Personality Disorders - A Discussion

There is growing awareness about the problem of personality disorders. Surprisingly, psychologists estimate up to 15 percent of the population in Western society have some degree of personality disorder. In America, that would equate to over 40 million adults.

A personality is made up of several different components, including how the person interacts with their peers and the world around them, their beliefs, their emotional coping strategies, their thoughts and their pervasive mood. For someone with a disorder, there was a stage in their development where things did not progress as it should. There are several different types of personality disorder. Most people who suffer from one function fairly well as adults, but are often regarded as antisocial, eccentric or emotionally unpredictable by those around them.

One of the more common disorders is borderline personality disorder. Although the word 'borderline' suggests their behaviour is only marginally atypical, this is not the case. 'Borderline', at the time of the disorder first being identified, referred to the fact a person with it was believed to fall between having a neurosis or psychosis. A person with a borderline personality disorder has a tendency for extreme mood swings, and is prone to moments where they are confused about their self worth or sense of identity.

A much more extreme type of disorder is narcissistic personality disorder. To people around them, sufferers appear to have a very over inflated ego, but the disorder runs much deeper than that. They may have frequent fantasies about limitless power or money and continually boast or exaggerate their importance or talents. While they believe everyone around them should be in awe of their greatness they tend to view other people as been rather insignificant or stupid. Narcissists are difficult to treat. It is always a challenge to change a person's core beliefs, whether they are dysfunctional or not, and a narcissist may be very resistant to help as they perceive themselves as being so perfect.

Psychopathic personality disorder is one which receives a lot of publicity. Most peoples opinion of what a psychopath is formed by the media, and they usually associate the term with serious offenders such as serial killers. But the majority of psychopaths, while having some deeply anti social behaviours, are no real threat to anyone and harbour no desire to kill, although it is true that many prolific murderers had psychopathic personality disorder. A psychopath is often intelligent and charming, but they lack empathy and an ability to love. They do mostly understand right and wrong, but just have no desire to follow rules if it conflicts with what they want. Typically, they are impulsive and sometimes aggressive.

Personality disorders are difficult to cure because they are so deep rooted. The best time to treat them is in childhood, when these antisocial behaviours first start to emerge.

Leanne doesn't just write about mental health, she also writes about products. Recent articles include finding a tv stand for sale to suit your needs, and buying a wooden tv stand.

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