition, they are more likely to remain in
treatment and to report less anger, more social
gratification, improved work performance, and reductions
in substance abuse (Rizvi et al., 2011).
Treatments for Borderline Personality
Disorder
Antidepressant, antibipolar, antianxiety, and antipsychotic drugs
have helped calm the emotional and aggressive storms of some
people with borderline personality disorder (Black et al., 2014;
Knappich et al., 2014; Martinho et al., 2014). However, given
the numerous suicide attempts by people with this disorder, the
use of drugs on an outpatient basis is controversial (Gunderson,
2011). Additionally, clients with the disorder have been known to
adjust or discontinue their medication dosages without
consulting their clinicians. Many professionals believe that
psychotropic drug treatment for borderline personality disorder
should be used largely as an adjunct to psychotherapy
approaches, and indeed many clients seem to benefit from a
combination of psychotherapy and drug therapy (Omar et al.,
2014; Soloff, 2005).
Histrionic Personality Disorder
A pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and
attention seeking, beginning by early adulthood and
present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five
(or more) of the following:
1 . Is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she
is not the center of attention.
2. Interaction with others is often characterized by
inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative
behavior.
3. Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression
of emotions.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
4. Consistently uses physical appearance to draw
attention to self.
5. Has a style of speech that is excessively
impressionistic and lacking in detail.
6. Shows self-dramatization , theatricality, and
exaggerated expression of emotion.
7. Is suggestible ( i . e . , easily influenced by
others or circumstances) .
8. Considers relationships to be more intimate
than they actually are.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
People with histrionic personality disorder,
once called hysterical personality disorder,
are extremely emotional—they are typically
described as “emotionally charged”—and
continually seek to be the center of attention
(APA, 2013). Their exaggerated moods and
neediness can complicate life considerably.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
People with histrionic personality disorder are
always “on stage,” using theatrical gestures and
mannerisms and grandiose language to describe
ordinary everyday events. Like chameleons, they
keep changing themselves to attract and impress
an audience, and in their pursuit they change not
only their surface characteristics— according to
the latest fads—but also their opinions and
beliefs. In fact, their speech is actually scanty in
detail and substance, and they seem to lack a
sense of who they really are.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Approval and praise are their lifeblood; they
must have others present to witness their
exaggerated emotional states. Vain, self-
centered, demanding, and unable to delay
gratification for long, they overreact to any
minor event that gets in the way of their
quest for attention. Some make suicide
attempts, often to manipulate others (APA,
2013; Lambert, 2003).
Histrionic Personality Disorder
People with histrionic personality disorder
may draw attention to themselves by
exaggerating their physical illnesses or
fatigues. They may also behave very
provocatively and try to achieve their goals
through sexual seduction. Most obsess over
how they look and how others will perceive
them, often wearing bright, eye-catching
clothes.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
They exaggerate the depth of their
relationships, considering themselves to be
the intimate friends of people who see them
as no more than casual acquaintances. Often
they become involved with romantic partners
who may be exciting but who do not treat
them well.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
This disorder was once believed to be more
common in women than in men, and
clinicians long described the “hysterical
wife” (Anderson et al., 2001). Research,
however, has revealed gender bias in past
diagnoses (APA, 2013; Fowler et al., 2007;
Ford & Widiger, 1989).
Histrionic Personality Disorder
When evaluating case studies of people with
a mixture of histrionic and antisocial traits,
clinicians in several studies gave a diagnosis
of histrionic personality disorder to women
more than men. Surveys suggest that 1.8
percent of adults have this personality
disorder, with males and females equally
affected (APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone,
2011).
How Do Theorists Explain Histrionic
Personality Disorder?
The psychodynamic perspective was originally developed
to help explain cases of hysteria, so it is no surprise that
psychodynamic theorists continue to have a strong interest
in histrionic personality disorder. Most psychodynamic
theorists believe that as children, people with this disorder
had cold and controlling parents who left them feeling
unloved and afraid of abandonment (Horowitz & Lerner,
2010; Bender et al., 2001). To defend against deep-seated
fears of loss, the children learned to behave dramatically,
inventing crises that would require other people to act
protectively.
How Do Theorists Explain Histrionic
Personality Disorder?
Cognitive explanations look instead at the lack of
substance and extreme suggestibility that people with
histrionic personality disorder have. Cognitive theorists
see these people as becoming less and less interested in
knowing about the world at large because they are so self-
focused and emotional. With no detailed memories of
what they never learned, they must rely on hunches or on
other people to provide them with direction in life
(Blagov et al., 2007). Some cognitive theorists also
believe that people with this disorder hold a general
assumption that they are helpless to care for themselves,
and so they constantly seek out others who will meet their
needs (Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004).
How Do Theorists Explain Histrionic
Personality Disorder?
Sociocultural, particularly multicultural, theorists
believe that histrionic personality disorder is
produced in part by cultural norms and
expectations. Until recently, our society
encouraged girls to hold on to childhood and
dependency as they grew up. The vain, dramatic,
and selfish behavior of the histrionic personality
may actually be an exaggeration of femininity as
our culture once defined it (Fowler et al., 2007).
How Do Theorists Explain Histrionic
Personality Disorder?
Similarly, some clinical observers claim that
histrionic personality disorder is diagnosed less
often in Asian and other cultures that discourage
overt sexualization and more often in Hispanic
American and Latin American cultures that are
more tolerant of overt sexualization (Patrick,
2007; Trull & Widiger, 2003). Researchers have
not, however, investigated this claim
systematically.
Treatments for Histrionic Personality
Disorder
People with histrionic personality disorder are more likely
than those with most other personality disorders to seek
out treatment on their own (Tyrer et al., 2003). Working
with them can be very difficult, however, because of the
demands, tantrums, and seductiveness they are likely to
deploy. Another problem is that these clients may pretend
to have important insights or to change during treatment
merely to please the therapist. To head off such problems,
therapists must remain objective and maintain strict
professional boundaries (Colli et al., 2014; Blagov et al.,
2007).
Treatments for Histrionic Personality
Disorder
Cognitive therapists have tried to help people with
this disorder to change their belief that they are
helpless and also to develop better, more
deliberate ways of thinking and solving problems
(Beck & Weishaar, 2014; Weishaar & Beck, 2006;
Beck et al., 2004). Psychodynamic therapy and
various group therapy formats have also been used
(Horowitz & Lerner, 2010).
Treatments for Histrionic Personality
Disorder
In all these approaches, therapists ultimately aim
to help the clients recognize their excessive
dependency, find inner satisfaction, and become
more self-reliant. Clinical case reports suggest
that each of the approaches can be useful. Drug
therapy appears less successful except as a means
of relieving the depressive symptoms that some
patients have (Bock et al., 2010; Grossman,
2004; Koenigsberg et al., 2002).
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior) , need
for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early
adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by
five (or more) of the following:
1 . Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e. g . , exaggerates
achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior
without commensurate achievements).
2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power,
brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3. Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be
understood by, or
should associate with, other special or high-status people (or
institutions) .
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
4. Requires excessive admiration .
5. Has a sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable
expectations of especially favorable treatment or
automatic compliance with his or her expectations).
6. Is interpersonally exploitative ( i . e . , takes advantage
of others to achieve his or her own ends).
7. Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify
with the feelings and needs of others.
8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are
envious of him or her.
9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
People with narcissistic personality disorder
are generally grandiose, need much
admiration, and feel no empathy with others
(APA, 2013). Convinced of their own great
success, power, or beauty, they expect
constant attention and admiration from those
around them.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
In the Greek myth, Narcissus died
enraptured by the beauty of his own
reflection in a pool, pining away with
longing to possess his own image. His name
has come to be synonymous with extreme
self-involvement, and indeed people with
narcissistic personality disorder have a
grandiose sense of self-importance.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
They exaggerate their achievements and talents,
expecting others to recognize them as superior,
and often appear arrogant. They are very choosy
about their friends and associates, believing that
their problems are unique and can be appreciated
only by other “special,” high-status people.
Because of their charm, they often make
favorable first impressions, yet they can rarely
maintain long-term relationships ( Campbell &
Miller, 2011).
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
People with narcissistic personality disorder
are seldom interested in the feelings of
others. They may not even be able to
empathize with such feelings (Baskin-
Sommers et al., 2014; Roepke & Vater, 2014;
Ritter et al., 2011). Many take advantage of
other people to achieve their own ends,
perhaps partly out of envy; at the same time
they believe others envy them.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Though grandiose, some react to criticism or
frustration with bouts of rage, humiliation, or
embitterment (APA, 2013; Campbell & Miller,
2011; Rotter, 2011). Others may react with cold
indifference. And still others become extremely
pessimistic and filled with depression. They may
have periods of zest that alternate with periods of
disappointment (Ronningstam, 2011).
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
As many as 6.2 percent of adults display
narcissistic personality disorder, up to 75
percent of them men (APA, 2013; Sansone &
Sansone, 2011). Narcissistic-type behaviors
and thoughts are common and normal among
teenagers and do not usually lead to adult
narcissism (APA, 2013).
How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic
Personality Disorder?
Psychodynamic theorists more than others have
theorized about narcissistic personality disorder,
and they again propose that the problem begins
with cold, rejecting parents. They argue that
some people with this background spend their
lives defending against feeling unsatisfied,
rejected, unworthy, ashamed, and wary of the
world ( Roepke & Vater, 2014; Ronningstam,
2011; Bornstein, 2005).
How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic
Personality Disorder?
They do so by repeatedly telling themselves that
they are actually perfect and desirable, and also
by seeking admiration from others. Object
relations theorists— the psychodynamic theorists
who emphasize relationships— interpret the
grandiose self-image as a way for these people to
convince themselves that they are totally self-
sufficient and without need of warm
relationships with their parents or anyone else
(Celani, 2014; Diamond & Meehan, 2013).
How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic
Personality Disorder?
In support of the psychodynamic theories, research
has found that children who are abused or who lose
parents through adoption, divorce, or death are at
particular risk for the later development of
narcissistic personality
disorder (Kernberg, 2010, 1992, 1989). Studies also
show that people with this disorder do indeed earn
relatively high shame and rejection scores on
various scales and believe that other people are
basically unavailable to them (Ritter et al., 2014;
Bender et al., 2001).
How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic
Personality Disorder?
A number of cognitive-behavioral theorists
propose that narcissistic personality disorder may
develop when people are treated too positively
rather than too negatively in early life. They hold
that certain children acquire a superior and
grandiose attitude when their “admiring or doting
parents” teach them to “overvalue their self
worth,” repeatedly rewarding them for minor
accomplishments or for no accomplishment at all
(Millon, 2011; Sperry, 2003).
How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic
Personality Disorder?
Many sociocultural theorists see a link
between narcissistic personality disorder and
“eras of narcissism” in society (Paris, 2014;
Campbell & Miller, 2011). They suggest that
family values and social ideals in certain
societies periodically break down, producing
generations of young people who are self-
centered and materialistic and have short
attention spans.
How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic
Personality Disorder?
Western cultures in particular, which encourage
self-expression, individualism, and
competitiveness, are considered likely to produce
such generations of narcissism. In fact, one
worldwide study conducted on the Internet found
that respondents from the United States had the
highest narcissism scores, followed, in
descending order, by those from Europe, Canada,
Asia, and the Middle East (Foster, Campbell, &
Twenge, 2003).
Treatments for Narcissistic Personality
Disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder is one of the
most difficult personality patterns to treat
because the clients are unable to
acknowledge weaknesses, to appreciate the
effect of their behavior on others, or to
incorporate feedback from others (Campbell
& Miller, 2011).
Treatments for Narcissistic Personality
Disorder
The clients who consult therapists usually do so
because of a related disorder such as depression
(APA, 2013; Piper & Joyce, 2001). Once in
treatment, the clients may try to manipulate the
therapist into supporting their sense of
superiority. Some also seem to project their
grandiose attitudes onto their therapists and
develop a love-hate stance toward them (Colli et
al., 2014; Shapiro, 2004).
Treatments for Narcissistic Personality
Disorder
Psychodynamic therapists seek to help people with this
disorder recognize and work through their basic insecurities
and defenses (Diamond & Meehan, 2013; Messer & Abbass,
2010). Cognitive therapists, focusing on the self-centered
thinking of such individuals, try to redirect the clients’ focus
onto the opinions of others, teach them to interpret criticism
more rationally, increase their ability to empathize, and
change their all-or-nothing notions (Beck & Weishaar, 2014;
Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). None of the
approaches have had clear success, however (Paris, 2014;
Dhawan et al., 2010).
