About Personality Disorder

Personality disorder is characterized by behavior that differs from that of the average person in terms of feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and interactions with others. Personality disorders are classified into several kinds. Cluster B personality disorder is characterized by a person's inability to control their emotions (Corr & Matthews, 2009). These emotions usually vary dramatically from happy to negative, and others may describe their behavior patterns as unpredictable, spontaneous, unstable, frightening, and dramatic (Larsen & Buss, 2014).
Antisocial personality disorder is a key component of the Cluster B personality type. It is a genetic component that shows early signs from childhood and later on in adulthood. These personality disorders do not conform to the normal norm of society. They are often violent, cruel, have inability to tolerate boredom and their self-image is usually that of a law breaker. The second feature is borderline personality disorder. They make up 2% of the population and are usually 10% of patients who visit mental health centers. They are usually characterized as personalities with identity disturbance, they often feel empty, lonely and most of them have recurring suicidal threats.

The third feature is the histrionic personality disorder. This type of personality always wants to the center of attention and they are always craving for approval from others. They usually feel helpless and dependent which makes them demand reassurance from other people. They usually see themselves as very sensitive and need other people to admire them. The last feature is narcissistic personality disorder. They are similar to histrionic personality disorder but they are usually preoccupied with imaginations and fantasies of being great and being admired by other people. They have fragile self-esteem and are always jealous of other people who are more successful of physically attractive.

Obstacles to Personality Disorders Treatment

There are various obstacles that may make personality disorders resistant to treatment. Some of these problems are such like stigmatization (Roberts & Jackson, 2008). One may be afraid to be diagnosed with a mental illness in fear that the society around him may treat him differently e.g. at their work place or by family members. The other obstacle is an adult patient refusing to take medication. An example is a narcissistic personality disorder patient who may refuse medicine because he thinks he knows what best for himself.

The other issue that could act as a barrier to a patient refusing treatment is the financial limitation. Treatment is expensive and usually requires prescription drugs, which do not come cheap. A patient seeking medical attention may opt to forgo treatment in order to have enough financial resources to meet his primary needs such as food, rent and clothing. This has caused many to lack treatment because of the huge financial sacrifice that they may have to go through. The other barrier is negative beliefs (Roberts & Jackson, 2008). Many patients believe that health treatments do not help them and they would rather struggle on their own. The last barrier is access to healthcare. One of the problems that have led there not been much development mental health in third world countries is lack of awareness of mental illness and the availability of treatment to help them.

Factors Contributing to the Development of Personality Disorders

Factors that may contribute to development of personality disorders are categorized into two groups; biological and environmental factors. Biological or personal factors are traits that are individually distinctive and include the following; substance abuse, pathogens, complications during birth, injuries and genetics. Environmental factors are elements within a patient’s surrounding that influence a person to behave in a particular manner. They include the following; culture, poverty, famine, war, stressful life events, poor nutrition and abuse (Larsen, 2014).

Types of Treatment Effective for the Cluster B Personality Disorders

There are various ways to treat cluster B personality disorders. The first approach is to resolve stressful life events that may have happened in the past. It is important to discover any traumatizing events that need healing in the eyes of the patient. The other method is therapy e.g. schema therapy that was developed by Jeffrey Young. Another treatment option may be medication, which should mainly be used to help personality disorders suffering from anxiety or depression.

































References

Corr, P. and Matthews, G. (2009). The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Larsen, R. J., & Buss, D. M. (2014). Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge about Human Nature (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Roberts, B. and Jackson, J. (2008). Sociogenomic Personality Psychology. Journal of Personality, 76(6), pp.1523-1544.