Personality Disorders: Categories and Symptoms

Symptoms 

• They have difficulty differentiating right or wrong. 
• Always lying and deceiving others.
• Sociopaths are disrespectful, callous, and cynical. 
• They have strong and rigid opinions. 
• They show hostility, aggression, and agitation and can even get violent. Safety is not their priority. 
• Remorse and empathy are not among their personality traits. 
• They are a part of abusive and poor relationships. 

Borderline personality disorder 

The borderline disorder can disrupt one’s life as it affects the way you feel and thinks about yourself. 

Symptoms 

• Borderline disorder creates an intense fear of abandonment, and people with this disorder can take extreme measures to make sure they do not experience imagined rejection or separation. 
• Their relationships are unstable and intense. They may idolize someone one moment and the next moment they can establish a negative image of that person. 
• They experience rapid changes in self-image and self-identity. Their values and goals shift constantly. 
• Their life is full of periods of paranoia that is stress-related. They have difficulty grasping onto reality and can be aloof. 
• They can indulge in risky and impulsive behavior like speeding, drug abuse, binge eating, reckless driving, sabotaging success, etc. 
• They find it hard to deal with fear and rejection and respond with self-injury and suicidal threats. 
• They have wide mood swings which lead to anxiety, irritability, shame, and even unhappiness. 
• They have a constant sense of emptiness. 
• People with borderline disorder frequently lose their temper and often get into physical fights because of their bitter and sarcastic attitude. 

Histrionic personality disorder 

People with histrionic disorder are always looking for others’ approval. They possess excellent social skills, but they often use them to manipulate others to become the center of attention. 

Symptoms 

• They feel uncomfortable unless they get all the attention.
• To get attention, they can exhibit inappropriate and seductive behavior. 
• Their emotions shift rapidly. 
• They tend to be dramatic as if performing for an audience. They exaggerate their emotions and expression to make a big impact but the exaggeration leads to a lack of sincerity. 
• They are always looking to get approval from other people. 
• They pay too much attention to appearances. 
• Influencing people with histrionic disorder is easy as they are pretty gullible. 
• They do not appreciate disapproval or criticism. 
• They have low tolerance and can easily become bored. They keep skipping from one project to the other and find it hard to complete any of them. 
• They act before thinking and make rash decisions. 
• Other people are not important to them, and they barely show any sincere concern for their relationships. 
• They can get pretty extreme and go to the extent of threatening or even attempting suicide to get attention.

Narcissistic disorder 

The world of narcissistic people revolves only around themselves. They find it hard to find happiness as they are generally disappointed when not given special treatment or favors. 

Symptoms 

• They establish a sense of exaggerated self-importance.
• They believe that they deserve special attention and admiration. 
• They create fantasies about beauty, perfection, success, and power. 
• Narcissistic people have a superiority complex and prefer to associate with people who are as special as them. 
• They constantly look down on other people and try to monopolize conversations. 
• They are manipulators and only concerned with getting what they want.   
• There is a lack of compassion in their personality, and they fail to recognize and respect other people’s feelings. 
• Their behavior is haughty, boastful, pretentious, and arrogant. 
• They are always envious of others and believe others have the same feeling toward them. 

Cluster C 

The disorders included in cluster C are categorized by fearful and anxious behavior and thinking. 

Avoidant personality disorder 

People with avoidant disorder do not like being in social situations because they have a fear of rejection and being judged. 

Symptoms 

• The avoidant disorder makes people overly sensitive and they are not able to handle disapproval or criticism. 
• They hardly make any friends because they fear rejection. They only become close with others when they are sure of being liked by the other person. 
• Social gatherings make them anxious, so they prefer to avoid them. 
• They exaggerate problems and make a big deal of things.
• They are not comfortable with trying new things. 
• They consider themselves inferior and have a poor image of themselves. 

Dependent personality disorder 

It is a type of anxious mental disorder and makes people feel submissive, incapable, and helpless. People with dependent disorders are not capable of taking care of themselves and need others’ help. 

Symptoms 

• Taking responsibility is not for them as they cannot handle it. 
• They are not independent. 
• They have an extreme fear of abandonment and feel completely helpless if their relationships end. 
• They become oversensitive to criticism.
• The dependent disorder makes people pessimistic, and they lose their self-confidence. 
• They always look to others when making decisions and also find it hard to disagree with anyone. 
• They crave relationships which is why they tend to tolerate abusive treatment and are afraid of ending a relationship. 

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder 

People with OCPD crave extreme perfectionism and are obsessed with neatness and order. They set certain standards and feel the need to impose those standards on the people and environment around them. It prevents people from becoming part of society and getting along with people.