Cluster A Personality Disorders
These are personality disorders characterized by odd, eccentric thinking or behavior and include:
1.Paranoid personality disorder
Paranoid personality disorder (PPD) is one of a group of conditions called eccentric personality disorders. People with these disorders often appear odd or peculiar. Paranoid personality disorder is an unwarranted tendency to interpret the actions of other people as deliberately threatening or demeaning. People with a paranoid personality disorder are usually unable to acknowledge their own negative feelings towards others but do not generally lose touch with reality. They will not confide in people, even if they prove trustworthy, for fear of being exploited or betrayed.
People with this particular disorder may or may not have a tendency to bear grudges, suspiciousness, tendency to interpret others' actions as hostile, persistent tendency to self-reference, or a tenacious sense of personal right.They tend to be guarded and suspicious and have quite constricted emotional lives.This disorder usually begins by early adulthood and appears to be more common in men than in women.
Symptoms
• Distrust and suspicion of others
• Believing that others are trying to harm you
• Emotional detachment
• Hostility
Causes
Paranoid personality disorders involves a combination of biological and psychological factors.
Psychosocial theories implicate projection of negative internal feelings and parental modeling.Paranoid personality disorder can result from negative childhood experiences fostered by a threatening domestic atmosphere. It is prompted by extreme and unfounded parental rage and/or condescending parental influence that cultivate profound child insecurities.
Diagnosis
Paranoid personality disorder are typically diagnosed by a trained mental health professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist.The psychiatrist or psychologist will conduct a psychological assessment in which they may ask about childhood, school, work,relationships or several hypothetical questions. This is to gauge how you react to certain situations.There are no laboratory, blood or genetic tests that are used to diagnose paranoid personality disorder.
In general people with this disorder do not often seek out treatment until the disorder starts to significantly interfere or otherwise impact a person’s life.
Treatment
Because of reduced levels of trust, there can be challenges in treating PPD. Psychotherapy is the most promising method of treatment for Paranoid Personality Disorder. People with paranoid personality disorder rarely initiate treatment and often terminate it prematurely. Likewise, building therapist-client trust requires great care and is complicated to maintain even after a confidence level has been founded.
Medications:
Medications for paranoid personality disorder are generally not encouraged, as they may contribute to a heightened sense of suspicion that can ultimately lead to patient withdrawal from therapy. Medications prescribed for precise conditions should be used for the briefest interval possible to successfully control them. However, psychotherapy, antidepressants, antipsychotics and anti-anxietymedications can play a role when an individual is receptive to intervention.
Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, and apathy.
Schizoid personality disorder is characterized by a persistent withdrawal from social relationships and lack of emotional responsiveness in most situations. It is sometimes referred to as a "pleasure deficiency" because of the seeming inability of the person affected to experience joyful or pleasurable responses to life situations.
Affected people typically have an acute discomfort when put in circumstances where they must relate to others. These individuals are also prone to cognitive and perceptual distortions and a display a variety of eccentric behaviors that others often find confusing.
Symptoms:
- Lack of interest in social relationships
- Limited range of emotional expression
- Inability to pick up normal social cues
- Appearing dull or indifferent to others
Causes
Little is known about the cause of schizoid personality disorder, but both genetics and environment are suspected to play a role. The schizoid personality disorder has its roots in the family of the affected person. These families are typically emotionally reserved, have a high degree of formality, and have a communication style that is aloof and impersonal. The lack of stimulus during the first year of life is thought to be largely responsible for the person's disinterest in forming close, meaningful relationships later in life and thus in this environment, affected people fail to learn basic communication skills that would enable them to develop relationships and interact effectively with others. Many individuals with schizoid personality disorder feel misunderstood by others.
Diagnosis
Diagnosing schizoid personality disorder is usually based on an in-depth interview with your doctor about your symptoms as well as your medical and personal history. Your doctor may perform a physical exam to rule out other conditions that may be causing or contributing to your symptoms. If your initial visit is with a primary care doctor, you'll likely be referred to a mental health professional for further evaluation.
