Personality Disorders

Personality disorders is a category that causes individuals to think, feel, behave or relate to others very differently from the average person. Our personality is a collection of characteristics that makes us the individuals we are, so the very term “Personality disorder” can be a scary and a loaded term for both people diagnosed with the condition and for those around them. There is still a great deal of misunderstanding concerning behaviours and actions of people diagnosed with the condition as “Attention seeking” or “Manipulative and controlling”, however the following statement written by people diagnosed with a personality disorder will hopefully provide a fresh insight into the actual nature and difficulties associated with the condition – consensus-statement-final.pdf (mind.org.uk)

There are several different types of personality disorder, these are broken into subsets:

Suspicious
Emotional and impulsive
Anxious

For further reading please click the following link which provides information on each – Types of personality disorder – Mind

Statistics

Personality disorder affects 4.4% of the adult population in the UK – roughly one in 23 people.
On average, sufferers die 18 years earlier than those without personality disorder.
A study estimated between 45% and 77% of those who die by suicide have a personality disorder.
The study showed whilst 80% of these people were in contact with mental health services, only 5% had been in contact with specialist personality disorder services.
In 2015, The National Personality Disorder Service Survey found only 55% of people with personality disorder had access to specialist services.

Symptoms

An enduring pattern of emotional and cognitive difficulties which affect the way in which the person relates to others or understands themselves.
This pattern of behaviour is pervasive and occurs across a broad range of social and personal situations.
Is a long-standing difficulty which always appears in childhood or adolescence and continues into later life.
May lead to significant problems in occupational and social performance .
Is not attributable to another mental disorder, substance abuse or head trauma.

Many people with a personality disorder also have another mental health condition or behavioural problem, such as: