mental health disorders
Overview of Personality Disorders
Introduction
Personality disorders are mental health conditions that involve long-lasting, pervasive patterns of thinking, perceiving, reacting, and relating that cause the person significant distress and/or impair the person's ability to function. There are 10 types of personality disorders, and each has characteristic problems with people's understanding of themselves and patterns of response to other people and to stressful events. Doctors consider diagnosing a personality disorder when people persistently view themselves or others in ways that differ from reality or when they continue to act in ways that consistently have negative consequences. Psychotherapy may help people become aware of their role in creating their personal and interpersonal problems and help them change the behaviors of theirs that cause these difficulties. Medications do not directly treat personality disorders but may help decrease distressing symptoms. Personality traitsrepresent patterns of thinking, perceiving, reacting, and relating that are relatively stable over time. For example, some people tend to be moody or withdrawn. Others tend to be outgoing and social. Personality disordersare diagnosed as a mental health condition when people's personality traits become so pronounced, rigid, and maladaptive that the person has problems at work, at school, and/or in dealing with other people. Such patterns are called maladaptive because people do not adjust (adapt) as circumstances require. Maladaptive patterns vary in how severe they are and how long they persist. These social maladaptations can cause significant distress in people with personality disorders and in their family members, friends, coworkers, and other social contacts. Usually, people with personality traits that are ineffective or produce negative consequences try to change their response patterns. In contrast, people with a personality disorder do not change their response patterns, even when these patterns are repeatedly ineffective and have negative consequences. There are 10 Types of Personality Disorders according to the Sometimes people think that they or others have a personality disorder when they show certain personality traits some of the time. People may casually use terms like "paranoid" or "borderline." However, a personality disorder is diagnosed as a mental health condition only when the traits are consistent and meet specific psychiatric criteria. About 9% of people have a personality disorder. These disorders usually affect men and women equally, although some types of personality disorder affect one sex more than the other. For example, antisocial personality disorder is 3 times more common among men. For most people with a personality disorder, the disorder causes moderate problems and lessens over time. However, some people have severe social and psychological problems that last a lifetime. Personality disorders usually become noticeable during late adolescence or early adulthood, but they may appear earlier (during childhood). The amount of time they last varies greatly. Some types of personality disorders (such as Antisocial Personality Disorder or Many people with a personality disorder also have another mental health disorder, usually one or more of the following: A Overview of Mood Disorders or a An Overview of Anxiety Disorders None Somatic Symptom Disorder None A Substance Use Disorders None A Overview of Eating Disorders None Having a personality disorder and one of these other mental health disorders makes people less likely to respond to treatment for either mental health disorder and thus worsens their prognosis. 