A mental disorder, also referred to as a psychiatric disorder or a mental illness, is characterized by a “clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotional regulation, or behavior… [and] it is usually associated with distress or impairment in important areas of functioning.” In general terms, a mental disorder can be defined as an illness of the human mind. The World Health Organization (WHO) describe personality disorders as “deeply ingrained and enduring behavior patterns, manifesting themselves as inflexible responses to a broad range of personal and social situations’; they represent ‘either extreme or significant deviations from the way the average individual in a given culture perceives, thinks, feels, and particularly relates to others’ and are ‘developmental conditions, which appear in childhood or adolescence and continue into adulthood.” Data provided by the Cambridge University Press indicates that the global pooled prevalence of any personality disorder is 7.8%.
Types Of Personality Disorders
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) list ten standalone personality disorders. Based on similar symptoms and overlapping characteristics, each personality disorder is categorized into one of three clusters (cluster A, cluster B, and cluster C). The ten types of personality disorders and their associated clusters, as provided by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), include:
- Cluster A: characterized as odd or eccentric personalities.
- Paranoid: mistrust and suspicion
- Schizoid: disinterest in others
- Schizotypal: eccentric ideas and behavior
- Cluster B: characterized as dramatic, emotional, or erratic personalities.
- Antisocial: disregard for others, manipulation of others for personal gain, social irresponsibility
- Borderline: intolerance of being alone and emotional dysregulation
- Histrionic: attention seeking
- Narcissistic: fragile self-esteem, underlying dysregulation, overt grandiosity
- Cluster C: characterized as anxious or fearful personalities.
- Avoidant: avoidance of interpersonal contact due to rejection sensitivity
- Dependent: submissive and a need to be taken care of
- Obsessive-compulsive: rigidity, obstinacy, and perfectionism
Although historically, personality disorders have been viewed as fundamentally different from mental disorders, clinical and genetic evidence have come to recognize personality disorders as a sub-group of mental illness.
Treatment In Calabasas
Calabasas is a city in California. It is a well-known suburb of Los Angeles, located west of the San Fernando Valley and north of the Santa Monica Mountains. Over the past decade, the city of Calabasas has grown in its reputation for luxury as well as for privacy which makes it a hidden gem for residential living for society’s elite, and one of the most desirable destinations in Los Angeles County. It is also home to a plethora of highly qualified mental health clinicians providing an array of therapeutic services and treatment options.
The information above is provided for the use of informational purposes only. The above content is not to be substituted for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment, as in no way is it intended as an attempt to practice medicine, give specific medical advice, including, without limitation, advice concerning the topic of mental health. As such, please do not use any material provided above to disregard professional advice or delay seeking treatment.
