Overview of personality disorders

Since medical school, I’ve been fascinated with personality disorders, although generally they are uncommon in routine practice. Each of us has personality traits, and to greater and lesser degrees, our personality traits are adaptive, maladaptive, or neutral.

Those with personality disorders suffer with more or less pervasive symptoms interfering with social and occupational functioning as well as an ineffective and inflexible interpersonal way of relating that cause distress and may lead to depression, anxiety, and may be associated with other personality disorders. There is evidence that for many, although not all, with Personality Disorders that the symptoms improve with age, and they improve with specified treatments.

A personality disorder is a pervasive pattern of maladaptive “behavior, cognition, and inner experience, exhibited across many contexts and deviating markedly from those accepted by the individual’s culture. These patterns develop early, are inflexible, and are associated with significant distress…