You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.
Critical Thinking Exercise
Personality Disorders
One particularly interesting area of personality research focuses on personality disorders. Such disorders represent a class of mental disorders that are characterized by rigid patterns of thought and behavior that deviate from the expectations of one’s social and cultural environment (Grohol, 2013). To diagnose a personality disorder, a mental health professional must determine that a patient possesses a behavioral pattern that causes significant distress or impairment in personal, social, and/or occupational situations. There has been a push in recent years to alter how professionals conceptualize personality disorders. The American Psychiatric Association, with the publication of the DSM-5 in May 2013, encourages the use of a hybrid method rather than a categorical approach to assessing and diagnosing personality disorders. Within a hybrid framework individuals’ symptoms would be considered along a continuum as to degree of severity and impairment, and emphasis would be placed on patterns of pathological traits. Although not currently accepted or consistently in-practice, the Personality Disorders Workgroup highlights these suggestions in Section III, “Further Study,” in the DSM-5. The new hybrid model would only retain 6 personality disorder types, compared to the current 10 types listed in the DSM-5. Clinicians and researchers are always trying to better understand and treat individuals with personality disorders, as evidenced by new and improved ways of assessment and classification found in the DSM-5.
There are a wide range of personality disorders, including the following: antisocial, avoidant, borderline, dependent, histrionic, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, and dissociative identity disorder. Select one of these personality disorders for this activity.
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What personality disorder did you choose? Find an article or Web site that focuses on that disorder. Provide a citation for your article or give the URL of the Web site that you used.
Your answer has been provisionally accepted. You'll get full credit for now, but your instructor may update your grade later after evaluating it.
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What are some defining characteristics of the personality disorder that you selected?
Your answer has been provisionally accepted. You'll get full credit for now, but your instructor may update your grade later after evaluating it.
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Are men or women more likely to be diagnosed with this personality disorder?
Your answer has been provisionally accepted. You'll get full credit for now, but your instructor may update your grade later after evaluating it.
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How might the four basic perspectives on personality (described in your textbook) explain the development of a personality disorder?
a. Psychoanalytic
b. Humanistic
c. Social cognitive
d. Trait
Your answer has been provisionally accepted. You'll get full credit for now, but your instructor may update your grade later after evaluating it.
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A blank theory of personality focuses on identifying, describing, and measuring individual differences in behavioral predispositions.
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According to Sigmund Freud, the blank represents the organized, rational, and planning dimensions of personality.
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How might the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) reveal the existence of a personality disorder? Use your textbook and online resources to answer this question.
Suggested Answer: The MMPI assesses a number of areas related to mental health, including sexual attitudes, physical and psychological health, interpersonal relationships, and abnormal thoughts and behaviors. The MMPI is often used by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists to evaluate patients and candidates for such occupations as doctors, nurses, police officers, and professional pilots. Although an MMPI is not used exclusively to diagnose personality disorders, the information it provides can suggest the existence of antisocial, borderline, and narcissistic personality disorders. However, most researchers urge practitioners to use the MMPI as a screening instrument and then follow up with other assessment measures that are specifically designed to diagnose personality disorders.