“Anxious” Personality Disorders
The cluster of “anxious” personality disorders
includes the avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-
compulsive personality disorders. People with
these patterns typically display anxious and
fearful behavior. Although many of the
symptoms of these personality disorders are
similar to those of the anxiety and depressive
disorders, researchers have not found direct links
between this cluster and those disorders
(O’Donohue et al., 2007).
“Anxious” Personality Disorders
As with most of the other personality
disorders, research support for the various
explanations is very limited. At the same
time, treatments for these disorders appear to
be modestly to moderately helpful—
considerably better than for other personality
disorders.
“Anxious” Personality Disorders
A pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of
inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative
evaluation, beginning by early adulthood and
present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by
four (or more) of the following:
1 . Avoids occupational activities that involve
significant interpersonal contact because of fears
of criticism , disapproval, or rejection .
2. Is unwilling to get involved with people unless
certain of being liked .
“Anxious” Personality Disorders
3. Shows restraint within intimate relationships
because of the fear of being shamed or
ridiculed .
4. Is preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in
social situations.
5. Is inhibited in new interpersonal situations
because of feelings of inadequacy.
6. Views self as socially inept, personally
unappealing, or inferior to others.
7. Is unusually reluctant to take personal risks or to
engage in any new activities because
they may prove embarrassing.
“Anxious” Personality Disorders
People with avoidant personality disorder are
very uncomfortable and inhibited in social
situations, overwhelmed by feelings of
inadequacy, and extremely sensitive to
negative evaluation (APA, 2013). They are
so fearful of being rejected that they give no
one an opportunity to reject them—or to
accept them either:
“Anxious” Personality Disorders
People with this disorder actively avoid
occasions for social contact. At the center of this
withdrawal lies not so much poor social skills as
a dread of criticism, disapproval, or rejection.
They are timid and hesitant in social situations,
afraid of saying something foolish or of
embarrassing themselves by blushing or acting
nervous. Even in intimate relationships they
express themselves very carefully, afraid of being
shamed or ridiculed.
“Anxious” Personality Disorders
People with this disorder believe themselves to be
unappealing or inferior to
others. They exaggerate the potential difficulties of
new situations, so they seldom
take risks or try out new activities. They usually
have few or no close friends,
though they actually yearn for intimate
relationships, and frequently feel depressed
and lonely. As a substitute, some develop an inner
world of fantasy and imagination
(Millon, 2011).
“Anxious” Personality Disorders
Avoidant personality disorder is similar to social anxiety
disorder, and many people with one of these disorders
also experience the other (Eikenaes et al., 2013). The
similarities include a fear of humiliation and low
confidence. Some theorists believe that there is a key
difference between the two disorders—namely, that
people with social anxiety disorder primarily fear social
circumstances, while people with the personality disorder
tend to fear close social relationships (Lampe &
Sunderland, 2013; Kantor, 2010). Other theorists,
however, believe that the two disorders reflect the same
core of psychopathology and should be combined
(Eikenaes et al., 2013; Herbert, 2007).
“Anxious” Personality Disorders
Around 2.4 percent of adults have avoidant
personality disorder, men as frequently as
women (APA, 2013;
Sansone & Sansone, 2011). Many children
and teenagers are also painfully shy and
avoid other people, but this is usually just a
normal part of their development.
How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant
Personality Disorder?
Theorists often assume that avoidant personality
disorder has the same causes as anxiety
disorders—such as early traumas, conditioned
fears, upsetting beliefs, or biochemical
abnormalities. However, with the exception of
social anxiety disorder, research has not yet tied
the personality disorder directly to the anxiety
disorders (Herbert, 2007). Psychodynamic,
cognitive, and behavioral explanations of
avoidant personality disorder are the most
popular among clinicians.
How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant
Personality Disorder?
Psychodynamic theorists focus mainly on the
general sense of shame that people with avoidant
personality disorder feel (Svartberg &
McCullough, 2010). Some trace the shame to
childhood experiences such as early bowel and
bladder accidents. If parents repeatedly punish or
ridicule a child for having such accidents, the
child may develop a negative self-image. This
may lead to the child’s feeling unlovable
throughout life and distrusting the love of others.
How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant
Personality Disorder?
Similarly, cognitive theorists believe that harsh
criticism and rejection in early childhood may
lead certain people to assume that others in their
environment will always judge them negatively.
These people come to expect rejection,
misinterpret the reactions of others to fit that
expectation, discount positive feedback, and
generally fear social involvements—setting the
stage for avoidant personality disorder (Rees &
Pritchard, 2013; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et
al., 2004).
How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant
Personality Disorder?
In several studies, participants with this disorder
were asked to recall their childhood, and their
descriptions supported both the psychodynamic
and the cognitive theories (Carr & Francis, 2010;
Herbert, 2007). They remembered, for example,
feeling criticized, rejected, and isolated;
receiving little encouragement from their parents;
and experiencing few displays of parental love or
pride.
How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant
Personality Disorder?
Behavioral theorists suggest that people with
avoidant personality disorder typically fail to
develop normal social skills, a failure that helps
maintain the disorder. In support of this position,
several studies have found social skills deficits
among people with avoidant personality disorder
(Kantor, 2010; Herbert, 2007). Most behaviorists
agree, however, that these deficits first develop
as a result of the individuals avoiding so many
social situations.
Treatments for Avoidant Personality
Disorder
People with avoidant personality disorder come
to therapy in the hope of finding acceptance and
affection. Keeping them in treatment can be a
challenge, however, for many of them soon begin
to avoid the sessions. Often they distrust the
therapist’s sincerity and start to fear his or her
rejection. Thus, as with several of the other
personality disorders, a key task of the therapist
is to gain the person’s trust (Colli et al., 2014;
Leichsenring & Salzer, 2014).
Treatments for Avoidant Personality
Disorder
Beyond building trust, therapists tend to treat
people with avoidant personality disorder much
as they treat people with social anxiety disorder
and other anxiety disorders (Svartberg, Stiles, &
Seltzer, 2004; Markovitz, 2001). Such
approaches have had at least modest success
(Kantor, 2010; Porcerelli et al., 2007).
Psychodynamic therapists try to help clients
recognize and resolve the unconscious conflicts
that may be operating (Leichsenring & Salzer,
2014; Messer & Abbass, 2010).
Treatments for Avoidant Personality
Disorder
Cognitive therapists help them change their
distressing beliefs and thoughts, carry on in the
face of painful emotions, and improve their self-
image (Rees & Pritchard, 2013; Weishaar &
Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). Behavioral
therapists provide social skills training as well as
exposure treatments that require people to
gradually increase their social contacts (Herbert,
2007; Farmer & Nelson-Gray, 2005).
Treatments for Avoidant Personality
Disorder
Group therapy formats, especially groups that
follow cognitive and behavioral principles, have
the added advantage of providing clients with
practice in social interactions (Herbert et al.,
2005). Anti -anxiety and antidepressant drugs are
sometimes useful in reducing the social anxiety
of people with the disorder, although the
symptoms may return when medication is
stopped (Ripoll et al., 2011; Fava et al., 2002).
Dependent Personality Disorder
A pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of that
leads to submissive and clinging behavior and fears of
separation , beginning by early adulthood and present in a
variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the
following:
1 . Has difficulty making everyday decisions without an
excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others.
2 . Needs others to assume responsibility for most major
areas of his or her life.
3. Has difficulty expressing disagreement with others
because of fear of loss of support or approval. (Note: Do
not include realistic fears of retribution . )
Dependent Personality Disorder
4. Has difficulty initiating projects or doing things o n h i s or h e
r own (because o f a lack of self-confidence in judgment or
abilities rather than a lack of motivation or energy) .
5. Goes to excessive lengths to obtain nurturance and support
from others, to the point of volunteering to do things that are
unpleasant.
6. Feels uncomfortable or helpless when alone because of
exaggerated fears of being unable to care for himself or herself.
7 . Urgently seeks another relationship as a source of care and
support when a close relationship ends.
8. Is unrealistically preoccupied with fears of being left to take
care of himself or herself.
Dependent Personality Disorder
People with dependent personality disorder
have a pervasive, excessive need to be taken
care of (APA, 2013). As a result, they are
clinging and obedient, fearing separation
from their parent, spouse, or other person
with whom they are in a close relationship.
They rely on others so much that they cannot
make the smallest decision for themselves.
Dependent Personality Disorder
It is normal and healthy to depend on others,
but those with dependent personality
disorder constantly need assistance with
even the simplest matters and have extreme
feelings of inadequacy and helplessness.
Afraid that they cannot care for themselves,
they cling desperately to friends or relatives.
Dependent Personality Disorder
As you just observed, people with avoidant
personality disorder have difficulty initiating
relationships. In contrast, people with dependent
personality disorder have difficulty with
separation. They feel completely helpless and
devastated when a close relationship ends, and
they quickly seek out another relationship to fill
the void. Many cling persistently to relationships
with partners who physically or psychologically
abuse them (Loas et al., 2011).
Dependent Personality Disorder
Lacking confidence in their own ability and
judgment, people with this disorder seldom disagree
with others and allow even important decisions to be
made for them (Bornstein, 2012, 2007; Millon,
2011). They may depend on a parent or spouse to
decide where to live, what job to have, and which
neighbors to befriend. Because they so fear
rejection, they are overly sensitive to disapproval
and keep trying to meet other people’s wishes and
expectations, even if it means volunteering for
unpleasant or demeaning tasks.
Dependent Personality Disorder
Many people with dependent personality disorder
feel distressed, lonely, and sad; often they dislike
themselves. Thus they are at risk for depressive,
anxiety, and eating disorders (Bornstein, 2012,
2007). Their fear of separation and their feelings
of helplessness may leave them particularly
prone to suicidal thoughts, especially when they
believe that a relationship is about to end
(Bornstein, 2012; Kiev, 1989).
Dependent Personality Disorder
Surveys suggest that fewer than 1 percent of
the population experience dependent
personality disorder (APA, 2013; Sansone &
Sansone, 2011). For years, clinicians have
believed that more women than men display
this pattern, but some research suggests that
the disorder is just as common in men (APA,
2013).
How Do Theorists Explain Dependent
Personality Disorder?
Psychodynamic explanations for dependeng
personality disorder are very similar to those for
depression ( Svartberg & McCullough, 2010).
Freudian theorists argue, for example, that
unresolved conflicts during the oral stage of
development can give rise to a lifelong need for
nurturance, thus heightening the likelihood of a
dependent personality disorder (Bornstein, 2012,
2007, 2005).
How Do Theorists Explain Dependent
Personality Disorder?
Similarly, object relations theorists say that
early parental loss or rejection may prevent
normal experiences of attachment and
separation, leaving some children with fears
of abandonment that persist throughout their
lives (Caligor & Clarkin, 2010).
How Do Theorists Explain Dependent
Personality Disorder?
Still other psychodynamic theorists suggest
that, to the contrary, many parents of people
with this disorder were overinvolved and
overprotective, thus increasing their
children’s dependency, insecurity, and
separation anxiety (Sperry, 2003).
How Do Theorists Explain Dependent
Personality Disorder?
Behaviorists propose that parents of people with
dependent personality disorder unintentionally
rewarded their children’s clinging and “loyal”
behavior, while at the same time punishing acts
of independence, perhaps through the withdrawal
of love. Alternatively, some parents’ own
dependent behaviors may have served as models
for their children (Bornstein, 2012, 2007).
How Do Theorists Explain Dependent
Personality Disorder?
Cognitive theorists identify two maladaptive attitudes as
helping to produce and maintain this disorder:
(1) “I am inadequate and helpless to deal with the
world,”
(2) “I must find a person to provide protection so I can
cope.”
Dichotomous (black-and-white) thinking may also play a
key role: “If I am to be dependent, I must be completely
helpless,” or “If I am to be independent, I must be alone.”
Such thinking prevents sufferers from making efforts to
be autonomous (Borge et al., 2010; Weishaar & Beck,
2006; Beck et al., 2004).
Treatments for Dependent Personality
Disorder
In therapy, people with dependent personality
disorder usually place all responsibility for their
treatment and well-being on the clinician. Thus a
key task of therapy is to help patients accept
responsibility for themselves (Colli et al., 2014;
Gutheil, 2005). Because the domineering behaviors
of a spouse or parent may help foster a patient’s
symptoms, some clinicians suggest couple or family
therapy as well, or even separate therapy for the
partner or parent (Lebow & Uliaszek, 2010;
Nichols, 2004).
