Personality disorders are physical, intellectual and spiritual characteristics that disrupt a person's adaptation to the environment and daily functionality, create a state of tension and anxiety, deviate from the expectations of the culture in which they live, and become persistent. In a personality disorder, the frequency and level of use of the pattern in question by the person and the impairment in functionality in his or her life are important for diagnosis. Therefore, when we think about personality disorder, we must first ask ourselves the following questions about the person:
What situational circumstances might be affecting my/my friend/relative's behavior?
Are the behaviors I observe part of a long-term pattern of behavior or do they occur only from time to time?
Do the behaviors I observe have a disruptive effect on my/others' lives?
Does it comply with criteria that can be considered compatible within the culture?
Let's consider these questions when explaining personality disorders below.
Paranoid Personality Disorder
In paranoid personality disorder, people feel intense and unjustifiable distrust of others, constantly question the loyalty and reliability of others, overanalyze the situations they experience, and often notice details that other people cannot notice. They exaggerate the meaning of the clues they think they've picked up and spend a lot of time trying to discover people's "true" intentions. They are also very sensitive to criticism and often tend to misinterpret situations in which they are suspicious. The rate of paranoid personality disorder in the general population is between 0.5-5.6%.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
In schizoid personality disorder, people avoid all kinds of interpersonal relationships and exhibit cold behavior in their interactions with others. Other people describe them as individuals who are cold, lonely, detached from other people, and display monotonous affect. People with this diagnosis chronically avoid relationships and lack an understanding of emotionality. According to psychoanalytic theory, schizoid personality disorder arises from the mother-child relationship in which the child cannot learn to give and receive love. The child sees relationships and emotions as dangerous, so he prefers to remain isolated from his own emotions and other people.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Categories of eccentricities in cognition that are typical of schizotypal personality disorder include:
Paranoia or suspiciousness: Like paranoid personality disorder patients, schizotypal personality disorder patients perceive other people's behavior as deceptive and hostile, and much of their social anxiety stems from this paranoia.
Thoughts of reference: They believe that some random events or conditions are related to them.
Strange beliefs and magical thoughts: They have beliefs that are not compatible with cultural values. For example, believing that you know what others are thinking.
Perceptual illusions, inappropriate and restricted affect.
As a result, their speech may be disjointed, situational, vague, or very detailed. They may show inappropriate emotional reactions in their interactions with others, or they may have no emotional reaction to what others do or say. In addition, their behavior may be strange and their attention may be easily distracted or, on the contrary, they may focus on an object for a long time. Although the strangenesses in thought, behavior and speech are similar to the strangenesses in schizophrenia, they are not as severe and the basic connections of these patients with reality are not lost.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
People with antisocial personality disorder have difficulty establishing positive relationships with other people and tend to behave in ways that do not comply with social norms and values. They may commit aggressive illegal acts against others (insults, murder, rape). They insist on making themselves appear innocent, but when necessary, they can pretend to be polite and polite until they get what they want.
Key features of Antisocial Personality Disorder: poor control over impulses, low tolerance for frustration, and often acting impulsively; Not having any concern about the consequences of one's behavior and taking risks and seeking excitement without considering possible dangers. Substance abuse occurs in 80% of patients with antisocial personality disorder. Substance abuse likely fuels impulsive and antisocial behavior. Alcohol and other substances reduce a person's control over their behavior, increasing their aggression. These patients tend not to believe they need therapy. To treatment; They can apply due to marital problems, work conflicts or relationship problems. They tend to blame others rather than accept responsibility for current situations.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
These people cannot stand criticism and expect appreciation, approval and praise from others. When their expectations are not met, they feel disappointed and their self-esteem drops. He is very important about himself, he is successful, beautiful, perfect, etc. They have beliefs. A person who believes that he is a very special person believes that he will only be understood by people who are special like him. They are reluctant to understand and recognize the feelings of others in their relationships. They generally seek treatment because they have difficulty adjusting to depression and life stressors.
Borderline Personality Disorder
The characteristics of borderline personality disorder are observed as mood lability, hypersensitivity to abandonment, self-destructive behavior, variability in thoughts about the self, and oscillations between self-doubt and grandiosis and self-worth. Their interpersonal interactions range from overly idealizing others to devaluing them. They often say they are in a terrible void. For this reason, they may enter into new relationships that they think can fill that huge void. When they perceive others to have rejected them, they reject themselves and, as a result, may turn to self-punishment and/or harm. These people have not been able to integrate the positive and negative aspects of their thoughts about themselves (self-concept) or their thoughts about others. They see themselves and others as either all-good or all-bad, and they oscillate between these two ideas. This process is called fission. This inconsistency in relationships in borderline personality disorder arises from this phenomenon of division.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
In histrionic personality disorder, the person wants to be at the center of attention and tries to achieve this by openly engaging in seductive behavior and emphasizing the positive features of their physical appearance. It has features such as dramatizing events and exaggerated body and facial movements. Others see them as superficial, self-centered, demanding, and incapable of postponing pleasurable things. They can make quick friends but quickly feel rejected. They are seen to sexualize topics other than sexuality, but they have deep sexual fears and restrictions in their sexual lives. It has been observed that these individuals tend to exaggerate their health problems and are more likely to attempt suicide.
Avoidant Personality Disorder
These people avoid being criticized by others and avoid any interaction that involves the possibility of criticism because they feel excessive tension. They may choose a socially isolated career and be overly sensitive to cues of evaluation or criticism in situations where they must interact. They are afraid that they might say something stupid or do something that would embarrass them. They yearn to establish relationships with others, but they do not see themselves as worthy of these relationships and as a result, they isolate themselves from social environments. Although it has many similarities with social phobia, it also has some distinct differences: What makes people with avoidant personality disorder avoid social interactions; It is a general feeling of inadequacy and a general and ongoing fear of criticism. People with social phobia: They are afraid of the situations in which they need to perform, they do not have the general feeling of inadequacy.
Dependent Personality Disorder
It has been observed that people with this personality disorder are overprotected in childhood and raised with their autonomy and initiative skills restricted. In dependent personality disorder, the person has difficulty making decisions for himself, but may make decisions with the advice and support of others. One can only function with the help of relationships. If there is no one around him who looks after him, protects him, supports him and makes decisions, he feels insecure and uneasy. Needs others to take responsibility. In this personality disorder, a deep fear of rejection and abandonment is constantly present. They may do things they don't like for the support of others. Protective workplaces that provide supervision rather than jobs that require taking responsibility and autonomous decision-making are suitable for these people. It has been observed that dependent personality disorder can be accompanied by comorbid major depression and chronic anxiety.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
The person with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder controls himself and his environment excessively, is a perfectionist, and has strict rules. In daily life, they pay attention to details and are so interested in rules, details, ordering and organizing that they forget the main purpose of the activity. These are all highly valued characteristics in many societies. But some people are at the extremes of these traits and as a result are rigid, rigid, perfectionist, dogmatic and emotionally blocked. Early psychodynamic theorists; They argue that obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is a result of fixation in the anal period. At this stage, during toilet training, parents treated the child in a punitive and overtly meticulous manner (Freud, 1963). According to Sullivan (1953), this disorder; It occurs when children grow up in environments filled with great anger and hatred hiding behind fake love and kindness. Children fail to develop interpersonal skills and instead avoid intimacy and begin to follow rigid rules to maintain their sense of self-esteem and self-control.
References: dbe.com.tr