Treatment
Group therapy in which a goal of individual treatment may be a group setting in which you can interact with others who are also practicing new interpersonal skills. In time, group therapy may also provide a support structure and increase your social motivation,increasing general coping skills, as well as on improving social interaction, communication, and self-esteem. Because trust is an important component of therapy, treatment can be challenging for the therapist, because people with schizoid personality disorder have an inability to form relationships with others.
Medication
Medication is generally not used to treat schizoid personality disorder itself. Drugs might, however, be prescribed if the person also suffers from an associated psychological problem, such as depression.
3.Schizotypal personality disorder
Schizotypal personality disorder is a chronic condition characterized by a need for social isolation, anxiety in social situations, odd behavior and thinking, and often unconventional beliefs.People with this disorder feel extreme discomfort with maintaining close relationships with people,a pervasive pattern of distorted thought, behavior, and functioning. they may react oddly in conversations, not respond or talk to themselves.[1] They frequently misinterpret situations as being strange or having unusual meaning for them; paranormal and superstitious beliefs are not uncommon. They usually do not have the more severe and disabling psychotic symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations
Individuals with this disorder are more prone to experience depression and psychotic disorders.Schizotypal personality disorder occurs in 3% of the general population and is slightly more common in males.[2]
Symptoms
- Peculiar dress, thinking, beliefs or behavior
- Perceptual alterations, such as those affecting touch
- Discomfort in close relationships
- Flat emotions or inappropriate emotional responses
- Indifference to others
- "Magical thinking" — believing you can influence people and events with your thoughts
- Believing that messages are hidden for you in public speeches or displays
Causes
The exact cause is unknown. Genes are thought to be involved, because this condition is more common in relatives of schizophrenics.Schizotypal personality disorder is believed to stem from the affected person's original family, or family of origin. Usually the parents of the affected person were emotionally distant, formal, and displayed confusing parental communication. The social development of people with schizotypal personality disorder shows that many were also regularly humiliated by their parents, siblings, and peers resulting in significant relational mistrust. Many display low self-esteem, self-criticism and self-deprecating behavior. This further contributes to a sense that they are socially incapable of having meaningful interpersonal relationships.
Diagnosis:
If symptoms are present, a health care professional will begin an evaluation by performing a complete medical history and physical exam. Children with these tendencies appear socially out-of-step with peers and often become the object of malicious teasing by their peers, which increases the feelings of isolation and social ineptness they feel.
The common difficulty in diagnosing schizotypal personality disorder is distinguishing it from other the schizoid, avoidant, and paranoid personality disorders . Schizoids are deficient in their ability to experience emotion, while schizotypals are more pronounced in their inability to understand human motivation and communication. While avoidant personality disorder has many of the same symptoms as schizotypal personality disorder, the distinguishing symptom in schizotypal is the presence of behavior that is noticeably eccentric. The schizotypal differs from the paranoid by tangential thinking and eccentric behavior.If the doctor finds no physical reason for the symptoms, he or she might refer the person to a psychiatrist or psychologist, health care professionals who are specially trained to diagnose and treat mental illnesses.
Treatment
Schizotypal personality disorder often is treated with a combination of medication and psychotherapy.People with schizotypal personality disorders may find psychotherapy difficult because, as part of the disorder, they tend to be uncomfortable in relationships.If a person's symptoms are mild to moderate, he or she may be able to adjust with relatively little support. If the problems are more severe, however, a person with schizotypal personality disorder may have more than average difficulty maintaining a job or living independently
Since people with this disorder have difficulty picking up on social cues, it is often necessary to teach specific social skills, Similarly, a therapist can help a person with schizotypal personality disorder learn how his or her thoughts and perceptions are distorted and how best to respond to them.
Medications
Schizotypal patients who appear to be almost schizophrenic in their beliefs and behaviors are usually treated with low doses of antipsychotic medications, e.g. thiothixene. However, it must be mentioned that long-term efficacy of neuroleptics is doubtful.
Schizotypal patients who are more obsessive-compulsive in their beliefs and behaviors - in this case SSRIs, e.g. fluoxetine, appear to be more effective.
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