Personality disorders are a predisposing factor for other psychiatric disorders such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, impulse-control disorders, eating disorders, and suicide. Furthermore, the ten different personality disorders can be grouped into three clusters based on descriptive similarities within each cluster. The prevalence of some personality disorders in monozygotic twins is several times higher than in dizygotic twins and monozygotic twins reared apart are about as similar as monozygotic twins reared together. The best evidence that genetic factors contribute to personality disorders comes from large twin studies. More recently, researches have found genetic correlations and genes of interest. Psychoanalysts traditionally suggest these disturbances result from a failure to progress through proper psychosexual development. The precise etiology of personality disorders is unknown, but there are a broad range of theories. Risk factors for personality disorders include adverse childhood events, younger adults, unmarried, lower socioeconomic status, and lower education level. See below for more info on personality clusters.Ī number of biological, genetic, psychosocial, and cultural factors during childhood and adolescence contribute to the development of personality disorders. The prevalence of the three separate clusters (A, B, and C) is 3.6%, 1.5%, and 2.7%, respectively. The World Health Organization has estimated the prevalence of having a personality disorder to be 6.1%. Alloplastic = adapt by trying to alter the external environment or other people rather than themselves. Ego syntonic = thoughts, behaviors, wishes, impulses are acceptable to the ego. In general, personality disorder symptoms are considered ego syntonic (as opposed to ego dystonic) and alloplastic.

Dysfunction may been seen in social, relational, or occupational areas and are especially vulnerable to developing symptoms of other mental disorders during stress. These enduring patterns of behavior and emotional experience differ markedly from expectations of an individual's culture. Personality disorders are described as pervasive, maladaptive, and chronic patterns of behavior, thinking, and feeling, which ultimately lead to distress and dysfunction. Personality can vary widely and many people have eccentric quirks and unconventional tendencies, however these are not pathological unless they impair daily function or cause significant distress. It refers to all of the characteristics that adapt in unique ways to ever-changing internal and external environments. Our findings showed a significant improvement in depression, anger, perceived anxiety control, and global functioning.Personality is an individuals stable, predictable, emotional, and behavioral traits. A number of biological, genetic, psychosocial, and cultural factors during childhood and adolescence contribute to the development of personality disorders. See below for more info on personality clusters. In this work we present preliminary findings of the efficacy of a six-month DBT-based program for the treatment of four patients with a diagnosis of cluster C personality disorder. The prevalence of the three separate clusters (A, B, and C) is 3.6, 1.5, and 2.7, respectively. DBT could be a useful approach for the treatment of these disorders, given that its main targets are emotion regulation difficulties. These features are opposite to the features of BPD (i.e., emotional constriction vs emotional dysregulation, overcontrolled behavior vs impulsive behavior, etc.). The three main clusters of personality disorders are odd and eccentric behavior, dramatic, emotional or erratic behavior, and anxious and fearful behavior. These disorders are characterized also by difficulties in emotion regulation: being emotionally constricted, overcontrolled, cognitively rigid, and behaviorally avoidant and include obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) and avoidant personality disorder (APD). There is a set of personality disorders belonging to cluster C (DSM-IV-TR, APA, 2000) that represent the dialectical opposite of BPD and related disorders. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has been proposed as a useful treatment for a wide range of clients with symptoms functionally similar to those of borderline personality disorder (BPD), having in common pervasive emotion dysregulation.

Personality clusters