Personality disorders: what are the types, symptoms and treatments

Personality disorders: what are the types, symptoms and treatments


Histrionic, paranoid and antisocial are some of the diseases classified in the ICD-10; to know more

The American Psychiatric Association estimates that 9.1% of people on the planet have some form of it Personality disorder. The World Health Organization has changed the way these diseases are listed in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). The ICD is the basis for identifying health trends and statistics around the world.

In the new version of the psychiatric manual, the chapter on Personality Disorders has undergone significant changes in the conception and classification of diseases.

“The changes have a direct impact and professionals will have to adapt. Personality disorders are a daily problem in forensic psychiatry, for example. Identifying their presence, as well as their level of severity, will influence forensic conclusions,” analyzes the post. -doctor of the University of London Elias Abdalla-Filho, who launches the book Personality Disorders in the 10th and 11th Editions of the International Classification of Diseases.

The psychiatrist and psychoanalyst gave an interview to Estadio on the signs, symptoms and types of treatment for diseases.

What is personality disorder?

PDs are personality traits that negatively affect a person’s relationship with themselves (feelings of worthlessness; chronic feelings of emptiness; excessive doubts, etc.) and with other people (seductive behavior; insensitive indifference to the feelings of others; tendency to hold a grudge in a persistent way, etc.) to the point of causing a dysfunction in your life, partial or general, from mild to severe.

What characterizes a personality disorder?

Personality disorder is characterized by the long duration of the dysfunctional traits described above. A PD cannot be diagnosed on the basis of a person’s isolated behavior, but, on the contrary, a longitudinal examination of the person’s life is required. If we rely on the ICD-10, we will understand that this disorder is permanent, but the ICD-11 changes this understanding, stating that it is “long-lasting,” lasting two years or more. Our experience shows that its duration is much longer than this two-year period, which, in our opinion, is short.

What are the symptoms of Personality Disorders?

The symptoms presented will be the most varied and will directly depend on the specific type of PD, according to the ICD-10 categories. In this way it is possible to perceive, for example: a tendency to hold a grudge and to interpret as hostile the friendly manifestations of other people, present in the Paranoid Personality Disorder; emotional coldness, dull affectivity, indifference to praise or criticism in the Schizoid Personality Disorder; numbness to the feelings of others, low tolerance for frustration and an inability to feel regret Antisocial Personality Disorderand so on.

What are the types of personality disorder?

The key difference between the classification of PTs in the ICD-10 and the ICD-11 is that, while in the ICD-10 the classification is categorical, in the ICD-11 it is dimensional. This means that the ICD-10 classifies personality disorders into 10 types, into the following categories: paranoid, schizoid, antisocial, emotionally unstable (which is divided into impulsive and borderline), histrionic, ananastic, anxious (or avoidance), employee, other specific personality disorders And unspecified personality disorder. In order for a person to be diagnosed with a specific personality disorder, some of the diagnostic criteria listed must be met.

On the other hand, the ICD-11 dimensionally classifies PD into mild, moderate and severe degrees, depending on the extent of the symptoms in the patient’s life or the intensity of the pathological manifestation. The practitioner describes the salient features of the disorder, but it is not necessary to have a minimum number of criteria as in the ICD-10 categorical classification.

Is there a difference between mental disorder and personality disorder?

Personality disorder is one of the types of mental disorder (MD), just as mental illness is another type of MD other than PD.

What are the treatments for Personality Disorders? Do you have a cure or just symptom maintenance?

“Cure” is a term that is not used in psychiatry because it gives the idea of ​​a “guarantee” against a possible relapse of the disorder. The treatment of PD is essentially psychotherapeutic and cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most popular in the specific literature. However, in some acute moments and depending on the symptoms presented, medications can be useful. Examples can be provided by the use of mood stabilizers or antidepressants in borderline patients. Considering that the latter can present psychotic flashes, the possibility of using low-dose antipsychotic drugs, which can also be used in PD with strongly paranoid symptoms, cannot be excluded.

An important consideration to make when addressing this issue of disturbed personalities concerns psychopathy. The psychopath is not linked to any specific type of PD, although for a long time several psychiatrists have associated it with antisocial PD. It is now known that narcissistic people, for example, can engage in very disturbing psychopathic behavior. This population represents a real challenge for psychiatry, both clinical and forensic. Therefore, there is no recognized effective treatment for psychopaths, and the assessment of their criminal liability is the subject of considerable forensic controversy. However, this is a separate chapter.

Source: Terra

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