What is Personality?  What is a Disorder?  Borderline Personality Disorder   Antisocial Personality Disorder   Paranoid Personality Disorder   Narcissistic Personality Disorder   Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder   Other Disorders

Irresponsible & socially deviant, aberrant behaviour are the trademarks of this disorder. As a child, behaviour such as lying, wagging school, vandalism & petty theft are common. As an adult they find it difficult to keep intimate relationships or hold down a steady job. They are frequently in trouble with the law, participate in crime, show little regard for other’s property, display aggression & hostility and often engage in use & abuse of drugs and alcohol as a means of coping with any stress, anger or boredom. Assaults and fights are common with the Anti social Personality Disordered person. They are rarely remorseful for their behaviour and often blame others or society for the predicaments they find themselves in. They sometimes also feel they are ‘owed’ or that society ‘owes them’. People with this disorder may have a family history of similar behaviour and generally a lack of boundaries as a developing child.

This is probably the most difficult of all the Personality Disorders to cope with or treat and poses the greatest challenge for the mental health practitioner. It is potentially destructive to the individual concerned, their families, partners and friends. The disorder is marked by extreme emotional instability, lack of, or poor sense of self, fear of being alone or abandoned, feelings of worthlessness and viewing themselves as fundamentally ‘bad’. The Borderline Personality generally has unstable patterns of social relationships characterized by sudden and stark contrasts between idealization (great admiration & love) & denigration (hate, contempt, anger). Self harming or self mutilating behaviours such as ‘cutting’, ‘cigarette burns’, self inflicted ‘stabbing’ etc. are evidenced in many cases, along with ‘para suicide’ behaviour & frequent threats of suicide. Those who have suffered this illness often explain their self harming as a way of ‘feeling’, or ‘knowing they are alive’. Despite these frightening behaviours, only one (1) in ten (10) Borderline Personality disordered people actually suicide. Other characteristics of the Disorder are the intense, short lived bouts of anger, depression & anxiety that may last only for hours or at most a day. The overwhelming fear of abandonment and rejection combined with the inner sense of emptiness & lack of self often leads to Drug & Alcohol abuse, ‘risky’ sex, gender identity issues, impulsivity, lack of vocational or educational achievement & continued destruction of social & family relationships. Co-existent mental health illnesses such as Depression, Bipolar Disorder & Anxiety Disorders are not uncommon and can lead to suicide, particularly in the case of Depression. The illness is more common in women, particularly younger adolescents and often entails a history of abuse, particularly sexual abuse.

Rigid perfectionism which interferes with an individual’ capacity to complete anything is one of the key symptoms of the OCD personality. Their own achievements and accomplishments and those of others rarely meet their desired ideal standards. As such they appear emotionally ‘cold’, critical & judgemental. Because they are pedantically pre-occupied with perfection, rules, procedures, protocols and social order, they fail to enjoy the pleasure of achievement or the company of others. They have an unrealistic need to control and therefore their interactions with others are overly formal & lacking in spontaneity. Problem solving is unlikely to result in success or resolution with rumination over the persistent unresolved problem leading to intense ‘self criticism'. The two (2) aspects of this disorder are (1) Obsessions & (2) Compulsions.

Obsessions can be defined as recurrentand persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are experienced at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress. These thoughts, impulses or images are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems and the individual attempts to ignore, suppress or neutralise them by use of another thought or action. They also recognise that their obsessions are a product of their own mind and not based on reality. 

Compulsions are repetitive behaviours or mental acts that a person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession or according to rules which much be applied rigidly. The Compulsive behaviours or acts are designed to reduce distress & anxiety, though are unrelated and not connected to the actual real source of the anxiety and/or distress.

The primary characteristic of the Narcissistic Personality is that of grandiosity; overvaluing their abilities and achievements and pre-occupied with fantasies of perceived power & influence, superior intelligence, unlimited success, beauty & perfectionism. They believe themselves to be ‘special’ & overly important, unique, gifted and entitled to preferential treatment and admiration because of who they are. They tend to only wish to mix with those of higher status or intelligence, believing them to be the only ones to truly appreciate their superiority. They lack empathy toward anyone else and fail to recognize, or envy, the accomplishments of others. At times they devalue others and their achievements in order to boost their own over-inflated, unrealistic opinion of themselves. The NPD presents as arrogant, self opinionated and rather a ‘snob’, though generally there is an underlying low self esteem causing the individual to ‘fish for compliments & acknowledgment’, being pre-occupied with how others perceive them. Because there is an expectation that their work is more valuable than any others, combined with a complete lack of understanding or sensitivity to another person’s needs, the NPD can often unconsciously ‘exploit’ individuals in order to bolster and enhance their own self image.