Types of Personality Disorders

A person whose manner of thinking, feeling and action deviate from what society regards as standard behavior is considered to have a personality disorder. This disorder is manifested pervasively and is severely detrimental to mental health, interpersonal relationships and all other areas of the individual's life.  Indications of personality disorder generally emerge during childhood and continue into adulthood. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-IV defined 10 types of personality disorders categorized into three clusters.

1. Cluster A. Paranoid, Schizoid and Schizotypal personality disorders exhibit odd or eccentric behavior. For instance, Paranoid disorder is marked by unrelenting suspiciousness and mistrust of others. People with this type of disorder are always skeptical of others interest in them - without basis, constantly think that they are being cheated and exploited. Manifestations of Paranoid disorder can result from childhood experiences brought about by traumatic and unstable domestic conditions. It is observed that most paranoics come from broken homes and abusive, overly controlling, critical and erratic parents. They may also be products of excessively permissive or indulgent upbringing.
2. Cluster B.  Defined as dramatic and emotional disorders such as Antisocial, Borderline, Narcissistic and Histrionic personality disorders. For example, individuals with Borderline personality disorder, which are commonly women, have very poor self-image that leads to serious interpersonal insecurities. They always feel the need to be nurtured, loved and valued. When they think they do not get what they deserve, mood shifts dramatically. At one moment they are well and in a matter of minutes get acutely distressed. They feel angry and impulsive not to mention self-destructive. Anxiety, stress and depression may cause them to inflict harm on themselves hastily and the pattern of behavior borders between psychosis and neurosis - both of which are indications of mental illness.  Borderline is similar to Bipolar disorder in the aspect of acting on impulse. Both are associated with mood shifts. The difference is mood changes in Borderline are only momentary, whereas they happen without warning to Bipolar individuals and it lasts for days or even longer.
3. Cluster C.  Classified as personality disorders that exhibit anxiety and fearful behavior. These include Avoidant, Dependent and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders. For example, individuals who have chronic anxiety such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, suffer from recurrent intrusive thoughts like they need to accomplish a task or do away with something otherwise a negative consequence will  happen. They feel the need to do time-consuming rituals to obtain temporary relief. Patients who have this kind of anxiety disorder are usually presumptuous and perfectionists. The indications can often be found in workaholics who are compelled to lavish their time at work believing that no one else is capable of being efficient. These people are highly critical of others and constantly fear that they cannot trust their work with anyone. Consequently, other people find them difficult to work with for having impossible moral and ethical standards.

Any type of personality disorder can be disconcerting and detrimental to individuals suffering from it and to the people around them. Understanding its possible causes is crucial to determining what type of treatment is necessary.  A number of behavioral and psychiatric studies are also still being conducted in order to validate the existence and causes of some personality disorders and other related mental illnesses. One personality disorder in question is the existence of multiple personality disorder where an individual displays two or more alter egos that once and again manipulate the person's behavior.