Treatments for Dependent Personality
Disorder
Treatment for dependent personality disorder
can be at least modestly helpful.
Psychodynamic therapy for this pattern
focuses on many of the same issues as
therapy for depressed people, including the
transference of dependency needs onto the
therapist (Svartberg & McCullough, 2010).
Treatments for Dependent Personality
Disorder
Cognitive-behavioral therapists combine
behavioral and cognitive interventions to help the
clients take control of their lives. On the
behavioral end, the therapists often provide
assertiveness training to help the individuals
better express their own wishes in relationships
(Farmer & Nelson-Gray, 2005). On the cognitive
end, the therapists also try to help the clients
challenge and change their assumptions of
incompetence and helplessness (Borge et al.,
2010; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al.,
2004).
Treatments for Dependent Personality
Disorder
Antidepressant drug therapy has been helpful for
people whose personality disorder is
accompanied by depression (Fava et al., 2002).
As with avoidant personality disorder, a group
therapy format can be helpful because it provides
opportunities for the client to receive support
from a number of peers rather than from a single
dominant person (Perry, 2005; Sperry, 2003). In
addition, group members may serve as models
for one another as they practice better ways to
express feelings and solve problems.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality
Disorder
A pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness,
perfectionism , and mental and interpersonal control, at the
expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, beginning by
early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated
by four (or more) of the following:
1 . Is preoccupied with details, rules, lists, order, organization, or
schedules to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost.
2. Shows perfectionism that interferes with task completion (e.g .
, is unable to complete a project because his or her own overly
strict standards are not met) .
3. Is excessively devoted to work and productivity to the
exclusion of leisure activities and friendships (not accounted for
by obvious economic necessity) .
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality
Disorder
4. Is over-conscientious, scrupulous, and inflexible about
matters of morality, ethics, or values (not accounted for by
cultural or religious identification).
5. Is unable to discard worn-out or worthless objects even
when they have no sentimental value.
6. Is reluctant to delegate tasks or to work with others
unless they submit to exactly his or her way of doing
things.
7. Adopts a miserly spending style toward both self and
others; money is viewed as something to be hoarded for
future catastrophes.
8. Shows rigidity and stubbornness.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality
Disorder
People with obsessive-compulsive
personality disorder are so preoccupied with
order, perfection, and control that they lose
all flexibility, openness, and efficiency
(APA, 2013). Their concern for doing
everything “right” impairs their productivity.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality
Disorder
People with this personality disorder set
unreasonably high standards for themselves and
others. Their behaviors extend well beyond the
realm of conscientiousness. They can never be
satisfied with their performance, but they
typically refuse to seek help or to work with a
team, convinced that others are too careless or
incompetent to do the job right. Because they are
so afraid of making mistakes, they may be
reluctant to make decisions.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality
Disorder
They also tend to be rigid and stubborn,
particularly in their morals, ethics, and values.
They live by a strict personal code and use it as a
yardstick for measuring others. They may have
trouble expressing much affection, and their
relationships are sometimes stiff and superficial.
In addition, they are often stingy with their time
or money. Some cannot even throw away objects
that are worn out or useless (APA, 2013).
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality
Disorder
According to surveys, as many as 7.9 percent
of the adult population display obsessive-
compulsive personality disorder, with white,
educated, married, and employed people
receiving the diagnosis most often (APA,
2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011). Men are
twice as likely as women to display the
disorder.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality
Disorder
Many clinicians believe that obsessive
compulsive personality disorder and
obsessive-compulsive disorder are closely
related. Certainly, the two disorders share a
number of features, and many people who
suffer from one of the disorders meet the
diagnostic criteria for the other disorder
(Pinto et al., 2014; Gordon et al., 2013).
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality
Disorder
However, it is worth noting that people with the
personality disorder are more likely to suffer
from either major depressive disorder,
generalized disorder, or a substance use disorder
than from obsessive-compulsive disorder (APA,
2013; Pena-Garijo et al., 2013; Pinto et al.,
2008). In fact, researchers have not consistently
found a specific link between obsessive
compulsive personality disorder and obsessive-
compulsive disorder (Starcevic & Brakoulias,
2014; Gordon et al., 2013).
How Do Theorists Explain Obsessive-
Compulsive Personality Disorder?
Most explanations of obsessive-compulsive
personality disorder borrow heavily from
those of obsessive-compulsive disorder,
despite the doubts concerning a link between
the two disorders. As with so many of
the personality disorders, psychodynamic
explanations dominate and research evidence
is limited.
How Do Theorists Explain Obsessive-
Compulsive Personality Disorder?
Freudian theorists suggest that people with
obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
are anal retentive. That is, because of overly
harsh toilet training during the anal stage,
they become filled with anger, and they
remain fixated at this stage. To keep their
anger under control, they persistently resist
both their anger and their instincts to have
bowel movements.
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders
Personality disorders

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Personality disorders

  • 1. Personality Disorders Dan Andrei Elbambuena Navarro Navarette Bagao, RPm
  • 2. This chapter begins with a general definition of personality disorder that applies to each of the 10 specific personality disorders. A personality disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment.
  • 3. The following personality disorders are included in this chapter. • Paranoid personality disorder is a pattern of distrust and suspiciousness such that others‘ motives are interpreted as malevolent. • Schizoid personality disorder is a pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotional expression. • Schizotypal personality disorder is a pattern of acute discomfort in close relationships, cognitive or perceptual distortions, and eccentricities of behavior. • Antisocial personality disorder is a pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others.
  • 4. • Borderline personality disorder is a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity. • Histrionic personality disorder is a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking. • Narcissistic personality disorder is a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy. • Avoidant personality disorder is a pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation. • Dependent personality disorder is a pattern of submissive and clinging behavior related to an excessive need to be taken care of.
  • 5. • Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is a pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control. • Personality change due to another medical condition is a persistent personality disturbance that is judged to be due to the direct physiological effects of a medical condition (e.g., frontal lobe lesion). • Other specified personality disorder and unspecified personality disorder is a category provided for two situations: 1) the individual's personality pattern meets the general criteria for a personality disorder, and traits of several different personality disorders are present, but the criteria for any specific personality disorder are not met; or 2) the individual's personality pattern meets the general criteria for a personality disorder, but the individual is considered to have a personality disorder that is not included in the DSM-5 classification (e.g., passive-aggressive personality disorder).
  • 6. General Personal ity Disorder Criteria A. A n enduring pattern o f inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture. This pattern is manifested in two (or more) of the following areas: 1 . Cognition ( i . e . , ways of perceiving and interpreting self, other people, and events). 2 . Affectivity (i.e., the range, intensity, lability, and appropriateness of emotional response). 3. Interpersonal functioning. 4. Impulse control.
  • 7. B. The enduring pattern is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations. C. The enduring pattern leads to clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. D. The pattern is stable and of long duration, and its onset can be traced back at least to adolescence ,or early adulthood. E. The enduring pattern is not better explained as a manifestation or consequence of another mental disorder. F. The enduring pattern is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance (e. g . , a drug o f abuse, a medication) or another medical condition (e. g . , head trauma) .
  • 8. Introduction Each of us has a personality—a set of uniquely expressed characteristics that influence our behaviors, emotions, thoughts, and interactions. Our particular characteristics, often called personality traits, lead us to react in fairly predictable ways as we move through life. Yet our personalities are also flexible. We learn from experience. As we interact with our surroundings, we try out various responses to see which feel better and which are more effective. This is a flexibility that people who suffer from a personality disorder usually do not have.
  • 9. Introduction People with a personality disorder display an enduring, rigid pattern of inner experience and outward behavior that impairs their sense of self, emotional experiences, goals, capacity for empathy, and/or capacity for intimacy. Put another way, they have personality traits that are much more extreme and dysfunctional than those of most other people in their culture, leading to significant problems and psychological pain for themselves or others.
  • 10. Introduction The symptoms of personality disorders last for years and typically become recognizable in adolescence or early adulthood, although some start during childhood (APA, 2013; Westen et al., 2011). These disorders are among the most difficult psychological disorders to treat. Many people with the disorders are not even aware of their personality problems and fail to trace their difficulties to their maladaptive style of thinking and behaving. Surveys indicate that between 10 and 15 percent all adults in the United States have a personality disorder (APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011).
  • 11. Introduction It is common for a person with a personality disorder to also suffer from another disorder, a relationship called comorbidity. For example, many people with avoidant personality disorder, who fearfully shy away from all relationships, also display social anxiety disorder. Perhaps avoidant personality disorder predisposes people to develop social anxiety disorder. Or perhaps social anxiety disorder sets the stage for the personality disorder.
  • 12. Introduction Then again, some biological factor may create a predisposition to both the personality disorder and the anxiety disorder. Whatever the reason for the relationship, research indicates that the presence of a personality disorder complicates a person’s chances for a successful recovery from other psychological problems (Fok et al., 2014; Abbass et al., 2011).
  • 13. Introduction DSM-5, like its predecessor, DSM-IV-TR, identifies 10 personality disorders (APA, 2013). Often these disorders are separated into three groups, or clusters. One cluster, marked by odd or eccentric behavior, consists of the paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders. A second cluster features dramatic behavior and consists of the antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders. The final cluster features a high degree of anxiety and includes the avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.
  • 14. Introduction The DSM’s listing of 10 distinct personality disorders is called a categorical approach. Like a light switch that is either on or off, this kind of approach assumes that (1)problematic personality traits are either present or absent in people (2) a personality disorder is either displayed or not displayed by a person, and (3) a person who suffers from a personality disorder is not markedly troubled by personality traits outside of that disorder.
  • 15.
  • 16.
  • 17.
  • 18. “Odd” Personality Disorders The cluster of “odd” personality disorders consists of the paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders. People with these disorders typically have odd or eccentric behaviors that are similar to but not as extensive as those seen in schizophrenia, including extreme suspiciousness, social withdrawal, and peculiar ways of thinking and perceiving things. Such behaviors often leave the person isolated. Some clinicians believe that these personality disorders are related to schizophrenia.
  • 19. “Odd” Personality Disorders In fact, schizotypal personality disorder is listed twice in DSM-5—as one of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders and as one of the personality disorders (Rosell et al., 2014; APA, 2013). Directly related or not, people with an odd cluster personality disorder often qualify for an additional diagnosis of schizophrenia or have close relatives with schizophrenia (Chemerinski & Siever, 2011).
  • 20. “Odd” Personality Disorders Clinicians have learned much about the symptoms of the odd cluster personality disorders but have not been so successful in determining their causes or how to treat them. In fact, as you’ll soon see, people with these disorders rarely seek treatment.
  • 21.
  • 22. Paranoid Personality Disorder A. A pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others such that their motives are interpreted as malevolent, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following: 1 . Suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her. 2. Is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates. 3. Is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her. 4. Reads hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into benign remarks or events.
  • 23. Paranoid Personality Disorder 5. Persistently bears grudges (i.e. , is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights) . 6. Perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to counterattack. 7. Has recurrent suspicions, without justification , regarding fidelity of spouse or sexual partner. B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder or depressive disorder with psychotic features, or another psychotic disorder and is not attributable to the physiological effects of another medical condition. Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of schizophrenia, add "premorbid," i.e., "paranoid personality disorder (premorbid)."
  • 24. Paranoid Personality Disorder People with paranoid personality disorder deeply distrust other people and are suspicious of their motives (APA, 2013). Because they believe that everyone intends them harm, they shun close relationships. They find “hidden” meanings, which are usually belittling or threatening, in everything. In a study that required people to role-play, participants with paranoia were more likely than control participants to read hostile intentions into the actions of others (Turkat et al., 1990). In addition, they more often chose anger as the appropriate role-play response.
  • 25. Paranoid Personality Disorder Quick to challenge the loyalty or trustworthiness of acquaintances, people with paranoid personality disorder remain cold and distant. A woman might avoid confiding in anyone, for example, for fear of being hurt; or a husband might, without any justification, persist in questioning his wife’s faithfulness. Although inaccurate and inappropriate, their suspicions are not usually delusional; the ideas are not so bizarre or so firmly held as to clearly remove the individuals from reality (Millon, 2011).
  • 26. Paranoid Personality Disorder People with this disorder are critical of weakness and fault in others, particularly at work (McGurk et al., 2013). They are unable to recognize their own mistakes, though, and are extremely sensitive to criticism. They often blame others for the things that go wrong in their lives, and they repeatedly bear grudges (Rotter, 2011). As many as 4.4 percent of adults in the United States experience this disorder, which is apparently more common in men than in women (APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011).
  • 27. How Do Theorists Explain Paranoid Personality Disorder? Psychodynamic theories, the oldest of these explanations, trace the pattern to early interactions with demanding parents, particularly distant, rigid fathers and overcontrolling, rejecting mothers (Caligor & Clarkin, 2010; Williams, 2010). (You will see that psychodynamic explanations for almost all the personality disorders begin the same way— with repeated mistreatment during childhood and lack of love.) According to one psychodynamic view, some people come to view their environment as hostile as a result of their parents’ persistently unreasonable demands.
  • 28. How Do Theorists Explain Paranoid Personality Disorder? They must always be on the alert because they cannot trust others, and they are likely to develop feelings of extreme anger. They also project these feelings onto others and, as a result, feel increasingly persecuted (Koenigsberg et al., 2001). Similarly, some cognitive theorists suggest that people with paranoid personality disorder generally hold broad maladaptive assumptions, such as “People are evil” and “People will attack you if given the chance” (Beck & Weishaar, 2014; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004).
  • 29. How Do Theorists Explain Paranoid Personality Disorder? Biological theorists propose that paranoid personality disorder has genetic causes (APA, 2013; Bernstein & Useda, 2007). An early study that looked at self-reports of suspiciousness in 3,810 Australian twin pairs found that if one twin was excessively suspicious, the other had an increased likelihood of also being suspicious (Kendler et al., 1987). Once again, however, it is important to note that such similarities between twins might also be the result of common environmental experiences.
  • 30. Treatments for Paranoid Personality Disorder People People with paranoid personality disorder do not typically see themselves as needing help, and few come to treatment willingly (Millon, 2011). Furthermore, many who are in treatment view the role of patient as inferior and distrust and rebel against their therapists (Kellett & Hardy, 2013; Bender, 2005). Thus it is not surprising that therapy for this disorder, as for most other personality disorders, has limited effect and moves very slowly (Piper & Joyce, 2001).
  • 31. Treatments for Paranoid Personality Disorder People Object relations therapists—the psychodynamic therapists who give center stage to relationships—try to see past the patient’s anger and work on what they view as his or her deep wish for a satisfying relationship (Caligor & Clarkin, 2010; Salvatore et al., 2005). Self-therapists the psychodynamic clinicians who focus on the need for a healthy and unified self—try to help clients reestablish self- cohesion (a unified personality), which they believe has been lost in the person’s continuing negative focus on others (Vermote et al., 2010; Silverstein, 2007).
  • 32. Treatments for Paranoid Personality Disorder People Cognitive and behavioral techniques have also been used to treat people with paranoid personality disorder, and are often combined into an integrated cognitive-behavioral approach. On the behavioral side, therapists help clients to master anxiety-reduction techniques and to improve their skills at solving interpersonal problems. On the cognitive side, therapists guide the clients to develop more realistic interpretations of other people’s words and actions and to become more aware of other people’s points of view (Kellett & Hardy, 2013; Leahy, Beck, & Beck, 2005). Antipsychotic drug therapy seems to be of limited help (Birkeland, 2013; Silk & Jibson, 2010).
  • 33.
  • 34. Schizoid Personality Disorder A. A pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following: 1 . Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family. 2 . Almost always chooses solitary activities. 3 . Has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person. 4. Takes pleasure in few, if any, activities. 5. Lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives. 6. Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others.
  • 35. Schizoid Personality Disorder 7. Shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity. B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder or depressive disorder with psychotic features, another psychotic disorder, or autism spectrum disorder and is not attributable to the physiological effects of another medical condition . Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of schizophrenia, add "premorbid," i . e . , "schizoid personality disorder (premorbid) ."
  • 36. Schizoid Personality Disorder People with schizoid personality disorder persistently avoid and are removed from social relationships and demonstrate little in the way of emotion (APA, 2013). Like people with paranoid personality disorder, they do not have close ties with other people. The reason they avoid social contact, however, has nothing to do with paranoid feelings of distrust or suspicion; it is because they genuinely prefer to be alone.
  • 37. Schizoid Personality Disorder People with this personality disorder often described as “loners,” make no effort to start or keep friendships, take little interest in having sexual relationships, and even seem indifferent to their families. They seek out jobs that require little or no contact with others. When necessary, they can form work relations to a degree, but they prefer to keep to themselves. Many live by themselves as well. Not surprisingly, their social skills tend to be weak. If they marry, their lack of interest in intimacy may create marital or family problems.
  • 38. Schizoid Personality Disorder People with schizoid personality disorder focus mainly on themselves and are generally unaffected by praise or criticism. They rarely show any feelings, expressing neither joy nor anger. They seem to have no need for attention or acceptance; are typically viewed as cold, humorless, or dull; and generally succeed in being ignored. This disorder is present in 3.1 percent of the adult population (APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011). Men are slightly more likely to experience it than are women, and men may also be more impaired by it.
  • 39. How Do Theorists Explain Schizoid Personality Disorder? Many psychodynamic theorists, particularly object relations theorists, propose that schizoid personality disorder has its roots in an unsatisfied need for human contact (Caligor & Clarkin, 2010; Kernberg & Caligor, 2005). The parents of people with this disorder, like those of people with paranoid personality disorder, are believed to have been unaccepting or even abusive of their children. Whereas people with paranoid symptoms react to such parenting chiefly with distrust, those with schizoid personality disorder are left unable to give or receive love. They cope by avoiding all relationships.
  • 40. How Do Theorists Explain Schizoid Personality Disorder? Cognitive theorists propose, not surprisingly, that people with schizoid personality disorder suffer from deficiencies in their thinking. Their thoughts tend to be vague, empty, and without much meaning, and they have trouble scanning the environment to arrive at accurate perceptions (Kramer & Meystre, 2010). Unable to pick up emotional cues from others, they simply cannot respond to emotions. As this theory might predict, children with schizoid personality disorder develop language and motor skills very slowly, whatever their level of intelligence (APA, 2013; Wolff, 2000, 1991).
  • 41. Treatments for Schizoid Personality Disorder Their social withdrawal prevents most people with schizoid personality disorder from entering therapy unless some other disorder, such as alcoholism, makes treatment necessary (Mittal et al., 2007). These clients are likely to remain emotionally distant from the therapist, seem not to care about their treatment, and make limited progress at best (Colli et al., 2014; Millon, 2011).
  • 42. Treatments for Schizoid Personality Disorder Cognitive-behavioral therapists have sometimes been able to help people with this disorder experience more positive emotions and more satisfying social interactions (Beck & Weishaar, 2011; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). On the cognitive end, their techniques include presenting clients with lists of emotions to think about or having them write down and remember pleasurable experiences.
  • 43. Treatments for Schizoid Personality Disorder On the behavioral end, therapists have sometimes had success teaching social skills to such clients, using role-playing, exposure techniques, and homework assignments as tools. Group therapy is apparently useful when it offers a safe setting for social contact, although people with schizoid personality disorder may resist pressure to take part (Piper & Joyce, 2001). As with paranoid personality disorder, drug therapy seems to offer limited help (Silk & Jibson, 2010; Koenigsberg et al., 2002).
  • 44.
  • 45. Schizotypal Personality Disorder A. A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: 1 . Ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference) . 2. Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g. , superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "sixth sense"; in children and adolescents, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations) . 3. Unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions.
  • 46. Schizotypal Personality Disorder 4. Odd thinking and speech (e. g . , vague, circumstantial, metaphorical , overelaborate , or stereotyped ) . 5. Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation . 6. Inappropriate or constricted affect. 7. Behavior or appearance that is odd , eccentric, or peculiar. 8. Lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives. 9. Excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self. B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder or depressive disorder with psychotic features, another psychotic disorder, or autism spectrum disorder. Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of schizophrenia, add "premorbid," e . g . , "schizotypal personality disorder (premorbid)."
  • 47. Schizotypal Personality Disorder People with schizotypal personality disorder display a range of interpersonal problems marked by extreme discomfort in close relationships, very odd patterns of thinking and perceiving, and behavioral eccentricities (APA, 2013). Anxious around others, they seek isolation and have few close friends. Some feel intensely lonely.
  • 48. Schizotypal Personality Disorder People with schizotypal personality disorder can be noticeably disturbed. These symptoms may include ideas of reference— beliefs that unrelated events pertain to them in some important way— and bodily illusions, such as sensing an external “force” or presence. A number of people with this disorder see themselves as having special extrasensory abilities, and some believe that they have magical control over others. Examples of schizotypal eccentricities include repeatedly arranging cans to align their labels, organizing closets extensively, or wearing an odd assortment of clothing. The emotions of these individuals may be inappropriate, flat, or humorless.
  • 49. Schizotypal Personality Disorder People with schizotypal personality disorder often have great difficulty keeping their attention focused. Correspondingly, their conversation is typically digressive and vague, even sprinkled with loose associations (Millon, 2011). They tend to drift aimlessly and lead an idle, unproductive life (Hengartner et al., 2014). They are likely to choose undemanding jobs in which they can work below their capacity and are not required to interact with other people. Surveys suggest that 3.9 percent of adults—slightly more males than females—display schizotypal personality disorder (Rosell et al., 2014; Sansone & Sansone, 2011).
  • 50. How Do Theorists Explain Schizotypal Personality Disorder? Because the symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder so often resemble those of schizophrenia, researchers have hypothesized that similar factors may be at work in both disorders. A wide range of studies have supported such expectations (Hazlett et al., 2014; Rosell et al., 2014; Thompson et al., 2014). Investigators have found that schizotypal symptoms, like schizophrenic patterns, are often linked to family conflicts and to psychological disorders in parents. They have also learned that defects in attention and short-term memory may contribute to schizotypal personality disorder, just as they apparently do to schizophrenia.
  • 51. How Do Theorists Explain Schizotypal Personality Disorder? For example, research participants with either disorder perform poorly on backward masking, a laboratory test of attention that requires a person to identify a visual stimulus immediately after a previous stimulus has flashed on and off the screen. People with these disorders have a hard time shutting out the first stimulus in order to focus on the second. Finally, researchers have linked schizotypal personality disorder to some of the same biological factors found in schizophrenia, such as high activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine, enlarged brain ventricles, smaller temporal lobes, and loss of gray matter (Ettinger et al., 2014).
  • 52. How Do Theorists Explain Schizotypal Personality Disorder? Although these findings do suggest a close relationship between schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia, the personality disorder also has been linked to disorders of mood (Lentz, Robinson, & Bolton, 2010). More than half of people with schizotypal personality disorder also suffer from major depressive disorder at some point in their lives (APA, 2013). Moreover, relatives of people with depression have a higher than usual rate of schizotypal personality disorder, and vice versa. Thus, at the very least, this personality disorder is not tied exclusively to schizophrenia.
  • 53. Treatments for Schizotypal Personality Disorder Therapy is as difficult in cases of schizotypal personality disorder as it is in cases of paranoid and schizoid personality disorders. Most therapists agree on the need to help these clients “reconnect” with the world and recognize the limits of their thinking and their powers. The therapists may thus try to set clear limits—for example, by requiring punctuality—and work on helping the clients recognize where their views end and those of the therapist begin. Other therapy goals are to increase positive social contacts, ease loneliness, reduce overstimulation, and help the individuals become more aware of their personal feelings (Colli et al., 2014; Sperry, 2003; Piper & Joyce, 2001).
  • 54. Treatments for Schizotypal Personality Disorder Cognitive-behavioral therapists further combine cognitive and behavioral techniques to help people with schizotypal personality disorder function more effectively. Using cognitive interventions, they try to teach clients to evaluate their unusual thoughts or perceptions objectively and to ignore the inappropriate ones (Beck & Weishaar, 2011; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). Therapists may keep track of clients’ odd or magical predictions, for example, and later point out their inaccuracy. When clients are speaking and begin to digress, the therapists might ask them to sum up what they are trying to say.
  • 55. Treatments for Schizotypal Personality Disorder In addition, specific behavioral methods, such as speech lessons, social skills training, and tips on appropriate dress and manners, have sometimes helped clients learn to blend in better with and be more comfortable around others (Farmer & Nelson-Gray, 2005).
  • 56. Treatments for Schizotypal Personality Disorder Antipsychotic drugs have been given to people with schizotypal personality disorder, again because of the disorder’s similarity to schizophrenia. In low doses the drugs appear to have helped some people, usually by reducing certain of their thought problems (Rosenbluth & Sinyor, 2012; Silk & Jibson, 2010).
  • 57.
  • 58. “Dramatic” Personality Disorders The cluster of “dramatic” personality disorders includes the antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders. The behaviors of people with these problems are so dramatic, emotional, or erratic that it is almost impossible for them to have relationships that are truly giving and satisfying.
  • 59. “Dramatic” Personality Disorders These personality disorders are more commonly diagnosed than the others. However, only the antisocial and borderline personality disorders have received much study, partly because they create so many problems for other people. The causes of the disorders, like those of the odd personality disorders, are not well understood. Treatments range from ineffective to moderately effective.
  • 60.
  • 61. Antisocial Personality Disorder A. A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring since age 1 5 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following: 1 . Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors, as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest. 2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure. 3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead . 4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults.
  • 62. Antisocial Personality Disorder 5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others. 6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations. 7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another. B. The individual is at least age 1 8 years. C. There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 1 5 years. D . The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
  • 63. Antisocial Personality Disorder Sometimes described as “psychopaths” or “sociopaths,” people with antisocial personality disorder persistently disregard and violate others’ rights (APA, 2013). Aside from substance use disorders, this is the disorder most closely linked to adult criminal behavior. DSM-5 stipulates that a person must be at least 18 years of age to receive this diagnosis; however, most people with antisocial personality disorder displayed some patterns of misbehavior before they were 15, including truancy, running away, cruelty to animals or people, and destroying property.
  • 64. Antisocial Personality Disorder People with antisocial personality disorder lie repeatedly (APA, 2013). Many cannot work consistently at a job; they are absent frequently and are likely to quit their jobs altogether (Hengartner et al., 2014). Usually they are also careless with money and frequently fail to pay their debts. They are often impulsive, taking action without thinking of the consequences (Millon, 2011). Correspondingly, they may be irritable, aggressive, and quick to start fights. Many travel from place to place.
  • 65. Antisocial Personality Disorder Recklessness is another common trait: people with antisocial personality disorder have little regard for their own safety or for that of others, even their children. They are self-centered as well, and are likely to have trouble maintaining close relationships. Usually they develop a knack for gaining personal profit at the expense of other people. Because the pain or damage they cause seldom concerns them, clinicians commonly say that they lack a moral conscience. They think of their victims as weak and deserving of being conned, robbed, or even physically harmed (see PsychWatch on page 534).
  • 66. Antisocial Personality Disorder Surveys indicate that 3.6 percent of adults in the United States meet the criteria for antisocial personality disorder (Sansone & Sansone, 2011). The disorder is as much as four times more common among men than women.
  • 67. Antisocial Personality Disorder Because people with this disorder are often arrested, researchers frequently look for people with antisocial patterns in prison populations (Pondé et al., 2014; Black et al., 2010). It is estimated that at least 40 percent of people in prison meet the diagnostic criteria for this disorder (Naidoo & Mkize, 2012). Among men in urban jails, the antisocial personality pattern has been linked strongly to past arrests for crimes of violence (De Matteo et al., 2005). The criminal behavior of many people with this disorder declines after the age of 40; some, however, continue their criminal activities throughout their lives (APA, 2013).
  • 68. Antisocial Personality Disorder Studies and clinical observations also indicate that people with antisocial personality disorder have higher rates of alcoholism and other substance use disorders than do the rest of the population (Brook et al., 2014; Reese et al., 2010). Perhaps intoxication and substance misuse help trigger the development of antisocial personality disorder by loosening a person’s inhibitions.
  • 69. Antisocial Personality Disorder Perhaps this personality disorder somehow makes a person more prone to abuse substances. Or perhaps antisocial personality disorder and substance use disorders both have the same cause, such as a deep-seated need to take risks. Interestingly, drug users with the personality disorder often cite the recreational aspects of drug use as their reason for starting and continuing it.
  • 70. Antisocial Personality Disorder It appears that children with conduct disorder and an accompanying attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder have a heightened risk of developing antisocial personality disorder (APA, 2013; Black et al., 2010). Like adults with antisocial personality disorder, children with a conduct disorder persistently lie and violate rules and other people’s rights, and children with attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder lack foresight and judgment and fail to learn from experience. Intriguing as these observations may be, however, the precise connection between the childhood disorders and antisocial personality disorder has been difficult to pinpoint.
  • 71. How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial Personality Disorder? Explanations of antisocial personality disorder come from the psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and biological models. As with many other personality disorders, psychodynamic theorists propose that this one begins with an absence of parental love during infancy, leading to a lack of basic trust (Meloy & Yakeley, 2010; Sperry, 2003).
  • 72. How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial Personality Disorder? In this view, some children—the ones who develop antisocial personality disorder—respond to the early inadequacies by becoming emotionally distant, and they bond with others through the use of power and destructiveness. In support of the psychodynamic explanation, researchers have found that people with this disorder are more likely than others to have had significant stress in their childhoods, particularly in such forms as family poverty, family violence, child abuse, and parental conflict or divorce (Kumari et al., 2014; Martens, 2005).
  • 73. How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial Personality Disorder? Many behavioral theorists have suggested that antisocial symptoms may be learned through modeling, or imitation (Gaynor & Baird, 2007). As evidence, they point to the higher rate of antisocial personality disorder found among the parents of people with this disorder (APA, 2013; Paris, 2001). Other behaviorists have suggested that some parents unintentionally teach antisocial behavior by regularly rewarding a child’s aggressive behavior (Kazdin, 2005). When the child misbehaves or becomes violent in reaction to the parents’ requests or orders, for example, the parents may give in to restore peace. Without meaning to, they may be teaching the child to be stubborn and perhaps even violent.
  • 74. How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial Personality Disorder? The cognitive view says that people with antisocial personality disorder hold attitudes that trivialize the importance of other people’s needs (Elwood et al., 2004). Such a philosophy of life, some theorists suggest, may be far more common in our society than people recognize. Cognitive theorists further propose that people with this disorder have genuine difficulty recognizing points of view or feelings other than their own ( Herpertz & Bertsch, 2014).
  • 75. How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial Personality Disorder? Finally, studies suggest that biological factors may play an important role in antisocial personality disorder. Researchers have found that antisocial people, particularly those who are highly impulsive and aggressive, have lower serotonin activity than other people (Thompson, Ramos, & Willett, 2014; Patrick, 2007). As you’ll recall (see page 300), both impulsivity and aggression also have been linked to low serotonin activity in other kinds of studies, so the presence of this biological factor in people with antisocial personality disorder is not surprising.
  • 76. How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial Personality Disorder? Other studies indicate that individuals with this disorder display deficient functioning in their frontal lobes, particularly in the prefrontal cortex (Liu et al., 2014; Thompson et al., 2014). Among other duties, this brain region helps people to plan and execute realistic strategies and to have personal characteristics such as sympathy, judgment, and empathy. These are, of course, all qualities found wanting in people with antisocial personality disorder.
  • 77. How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial Personality Disorder? In yet another line of research, investigators have found that people with antisocial personality disorder often feel less anxiety than other people, and so lack a key ingredient for learning (Blair et al., 2005). This would help explain why they have so much trouble learning from negative life experiences or tuning in to the emotional cues of others.
  • 78. How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial Personality Disorder? Why should people with antisocial personality disorder experience less anxiety than other people? The answer may lie once again in the biological realm. Research participants with the disorder often respond to warnings or expectations of stress with low brain and bodily arousal, such as slow autonomic arousal and slow EEG waves (Thompson et al., 2014; Perdeci et al., 2010). Perhaps because of the low arousal, they easily tune out threatening or emotional situations, and so are unaffected by them.
  • 79. How Do Theorists Explain Antisocial Personality Disorder? It could also be argued that because of their physical underarousal, people with antisocial personality disorder would be more likely than other people to take risks and seek thrills. That is, they may be drawn to antisocial activity precisely because it meets an underlying biological need for more excitement and arousal. In support of this idea, as you read earlier, antisocial personality disorder often goes hand in hand with sensation-seeking behavior.
  • 80. Treatments for Antisocial Personality Disorder Treatments for people with antisocial personality disorder are typically ineffective (Millon, 2011; Meloy & Yakeley, 2010). Major obstacles to treatment include the individuals’ lack of conscience, desire to change, or respect for therapy (Colli et al., 2014; Kantor, 2006). Most of those in therapy have been forced to participate by an employer, their school, or the law, or they come to the attention of therapists when they also develop another psychological disorder (Agronin, 2006).
  • 81. Treatments for Antisocial Personality Disorder Some cognitive therapists try to guide clients with antisocial personality disorder to think about moral issues and about the needs of other people (Beck & Weishaar, 2011; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). In a similar vein, a number of hospitals and prisons have tried to create a therapeutic community for people with this disorder, a structured environment that teaches responsibility toward others (Harris & Rice, 2006).
  • 82. Treatments for Antisocial Personality Disorder Some patients seem to profit from such approaches, but it appears that most do not. In recent years, clinicians have also used psychotropic medications, particularly atypical antipsychotic drugs, to treat people with antisocial personality disorder. Some report that these drugs help reduce certain features of the disorder, but systematic studies of this claim are still needed (Brown et al., 2014; Thompson et al., 2014; Silk & Jibson, 2010).
  • 83.
  • 84. Borderline Personality Disorder A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: 1 . Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. (Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5 . ) 2 . A pattern o f unstable a n d intense interpersonal relationships characterized b y alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation . 3 . Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.
  • 85. Borderline Personality Disorder 4. Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e. g . , spending, sex, substance abuse , reckless driving , binge eating) . (Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5.) 5. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior. 6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days). 7. Chronic feelings of emptiness. 8. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g . , frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights). 9 . Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms.
  • 86. Borderline Personality Disorder People with borderline personality disorder display great instability, including major shifts in mood, an unstable self-image, and impulsivity (APA, 2013). These characteristics combine to make their relationships very unstable as well (Paris, 2010, 2005).
  • 87. Borderline Personality Disorder People with borderline personality disorder swing in and out of very depressive, anxious, and irritable states that last anywhere from a few hours to a few days or more. Their emotions seem to be always in conflict with the world around them. They are prone to bouts of anger, which sometimes result in physical aggression and violence (Scott et al., 2014). Just as often, however, they direct their impulsive anger inward and inflict bodily harm on themselves. Many seem troubled by deep feelings of emptiness.
  • 88. Borderline Personality Disorder Borderline personality disorder is a complex disorder, and it is fast becoming one of the more common conditions seen in clinical practice. Many of the patients who come to mental health emergency rooms are people with this disorder who have intentionally hurt themselves. Their impulsive, self-destructive activities may range from alcohol and substance abuse to delinquency, unsafe sex, and reckless driving (Kienast et al., 2014; Coffey et al., 2011).
  • 89. Borderline Personality Disorder Many engage in self-injurious or self-mutilation behaviors, such as cutting or burning themselves or banging their heads (Bracken-Minor & McDevitt- Murphy, 2014; Chiesa, Sharp, & Fonagy, 2011). As you saw in Chapter 9, such behaviors typically cause immense physical suffering, but those with borderline personality disorder often feel as if the physical discomfort offers relief from their emotional suffering. It may serve as a distraction from their emotional or interpersonal upsets, “snapping” them out of an “emotional overload” (Sadeh et al., 2014; Stanley & Brodsky, 2005).
  • 90. Borderline Personality Disorder Many try to hurt themselves as a way of dealing with their chronic feelings of emptiness, boredom, and identity confusion. Scars and bruises also may provide them with a kind of concrete evidence of their emotional distress (Paris, 2010, 2005). Many theorists believe that borderline patterns are more severe among people who injure themselves (Whipple & Fowler, 2011).
  • 91. Borderline Personality Disorder Suicidal threats and actions are also common (Amore et al., 2014; Zimmerman et al., 2014; Leichsenring et al., 2011). Studies suggest that around 75 percent of people with borderline personality disorder attempt suicide at least once in their lives; as many as 10 percent actually commit suicide. It is common for people with this disorder to enter clinical treatment by way of the emergency room after a suicide attempt.
  • 92. Borderline Personality Disorder People with borderline personality disorder frequently form intense, conflict ridden relationships in which their feelings are not necessarily shared by the other person. They may come to idealize another person’s qualities and abilities after just a brief first encounter. They also may violate the boundaries of relationships ( Lazarus et al., 2014; Skodol et al., 2002).
