Personality Disorders - Types, Symptoms, Causes & Treatments

People with personality disorders experience disruptive patterns of thinking, mood and behaviour. The behaviour involves long-lasting and disorderly ways of thinking and acting, which disrupts the person's day-to-day life, causing severe distress. Various external influences or factors and physical factors such as genetics can cause this condition.

The disorders, if diagnosed and treated properly at the right time, can effectively reduce the severity of the symptoms.

A personality disorder is a mental health condition involving unhealthy and rigid thinking and functioning. People with the disorder perceive things around them, often relating to people, in unusual ways as they experience heightened discomfort and social anxiety. This makes them distant from friends and family.

Signs of the mental disorder often appear in the teenage years or early adulthood. Varying types of disorders exist, some of which become less obvious among middle-aged people.

These disorders classify into three clusters based on similar symptoms and characteristics. One of the facts worth noticing about the disorders is that most personality disorders often coexist with symptoms of at least one other personality disorder.

A thorough diagnosis of the listed personality disorder types is necessary at the earliest observing any specific or obvious symptoms:

The cluster involves behaviours involving eccentric and odd thoughts. This includes the following disorders:

Paranoid Personality Disorder

The following symptoms characterises this disorder:

• A person has unjustified suspicion for others questioning their trustworthiness.
• Holding absurd beliefs that others are trying to deceive or harm you.
• Perceiving innocent remarks of others in non-threatening situations as attacks on personal levels.
• Hostile and aggressive reactions toward little offensive remarks.
• Having a tendency to hold grudges.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

This disorder has the following symptoms to observe:

• A person has a substantial lack of interest in forming social relationships.
• The person prefers to be in solitude most of the time.
• Being unable to pick up social cues is very normal.
• Appearing cold and different to others.
• Lacking emotional expressions.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

The disorder involves the following symptoms:

• A person has a peculiar thought process, speech and behaviour.
• Having odd perceptual experiences such as hearing voices and seeing dead people around.
• Responding in inappropriate, indifferent and suspicious ways to others.
• Holding belief in special or magical powers.
• Having flat emotions and lacking ways to express how they feel emotionally.

This cluster of personality disorders involves extremely emotional, dramatic and unpredictable behaviour or thinking. This includes the following disorders:

Antisocial Personality Disorder

This disorder involves the following symptoms:

• A person is having impulsive behaviour.
• Being aggressive and violent substantially.
• Lacking remorse or behaviour.
• Disregarding others' feelings and emotions.
• Being consistently irresponsible.

Borderline Personality Disorder

The disorder has the following symptoms to observe:

• A person has an unstable or fragile self-image and indulges in risky and impulsive behaviour.
• Experiencing frequent mood swings as a result of interpersonal stress.
• Having suicidal behaviour and instances of self-harm.
• Having frequent and intense anger issues.
• Experiences of fluctuating paranoia resulting from stress.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

This disorder has the following symptoms:

• The person has excessive concerns regarding physical appearance.
• Having experiences of rapidly changing emotions.
• Always needing attention.
• Being easily influenced by others.
• Speaking dramatically and absurdly.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

The condition has the following symptoms:

• Having a tendency to appreciate self excessively.
• Considering self to be superior to all.
• Fantasising about power and success.
• Expecting constant admiration and praise.
• Being unnecessarily arrogant.

The cluster includes disorders characterised by anxiety, nurturing fearful thoughts, and behaving oddly. This involves the following disorders:

Avoidant Personality Disorder

The condition involves the following symptoms:

• A person being socially inhibited, isolated and timid.
• Being too sensitive to rejection and criticism.
• Feeling inferior, inadequate or unattractive.
• Being socially distant and inactive.
• Having fears of ridicule and embarrassment.

Dependent Personality Disorder

The disorder has the following symptoms to observe:

• A person having submissive and clingy behaviour.
• Depending excessively on others for self-care and having fears of being left alone.
• Lacking self-confidence excessively.
• Having a constant need for advice and self-assurance from others.
• Tolerating adverse circumstances with an inability to fight against it.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

The condition has the following symptoms:

• A person is excessively preoccupied with orderliness, paying attention to minute details and rules.
• Having the need to be perfect at all times may result in distress and dysfunction.
• Being utterly stubborn and rigid in instances.
• Having a strong desire to control people, situations and tasks.
• Being committed to working at all times, avoiding family and personal relationships.

As discussed above, each personality disorder has its particular symptoms. However, generic symptoms of personality disorders include the following two instances:

• First, facing difficulty in establishing a sense of self and Identity.
• Facing trouble establishing steady relationships, lacking empathy and respect for others or being clingy.

Researchers suggest that the following factors may lead to personality disorders:

• Genes contribute to these disorders primarily.
• Experiencing trauma in childhood may lead to these disorders.
• For example, children experiencing verbal abuse may be a victim of these disorders.
• Sensitivity towards noise, light, texture and other stimuli may trigger these disorders.

The risk factors for personality disorders include the following instances:

• Perinatal injuries like haemorrhage, encephalitis, infections or trauma.
• Use of illegal substances and drug abuse.
• Physical abuse or sexual harassment and abuse.
• Having an unstable, chaotic and abusive family during childhood.
• Experiencing variances in the brain structure and chemistry.

Mental healthcare experts follow the following procedures to diagnose this condition:

• Performing physical examinations to find out if there are any underlying bodily causes leading to the disorders.
• Performing psychiatric assessments, which include questions on feelings and thoughts and behaviours. Information from family members is also taken into account.
• Comparing symptoms to those recorded through thorough research and examinations undertaken over the years.

These disorders can be treated by incorporating the following processes:

• Psychotherapy: This process includes cognitive behavioural therapy that provides help in dealing with negative thoughts in the mind. This is done by advocating ways to cope with challenges every day.
• Medication: The following medicines may help deal with the severity of the symptoms: anti-depressants, mood stabilisers, anti-psychotics, and anti-anxiety medicines.

Refer to a mental healthcare professional observing the following early signs of developing the condition:

• Witnessing erratic behaviour or mood swings in the person.
• Observing the suicidal nature of a person indulging in self-harm.

Though personality disorders may last a lifetime, help sought at the right time may gradually improve the condition. The person may even begin to live as normally as others. These processes include, as aforesaid, proper therapy or counselling and medications.

However, the following healthy habits may provide additional help:

• Sleeping well, having a healthy diet and exercising.
• Taking part in extracurricular activities.
• Trying to maintain healthy relationships with family and friends, enabling proper communication. 

Mental health conditions need to be addressed more seriously, and raising awareness for the same is the need of the day. For example, personality disorders are relatively common and often go unnoticed, which later may lead to incurable phases. Hence, the symptoms of the condition need to be addressed at the earliest to receive effective treatments.

One of the primary causes of these disorders is a chaotic and abused childhood. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that children receive a healthy upbringing that may avoid the onset of these disorders.