Aims

In the following few pages and linked subpages I would like to present the views about Personality disorder . The main learning objectives for the same is to :

• explore different views about personality disorder
• to understand what personality disorder is and what isn't ..and finally to 
• look at how someone’s past experiences can affect the present.

The above presentation is just to kickstart and to provide an overview about the same with a quick historical overview too..

[If you are a logged in member to the site .. please leave a comment or raise a question regarding the same in the comments box.. that can be used to adjust the pace and the items covered in subsequent sessions. ]

What is personality ? 

"Students of personality agree that the term personality refers to regularities and consistencies in behavior and forms of experience (Bromley, 1977). " (Livesley 17)

These enduring features are usually described in terms of traits that vary across individuals, such as dependency, suspiciousness, and impulsivity. They also agree that personality is not just a collection of traits; instead, most approaches emphasize the integrated and organized nature of personality (Hall & Lindzey, 1957) and the ? consistency and coherence of normal personality and view the individual organism as an organized and complexly structured whole? (McAdams, 1997, p. 12).

Hence a central task for personality research is to explain this coherence and organization of personality (Cervone & Shoda, 1999) and describe the means by which people forge a coherent sense of self that gives direction and meaning to their lives from the diversity of their experiences.(Livesley 18)

So the important message from the above conceptual framework is enduring characteristics and coherence and DSM 4 definition is built around the central concept of the same.. i.e ''enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour''.

Psychologists differ in the view points in their definitions of personality too.. the main reason being ' there is difference between what personality is and what personality does' -Alport . 

Essentially, these tasks could be summarized as developing a coherent sense of self or identity and the capacity for effective relationships with others within kinship and social groups. Adaptive solutions to these tasks were critical to function and survive in the ancestral environment. They are equally necessary to function effectively in contemporary society. (Livesley 19)

DEFINING PERSONALITY DISORDER

These ideas about the functions of personality suggest that personality disorder may be defined as the failure to achieve adaptive solutions to life tasks (Livesley et al., 1994). These adaptive failures involve one or more of the following:

1. Failure to establish stable and integrated representations of self and others.

2. Interpersonal dysfunction, as indicated by the failure to develop the capacity for intimacy, to function adaptively as an attachment figure, and/or to establish the capacity for affiliative relationships.

3. Failure to function adaptively in the social group, as indicated by the failure to develop the capacity for prosocial behavior and/or cooperative relationships. 

The clinical literature suggests that personality disorder involves two related problems: severe and chronic difficulties with interpersonal relationships, and problems with a sense of self or identity.

Other competing views on the same could be summarised as :-

Rutter (1987) : Chronic Inter-personal dysfunction

Valiant and Perry (1980) : PD often manifested only in social situations

The concept of self and how it consolidates the whole experience was also gaining prominence and the later theories were positioning 'self pathology' as a main concept in understanding Personality disorders. We can look at Kernberg's -identity diffusion concepts , Kohut's self pathology explanations for Narcissism. 

Understandably Cloninger incorporated the 2 main views which is .. Interpersonal dysfunction and self pathology in positioning his theory of P.D as 'low cooperativeness and Low directedness'. And other theories that were based on similar concepts in 2000 made a major influence on the current classificatory system.

In summary :

DSM-IV proposes the following  for diagnosing personality disorder. 

Criterion 1 refers to deviations from the norm in ʻways of perceiving and interpreting the self, other people, and events,ʻ and 

criterion 3 refers to deviations in ʻinterpersonal functioningʻ (p. 633). 

(The other two criteria refer to ʻthe range, intensity, lability, and appropriateness of emotional responseʻ and ʻimpulse controlʻ [p. 633]). Putting aside differences in theory and terminology, there is consensus that 

(1) chronic interpersonal dysfunction and 

(2) problems with the structure of the self lie at the heart of personality disorder. 

Last updated 521 days ago by JP Rajendran