  • 93. Borderline Personality Disorder Thinking in dichotomous (black-and-white) terms, they quickly feel rejected and become furious when their expectations are not met; yet they remain very attached to the relationships (Berenson et al., 2011). In fact, they have recurrent fears of impending abandonment and frequently engage in frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined separations from important people in their lives (Gunderson, 2011; Sherry & Whilde, 2008). Sometimes they cut themselves or carry out other self-destructive acts to prevent partners from leaving.
  • 94. Borderline Personality Disorder People with borderline personality disorder typically have dramatic identity shifts. Because of this unstable sense of self, their goals, aspirations, friends, and even sexual orientation may shift rapidly (Westen et al., 2011; Skodol, 2005).They may also occasionally have a sense of dissociation, or detachment, from their own thoughts or bodies (Zanarini et al., 2014). Indeed, at times they may have no sense of themselves at all, leading to the feelings of emptiness described earlier.
  • 95. Borderline Personality Disorder According to surveys, 5.9 percent of the adult population display borderline personality disorder (Zanarini et al., 2014; Sansone & Sansone, 2011). Close to 75 percent of the patients who receive the diagnosis are women (Gunderson, 2011). The course of the disorder varies from person to person.
  • 96. Borderline Personality Disorder In the most common pattern, the person’s instability and risk of suicide peak during young adulthood and then gradually wane with advancing age (APA, 2013; Hurt & Oltmanns, 2002). Given the chaotic and unstable relationships characteristic of borderline personality disorder, it is not surprising that the disorder tends to interfere with job performance even more than most other personality disorders do (Hengartner et al., 2014).
  • 97. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? Because a fear of abandonment tortures so many people with borderline personality disorder, psychodynamic theorists have looked once again to early parental relationships to explain the disorder (Gabbard, 2010). Object relations theorists, for example, propose that an early lack of acceptance by parents may lead to a loss of self-esteem, increased dependence, and an inability to cope with separation (Caligor & Clarkin, 2010; Sherry & Whilde, 2008).
  • 98. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? Research has found that this is consistent with the early childhoods of people with borderline personality disorder. In many cases, when they were children, their parents neglected or rejected them, verbally abused them, or otherwise behaved inappropriately (Martín-Blanco et al., 2014). Their childhoods were often marked by multiple parent substitutes, divorce, death, or traumas such as physical or sexual abuse.
  • 99. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? Indeed, research suggests that early sexual abuse is a common contributor to the development of borderline personality disorder (Newnham & Janca, 2014; Huang, Yang, & Wu, 2010). Indeed, children who experience such abuse are four times more likely to develop the disorder than those who do not (Zelkowitz et al., 2001). At the same time, it is important to recognize that the vast majority of people with histories of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse do not go on to develop borderline personality disorder (Skodol, 2005).
  • 100. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? Borderline personality disorder also has been linked to certain biological abnormalities, such as an overly reactive amygdala, the brain structure that is closely tied to fear and other negative emotions, and an underactive prefrontal cortex, the brain region linked to planning, self-control, and decision making (Mitchell et al., 2014; Richter et al., 2014; Stone, 2014).
  • 101. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? Moreover, people with borderline personality disorder who are particularly impulsive—those who attempt suicide or are very aggressive toward others—apparently have lower brain serotonin activity (Soloff et al., 2014; Herpertz, 2011). Some, although not all, studies have tied this lower activity to an abnormality of the 5- HTT gene (the serotonin transporter gene) (Amad et al., 2014; Ni et al., 2006).
  • 102. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? As you may recall, this gene also has been linked to major depressive disorder, suicide, aggression, and impulsivity (see page 223). In accord with these various biological findings, close relatives of those with borderline personality disorder are five times more likely than the general population to have the same personality disorder (Amad et al., 2014; Torgersen, 2000, 1984; Kendler et al., 1991).
  • 103. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? A number of theorists currently use a biosocial theory to explain borderline personality disorder (Neacsiu & Linehan, 2014; Rizvi et al., 2011). According to this view, the disorder results from a combination of internal forces (for example, difficulty identifying and controlling one’s emotions, social skill deficits, abnormal neurotransmitter reactions) and external forces (for example, an environment in which a child’s emotions are punished, ignored, trivialized, or disregarded). Parents may, for instance, misinterpret their child’s intense emotions as exaggerations or attempts at manipulation rather than as serious expressions of unsettled internal states.
  • 104. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? According to the biosocial theory, if children have intrinsic difficulty identifying and controlling their emotions and if their parents teach them to ignore their intense feelings, they may never learn how properly to recognize and control their emotional arousal, how to tolerate emotional distress, or when to trust their emotional responses (Herpertz & Bertsch, 2014; Lazarus et al., 2014; Gratz & Tull, 2011). Such children will be at risk for the development of borderline personality disorder. This theory has received some, but not consistent, research support (Gill & Warburton, 2014).
  • 105. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? Note that the biosocial theory is similar to one of the leading explanations for eating disorders. As you saw in Chapter 11, theorist Hilde Bruch proposed that children whose parents do not respond accurately to the children’s internal cues may never learn to identify cues of hunger, thus increasing their risk of developing an eating disorder (see pages 359–360). Small wonder that a large number of people with borderline personality disorder also have an eating disorder (Gabriel & Waller, 2014; Rowe et al., 2010).
  • 106. How Do Theorists Explain Borderline Personality Disorder? Finally, some sociocultural theorists suggest that cases of borderline personality disorder are particularly likely to emerge in cultures that change rapidly. As a culture loses its stability, they argue, it inevitably leaves many of its members with problems of identity, a sense of emptiness, high anxiety, and fears of abandonment. Family units may come apart, leaving people with little sense of belonging. Changes of this kind in society today may explain growing reports of the disorder (Millon, 2011; Paris, 2010, 1991).
  • 107. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder It appears that psychotherapy can eventually lead to some degree of improvement for people with borderline personality disorder (Omar et al., 2014; Neville, 2014). It is, however, extraordinarily difficult for a therapist to strike a balance between empathizing with the borderline client’s dependency and anger and challenging his or her way of thinking (Goodman, Edwards, & Chung, 2014; Gabbard, 2010). Given the emotionally draining demands of clients with borderline personality disorder, some therapists refuse to treat such people.
  • 108. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder The wildly fluctuating interpersonal attitudes of clients with the disorder can also make it difficult for therapists to establish collaborative working relationships with them (Colli et al., 2014; Goodman et al., 2014). Moreover, clients with borderline personality disorder may violate the boundaries of the client–therapist relationship (for example, calling the therapist’s emergency contact number to discuss matters of a less urgent nature) (Colli et al., 2014; Gutheil, 2005).
  • 109. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder Traditional psychoanalysis has not been effective with people with borderline personality disorder (Doering et al., 2010). The clients often experience the psychoanalytic therapist’s reserved style and encouragement of free association as suggesting disinterest and abandonment. The clients may also have difficulty tolerating interpretations made by psychoanalytic therapists and see them as attacks.
  • 110. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder Contemporary psychodynamic approaches, such as relational psychoanalytic therapy, in which therapists take a more supportive and egalitarian posture, have been more effective than traditional psychoanalytic approaches. In approaches of this kind, therapists work to provide an empathic setting within which borderline clients can explore their unconscious conflicts and pay particular attention to their central relationship disturbance, poor sense of self, and pervasive loneliness and emptiness (Goodman et al., 2014; Gabbard, 2010, 2001; Muran et al., 2010). Research has found that contemporary psychodynamic treatments sometimes help reduce suicide attempts, self-harm behaviors, and the number of hospitalizations and bring at least some improvement to those with the disorder (Neville, 2014; Clarkin et al., 2010, 2001).
  • 111. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder Over the past two decades, an integrative treatment for borderline personality disorder, called dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), has been receiving considerable research support and is now considered the treatment of choice in many clinical circles (Neacsiu & Linehan, 2014; Linehan et al., 2006, 2002, 2001). DBT, developed by psychologist Marsha Linehan, grows largely from the cognitive-behavioral treatment model.
  • 112. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder It includes a number of the same cognitive and, at the same time, behavioral techniques that are applied to other disorders: homework assignments, psycho-education, the teaching of social and other skills, modeling by the therapist, clear goal setting, reinforcements for appropriate behaviors, ongoing assessment of the client’s behaviors and treatment progress, and collaborative examinations by the client and therapist of the client’s ways of thinking (Neacsiu & Linehan, 2014; Rizvi et al., 2011).
  • 113. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder DBT also borrows heavily from the humanistic and contemporary psychodynamic approaches, placing the client–therapist relationship itself at the center of treatment interactions, making sure that appropriate treatment boundaries are adhered to and providing an environment of acceptance and validation of the client. Indeed, DBT therapists regularly empathize with their borderline clients and with the emotional turmoil they are experiencing; locate kernels of truth in the clients’ complaints or demands; and examine alternative ways for them to address valid needs.
  • 114. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder DBT is often supplemented by the clients’ participation in social skill-building groups (Roney & Cannon, 2014). In these groups, clients practice new ways of relating to other people in a safe environment and receive validation and support from other group members.
  • 115. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder DBT has received more research support than any other treatment for borderline personality disorder (Neacsiu & Linehan, 2014; Roepke et al., 2011). Many clients who receive DBT become more able to tolerate stress; develop new, more appropriate, social skills; respond more effectively to life situations; and develop a more stable identity. They also have significantly fewer suicidal behaviors and require fewer hospitalizations than those who receive other forms of treatment (Klein & Miller, 2011). In addition, they are more likely to remain in treatment and to report less anger, more social gratification, improved work performance, and reductions in substance abuse (Rizvi et al., 2011).
  • 116. Treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder Antidepressant, antibipolar, antianxiety, and antipsychotic drugs have helped calm the emotional and aggressive storms of some people with borderline personality disorder (Black et al., 2014; Knappich et al., 2014; Martinho et al., 2014). However, given the numerous suicide attempts by people with this disorder, the use of drugs on an outpatient basis is controversial (Gunderson, 2011). Additionally, clients with the disorder have been known to adjust or discontinue their medication dosages without consulting their clinicians. Many professionals believe that psychotropic drug treatment for borderline personality disorder should be used largely as an adjunct to psychotherapy approaches, and indeed many clients seem to benefit from a combination of psychotherapy and drug therapy (Omar et al., 2014; Soloff, 2005).
  • 117.
  • 118. Histrionic Personality Disorder A pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: 1 . Is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the center of attention. 2. Interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior. 3. Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions.
  • 119. Histrionic Personality Disorder 4. Consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self. 5. Has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacking in detail. 6. Shows self-dramatization , theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion. 7. Is suggestible ( i . e . , easily influenced by others or circumstances) . 8. Considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are.
  • 120. Histrionic Personality Disorder People with histrionic personality disorder, once called hysterical personality disorder, are extremely emotional—they are typically described as “emotionally charged”—and continually seek to be the center of attention (APA, 2013). Their exaggerated moods and neediness can complicate life considerably.
  • 121. Histrionic Personality Disorder People with histrionic personality disorder are always “on stage,” using theatrical gestures and mannerisms and grandiose language to describe ordinary everyday events. Like chameleons, they keep changing themselves to attract and impress an audience, and in their pursuit they change not only their surface characteristics— according to the latest fads—but also their opinions and beliefs. In fact, their speech is actually scanty in detail and substance, and they seem to lack a sense of who they really are.
  • 122. Histrionic Personality Disorder Approval and praise are their lifeblood; they must have others present to witness their exaggerated emotional states. Vain, self- centered, demanding, and unable to delay gratification for long, they overreact to any minor event that gets in the way of their quest for attention. Some make suicide attempts, often to manipulate others (APA, 2013; Lambert, 2003).
  • 123. Histrionic Personality Disorder People with histrionic personality disorder may draw attention to themselves by exaggerating their physical illnesses or fatigues. They may also behave very provocatively and try to achieve their goals through sexual seduction. Most obsess over how they look and how others will perceive them, often wearing bright, eye-catching clothes.
  • 124. Histrionic Personality Disorder They exaggerate the depth of their relationships, considering themselves to be the intimate friends of people who see them as no more than casual acquaintances. Often they become involved with romantic partners who may be exciting but who do not treat them well.
  • 125. Histrionic Personality Disorder This disorder was once believed to be more common in women than in men, and clinicians long described the “hysterical wife” (Anderson et al., 2001). Research, however, has revealed gender bias in past diagnoses (APA, 2013; Fowler et al., 2007; Ford & Widiger, 1989).
  • 126. Histrionic Personality Disorder When evaluating case studies of people with a mixture of histrionic and antisocial traits, clinicians in several studies gave a diagnosis of histrionic personality disorder to women more than men. Surveys suggest that 1.8 percent of adults have this personality disorder, with males and females equally affected (APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011).
  • 127. How Do Theorists Explain Histrionic Personality Disorder? The psychodynamic perspective was originally developed to help explain cases of hysteria, so it is no surprise that psychodynamic theorists continue to have a strong interest in histrionic personality disorder. Most psychodynamic theorists believe that as children, people with this disorder had cold and controlling parents who left them feeling unloved and afraid of abandonment (Horowitz & Lerner, 2010; Bender et al., 2001). To defend against deep-seated fears of loss, the children learned to behave dramatically, inventing crises that would require other people to act protectively.
  • 128. How Do Theorists Explain Histrionic Personality Disorder? Cognitive explanations look instead at the lack of substance and extreme suggestibility that people with histrionic personality disorder have. Cognitive theorists see these people as becoming less and less interested in knowing about the world at large because they are so self- focused and emotional. With no detailed memories of what they never learned, they must rely on hunches or on other people to provide them with direction in life (Blagov et al., 2007). Some cognitive theorists also believe that people with this disorder hold a general assumption that they are helpless to care for themselves, and so they constantly seek out others who will meet their needs (Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004).
  • 129. How Do Theorists Explain Histrionic Personality Disorder? Sociocultural, particularly multicultural, theorists believe that histrionic personality disorder is produced in part by cultural norms and expectations. Until recently, our society encouraged girls to hold on to childhood and dependency as they grew up. The vain, dramatic, and selfish behavior of the histrionic personality may actually be an exaggeration of femininity as our culture once defined it (Fowler et al., 2007).
  • 130. How Do Theorists Explain Histrionic Personality Disorder? Similarly, some clinical observers claim that histrionic personality disorder is diagnosed less often in Asian and other cultures that discourage overt sexualization and more often in Hispanic American and Latin American cultures that are more tolerant of overt sexualization (Patrick, 2007; Trull & Widiger, 2003). Researchers have not, however, investigated this claim systematically.
  • 131. Treatments for Histrionic Personality Disorder People with histrionic personality disorder are more likely than those with most other personality disorders to seek out treatment on their own (Tyrer et al., 2003). Working with them can be very difficult, however, because of the demands, tantrums, and seductiveness they are likely to deploy. Another problem is that these clients may pretend to have important insights or to change during treatment merely to please the therapist. To head off such problems, therapists must remain objective and maintain strict professional boundaries (Colli et al., 2014; Blagov et al., 2007).
  • 132. Treatments for Histrionic Personality Disorder Cognitive therapists have tried to help people with this disorder to change their belief that they are helpless and also to develop better, more deliberate ways of thinking and solving problems (Beck & Weishaar, 2014; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). Psychodynamic therapy and various group therapy formats have also been used (Horowitz & Lerner, 2010).
  • 133. Treatments for Histrionic Personality Disorder In all these approaches, therapists ultimately aim to help the clients recognize their excessive dependency, find inner satisfaction, and become more self-reliant. Clinical case reports suggest that each of the approaches can be useful. Drug therapy appears less successful except as a means of relieving the depressive symptoms that some patients have (Bock et al., 2010; Grossman, 2004; Koenigsberg et al., 2002).
  • 134.
  • 135. Narcissistic Personality Disorder A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior) , need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: 1 . Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e. g . , exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements). 2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love. 3. Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions) .
  • 136. Narcissistic Personality Disorder 4. Requires excessive admiration . 5. Has a sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations). 6. Is interpersonally exploitative ( i . e . , takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends). 7. Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others. 8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her. 9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.
  • 137. Narcissistic Personality Disorder People with narcissistic personality disorder are generally grandiose, need much admiration, and feel no empathy with others (APA, 2013). Convinced of their own great success, power, or beauty, they expect constant attention and admiration from those around them.
  • 138. Narcissistic Personality Disorder In the Greek myth, Narcissus died enraptured by the beauty of his own reflection in a pool, pining away with longing to possess his own image. His name has come to be synonymous with extreme self-involvement, and indeed people with narcissistic personality disorder have a grandiose sense of self-importance.
  • 139. Narcissistic Personality Disorder They exaggerate their achievements and talents, expecting others to recognize them as superior, and often appear arrogant. They are very choosy about their friends and associates, believing that their problems are unique and can be appreciated only by other “special,” high-status people. Because of their charm, they often make favorable first impressions, yet they can rarely maintain long-term relationships ( Campbell & Miller, 2011).
  • 140. Narcissistic Personality Disorder People with narcissistic personality disorder are seldom interested in the feelings of others. They may not even be able to empathize with such feelings (Baskin- Sommers et al., 2014; Roepke & Vater, 2014; Ritter et al., 2011). Many take advantage of other people to achieve their own ends, perhaps partly out of envy; at the same time they believe others envy them.
  • 141. Narcissistic Personality Disorder Though grandiose, some react to criticism or frustration with bouts of rage, humiliation, or embitterment (APA, 2013; Campbell & Miller, 2011; Rotter, 2011). Others may react with cold indifference. And still others become extremely pessimistic and filled with depression. They may have periods of zest that alternate with periods of disappointment (Ronningstam, 2011).
  • 142. Narcissistic Personality Disorder As many as 6.2 percent of adults display narcissistic personality disorder, up to 75 percent of them men (APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011). Narcissistic-type behaviors and thoughts are common and normal among teenagers and do not usually lead to adult narcissism (APA, 2013).
  • 143. How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Psychodynamic theorists more than others have theorized about narcissistic personality disorder, and they again propose that the problem begins with cold, rejecting parents. They argue that some people with this background spend their lives defending against feeling unsatisfied, rejected, unworthy, ashamed, and wary of the world ( Roepke & Vater, 2014; Ronningstam, 2011; Bornstein, 2005).
  • 144. How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic Personality Disorder? They do so by repeatedly telling themselves that they are actually perfect and desirable, and also by seeking admiration from others. Object relations theorists— the psychodynamic theorists who emphasize relationships— interpret the grandiose self-image as a way for these people to convince themselves that they are totally self- sufficient and without need of warm relationships with their parents or anyone else (Celani, 2014; Diamond & Meehan, 2013).
  • 145. How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic Personality Disorder? In support of the psychodynamic theories, research has found that children who are abused or who lose parents through adoption, divorce, or death are at particular risk for the later development of narcissistic personality disorder (Kernberg, 2010, 1992, 1989). Studies also show that people with this disorder do indeed earn relatively high shame and rejection scores on various scales and believe that other people are basically unavailable to them (Ritter et al., 2014; Bender et al., 2001).
  • 146. How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic Personality Disorder? A number of cognitive-behavioral theorists propose that narcissistic personality disorder may develop when people are treated too positively rather than too negatively in early life. They hold that certain children acquire a superior and grandiose attitude when their “admiring or doting parents” teach them to “overvalue their self worth,” repeatedly rewarding them for minor accomplishments or for no accomplishment at all (Millon, 2011; Sperry, 2003).
  • 147. How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Many sociocultural theorists see a link between narcissistic personality disorder and “eras of narcissism” in society (Paris, 2014; Campbell & Miller, 2011). They suggest that family values and social ideals in certain societies periodically break down, producing generations of young people who are self- centered and materialistic and have short attention spans.
  • 148. How Do Theorists Explain Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Western cultures in particular, which encourage self-expression, individualism, and competitiveness, are considered likely to produce such generations of narcissism. In fact, one worldwide study conducted on the Internet found that respondents from the United States had the highest narcissism scores, followed, in descending order, by those from Europe, Canada, Asia, and the Middle East (Foster, Campbell, & Twenge, 2003).
  • 149. Treatments for Narcissistic Personality Disorder Narcissistic personality disorder is one of the most difficult personality patterns to treat because the clients are unable to acknowledge weaknesses, to appreciate the effect of their behavior on others, or to incorporate feedback from others (Campbell & Miller, 2011).
  • 150. Treatments for Narcissistic Personality Disorder The clients who consult therapists usually do so because of a related disorder such as depression (APA, 2013; Piper & Joyce, 2001). Once in treatment, the clients may try to manipulate the therapist into supporting their sense of superiority. Some also seem to project their grandiose attitudes onto their therapists and develop a love-hate stance toward them (Colli et al., 2014; Shapiro, 2004).
  • 151. Treatments for Narcissistic Personality Disorder Psychodynamic therapists seek to help people with this disorder recognize and work through their basic insecurities and defenses (Diamond & Meehan, 2013; Messer & Abbass, 2010). Cognitive therapists, focusing on the self-centered thinking of such individuals, try to redirect the clients’ focus onto the opinions of others, teach them to interpret criticism more rationally, increase their ability to empathize, and change their all-or-nothing notions (Beck & Weishaar, 2014; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). None of the approaches have had clear success, however (Paris, 2014; Dhawan et al., 2010).
  • 152.
  • 153. “Anxious” Personality Disorders The cluster of “anxious” personality disorders includes the avoidant, dependent, and obsessive- compulsive personality disorders. People with these patterns typically display anxious and fearful behavior. Although many of the symptoms of these personality disorders are similar to those of the anxiety and depressive disorders, researchers have not found direct links between this cluster and those disorders (O’Donohue et al., 2007).
  • 154. “Anxious” Personality Disorders As with most of the other personality disorders, research support for the various explanations is very limited. At the same time, treatments for these disorders appear to be modestly to moderately helpful— considerably better than for other personality disorders.
  • 155.
  • 156. “Anxious” Personality Disorders A pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following: 1 . Avoids occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact because of fears of criticism , disapproval, or rejection . 2. Is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being liked .
  • 157. “Anxious” Personality Disorders 3. Shows restraint within intimate relationships because of the fear of being shamed or ridiculed . 4. Is preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social situations. 5. Is inhibited in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacy. 6. Views self as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others. 7. Is unusually reluctant to take personal risks or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing.
  • 158. “Anxious” Personality Disorders People with avoidant personality disorder are very uncomfortable and inhibited in social situations, overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, and extremely sensitive to negative evaluation (APA, 2013). They are so fearful of being rejected that they give no one an opportunity to reject them—or to accept them either:
  • 159. “Anxious” Personality Disorders People with this disorder actively avoid occasions for social contact. At the center of this withdrawal lies not so much poor social skills as a dread of criticism, disapproval, or rejection. They are timid and hesitant in social situations, afraid of saying something foolish or of embarrassing themselves by blushing or acting nervous. Even in intimate relationships they express themselves very carefully, afraid of being shamed or ridiculed.
  • 160. “Anxious” Personality Disorders People with this disorder believe themselves to be unappealing or inferior to others. They exaggerate the potential difficulties of new situations, so they seldom take risks or try out new activities. They usually have few or no close friends, though they actually yearn for intimate relationships, and frequently feel depressed and lonely. As a substitute, some develop an inner world of fantasy and imagination (Millon, 2011).
  • 161. “Anxious” Personality Disorders Avoidant personality disorder is similar to social anxiety disorder, and many people with one of these disorders also experience the other (Eikenaes et al., 2013). The similarities include a fear of humiliation and low confidence. Some theorists believe that there is a key difference between the two disorders—namely, that people with social anxiety disorder primarily fear social circumstances, while people with the personality disorder tend to fear close social relationships (Lampe & Sunderland, 2013; Kantor, 2010). Other theorists, however, believe that the two disorders reflect the same core of psychopathology and should be combined (Eikenaes et al., 2013; Herbert, 2007).
  • 162. “Anxious” Personality Disorders Around 2.4 percent of adults have avoidant personality disorder, men as frequently as women (APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011). Many children and teenagers are also painfully shy and avoid other people, but this is usually just a normal part of their development.
  • 163. How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant Personality Disorder? Theorists often assume that avoidant personality disorder has the same causes as anxiety disorders—such as early traumas, conditioned fears, upsetting beliefs, or biochemical abnormalities. However, with the exception of social anxiety disorder, research has not yet tied the personality disorder directly to the anxiety disorders (Herbert, 2007). Psychodynamic, cognitive, and behavioral explanations of avoidant personality disorder are the most popular among clinicians.
  • 164. How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant Personality Disorder? Psychodynamic theorists focus mainly on the general sense of shame that people with avoidant personality disorder feel (Svartberg & McCullough, 2010). Some trace the shame to childhood experiences such as early bowel and bladder accidents. If parents repeatedly punish or ridicule a child for having such accidents, the child may develop a negative self-image. This may lead to the child’s feeling unlovable throughout life and distrusting the love of others.
  • 165. How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant Personality Disorder? Similarly, cognitive theorists believe that harsh criticism and rejection in early childhood may lead certain people to assume that others in their environment will always judge them negatively. These people come to expect rejection, misinterpret the reactions of others to fit that expectation, discount positive feedback, and generally fear social involvements—setting the stage for avoidant personality disorder (Rees & Pritchard, 2013; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004).
  • 166. How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant Personality Disorder? In several studies, participants with this disorder were asked to recall their childhood, and their descriptions supported both the psychodynamic and the cognitive theories (Carr & Francis, 2010; Herbert, 2007). They remembered, for example, feeling criticized, rejected, and isolated; receiving little encouragement from their parents; and experiencing few displays of parental love or pride.
  • 167. How Do Theorists Explain Avoidant Personality Disorder? Behavioral theorists suggest that people with avoidant personality disorder typically fail to develop normal social skills, a failure that helps maintain the disorder. In support of this position, several studies have found social skills deficits among people with avoidant personality disorder (Kantor, 2010; Herbert, 2007). Most behaviorists agree, however, that these deficits first develop as a result of the individuals avoiding so many social situations.
  • 168. Treatments for Avoidant Personality Disorder People with avoidant personality disorder come to therapy in the hope of finding acceptance and affection. Keeping them in treatment can be a challenge, however, for many of them soon begin to avoid the sessions. Often they distrust the therapist’s sincerity and start to fear his or her rejection. Thus, as with several of the other personality disorders, a key task of the therapist is to gain the person’s trust (Colli et al., 2014; Leichsenring & Salzer, 2014).
  • 169. Treatments for Avoidant Personality Disorder Beyond building trust, therapists tend to treat people with avoidant personality disorder much as they treat people with social anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders (Svartberg, Stiles, & Seltzer, 2004; Markovitz, 2001). Such approaches have had at least modest success (Kantor, 2010; Porcerelli et al., 2007). Psychodynamic therapists try to help clients recognize and resolve the unconscious conflicts that may be operating (Leichsenring & Salzer, 2014; Messer & Abbass, 2010).
  • 170. Treatments for Avoidant Personality Disorder Cognitive therapists help them change their distressing beliefs and thoughts, carry on in the face of painful emotions, and improve their self- image (Rees & Pritchard, 2013; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004). Behavioral therapists provide social skills training as well as exposure treatments that require people to gradually increase their social contacts (Herbert, 2007; Farmer & Nelson-Gray, 2005).
  • 171. Treatments for Avoidant Personality Disorder Group therapy formats, especially groups that follow cognitive and behavioral principles, have the added advantage of providing clients with practice in social interactions (Herbert et al., 2005). Anti -anxiety and antidepressant drugs are sometimes useful in reducing the social anxiety of people with the disorder, although the symptoms may return when medication is stopped (Ripoll et al., 2011; Fava et al., 2002).
  • 172.
  • 173. Dependent Personality Disorder A pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of that leads to submissive and clinging behavior and fears of separation , beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: 1 . Has difficulty making everyday decisions without an excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others. 2 . Needs others to assume responsibility for most major areas of his or her life. 3. Has difficulty expressing disagreement with others because of fear of loss of support or approval. (Note: Do not include realistic fears of retribution . )
  • 174. Dependent Personality Disorder 4. Has difficulty initiating projects or doing things o n h i s or h e r own (because o f a lack of self-confidence in judgment or abilities rather than a lack of motivation or energy) . 5. Goes to excessive lengths to obtain nurturance and support from others, to the point of volunteering to do things that are unpleasant. 6. Feels uncomfortable or helpless when alone because of exaggerated fears of being unable to care for himself or herself. 7 . Urgently seeks another relationship as a source of care and support when a close relationship ends. 8. Is unrealistically preoccupied with fears of being left to take care of himself or herself.
  • 175. Dependent Personality Disorder People with dependent personality disorder have a pervasive, excessive need to be taken care of (APA, 2013). As a result, they are clinging and obedient, fearing separation from their parent, spouse, or other person with whom they are in a close relationship. They rely on others so much that they cannot make the smallest decision for themselves.
  • 176. Dependent Personality Disorder It is normal and healthy to depend on others, but those with dependent personality disorder constantly need assistance with even the simplest matters and have extreme feelings of inadequacy and helplessness. Afraid that they cannot care for themselves, they cling desperately to friends or relatives.
  • 177. Dependent Personality Disorder As you just observed, people with avoidant personality disorder have difficulty initiating relationships. In contrast, people with dependent personality disorder have difficulty with separation. They feel completely helpless and devastated when a close relationship ends, and they quickly seek out another relationship to fill the void. Many cling persistently to relationships with partners who physically or psychologically abuse them (Loas et al., 2011).
  • 178. Dependent Personality Disorder Lacking confidence in their own ability and judgment, people with this disorder seldom disagree with others and allow even important decisions to be made for them (Bornstein, 2012, 2007; Millon, 2011). They may depend on a parent or spouse to decide where to live, what job to have, and which neighbors to befriend. Because they so fear rejection, they are overly sensitive to disapproval and keep trying to meet other people’s wishes and expectations, even if it means volunteering for unpleasant or demeaning tasks.
  • 179. Dependent Personality Disorder Many people with dependent personality disorder feel distressed, lonely, and sad; often they dislike themselves. Thus they are at risk for depressive, anxiety, and eating disorders (Bornstein, 2012, 2007). Their fear of separation and their feelings of helplessness may leave them particularly prone to suicidal thoughts, especially when they believe that a relationship is about to end (Bornstein, 2012; Kiev, 1989).
  • 180. Dependent Personality Disorder Surveys suggest that fewer than 1 percent of the population experience dependent personality disorder (APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011). For years, clinicians have believed that more women than men display this pattern, but some research suggests that the disorder is just as common in men (APA, 2013).
  • 181. How Do Theorists Explain Dependent Personality Disorder? Psychodynamic explanations for dependeng personality disorder are very similar to those for depression ( Svartberg & McCullough, 2010). Freudian theorists argue, for example, that unresolved conflicts during the oral stage of development can give rise to a lifelong need for nurturance, thus heightening the likelihood of a dependent personality disorder (Bornstein, 2012, 2007, 2005).
  • 182. How Do Theorists Explain Dependent Personality Disorder? Similarly, object relations theorists say that early parental loss or rejection may prevent normal experiences of attachment and separation, leaving some children with fears of abandonment that persist throughout their lives (Caligor & Clarkin, 2010).
  • 183. How Do Theorists Explain Dependent Personality Disorder? Still other psychodynamic theorists suggest that, to the contrary, many parents of people with this disorder were overinvolved and overprotective, thus increasing their children’s dependency, insecurity, and separation anxiety (Sperry, 2003).
  • 184. How Do Theorists Explain Dependent Personality Disorder? Behaviorists propose that parents of people with dependent personality disorder unintentionally rewarded their children’s clinging and “loyal” behavior, while at the same time punishing acts of independence, perhaps through the withdrawal of love. Alternatively, some parents’ own dependent behaviors may have served as models for their children (Bornstein, 2012, 2007).
  • 185. How Do Theorists Explain Dependent Personality Disorder? Cognitive theorists identify two maladaptive attitudes as helping to produce and maintain this disorder: (1) “I am inadequate and helpless to deal with the world,” (2) “I must find a person to provide protection so I can cope.” Dichotomous (black-and-white) thinking may also play a key role: “If I am to be dependent, I must be completely helpless,” or “If I am to be independent, I must be alone.” Such thinking prevents sufferers from making efforts to be autonomous (Borge et al., 2010; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004).
  • 186. Treatments for Dependent Personality Disorder In therapy, people with dependent personality disorder usually place all responsibility for their treatment and well-being on the clinician. Thus a key task of therapy is to help patients accept responsibility for themselves (Colli et al., 2014; Gutheil, 2005). Because the domineering behaviors of a spouse or parent may help foster a patient’s symptoms, some clinicians suggest couple or family therapy as well, or even separate therapy for the partner or parent (Lebow & Uliaszek, 2010; Nichols, 2004).
  • 187. Treatments for Dependent Personality Disorder Treatment for dependent personality disorder can be at least modestly helpful. Psychodynamic therapy for this pattern focuses on many of the same issues as therapy for depressed people, including the transference of dependency needs onto the therapist (Svartberg & McCullough, 2010).
  • 188. Treatments for Dependent Personality Disorder Cognitive-behavioral therapists combine behavioral and cognitive interventions to help the clients take control of their lives. On the behavioral end, the therapists often provide assertiveness training to help the individuals better express their own wishes in relationships (Farmer & Nelson-Gray, 2005). On the cognitive end, the therapists also try to help the clients challenge and change their assumptions of incompetence and helplessness (Borge et al., 2010; Weishaar & Beck, 2006; Beck et al., 2004).
  • 189. Treatments for Dependent Personality Disorder Antidepressant drug therapy has been helpful for people whose personality disorder is accompanied by depression (Fava et al., 2002). As with avoidant personality disorder, a group therapy format can be helpful because it provides opportunities for the client to receive support from a number of peers rather than from a single dominant person (Perry, 2005; Sperry, 2003). In addition, group members may serve as models for one another as they practice better ways to express feelings and solve problems.
  • 190.
  • 191. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder A pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism , and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following: 1 . Is preoccupied with details, rules, lists, order, organization, or schedules to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost. 2. Shows perfectionism that interferes with task completion (e.g . , is unable to complete a project because his or her own overly strict standards are not met) . 3. Is excessively devoted to work and productivity to the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships (not accounted for by obvious economic necessity) .
  • 192. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder 4. Is over-conscientious, scrupulous, and inflexible about matters of morality, ethics, or values (not accounted for by cultural or religious identification). 5. Is unable to discard worn-out or worthless objects even when they have no sentimental value. 6. Is reluctant to delegate tasks or to work with others unless they submit to exactly his or her way of doing things. 7. Adopts a miserly spending style toward both self and others; money is viewed as something to be hoarded for future catastrophes. 8. Shows rigidity and stubbornness.
  • 193. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder People with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder are so preoccupied with order, perfection, and control that they lose all flexibility, openness, and efficiency (APA, 2013). Their concern for doing everything “right” impairs their productivity.
  • 194. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder People with this personality disorder set unreasonably high standards for themselves and others. Their behaviors extend well beyond the realm of conscientiousness. They can never be satisfied with their performance, but they typically refuse to seek help or to work with a team, convinced that others are too careless or incompetent to do the job right. Because they are so afraid of making mistakes, they may be reluctant to make decisions.
  • 195. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder They also tend to be rigid and stubborn, particularly in their morals, ethics, and values. They live by a strict personal code and use it as a yardstick for measuring others. They may have trouble expressing much affection, and their relationships are sometimes stiff and superficial. In addition, they are often stingy with their time or money. Some cannot even throw away objects that are worn out or useless (APA, 2013).
  • 196. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder According to surveys, as many as 7.9 percent of the adult population display obsessive- compulsive personality disorder, with white, educated, married, and employed people receiving the diagnosis most often (APA, 2013; Sansone & Sansone, 2011). Men are twice as likely as women to display the disorder.
  • 197. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder Many clinicians believe that obsessive compulsive personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder are closely related. Certainly, the two disorders share a number of features, and many people who suffer from one of the disorders meet the diagnostic criteria for the other disorder (Pinto et al., 2014; Gordon et al., 2013).
  • 198. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder However, it is worth noting that people with the personality disorder are more likely to suffer from either major depressive disorder, generalized disorder, or a substance use disorder than from obsessive-compulsive disorder (APA, 2013; Pena-Garijo et al., 2013; Pinto et al., 2008). In fact, researchers have not consistently found a specific link between obsessive compulsive personality disorder and obsessive- compulsive disorder (Starcevic & Brakoulias, 2014; Gordon et al., 2013).
  • 199. How Do Theorists Explain Obsessive- Compulsive Personality Disorder? Most explanations of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder borrow heavily from those of obsessive-compulsive disorder, despite the doubts concerning a link between the two disorders. As with so many of the personality disorders, psychodynamic explanations dominate and research evidence is limited.
  • 200. How Do Theorists Explain Obsessive- Compulsive Personality Disorder? Freudian theorists suggest that people with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder are anal retentive. That is, because of overly harsh toilet training during the anal stage, they become filled with anger, and they remain fixated at this stage. To keep their anger under control, they persistently resist both their anger and their instincts to have bowel movements.