Personality Disorders
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CHAPTER OUTLINE
Diagnosing Personality Disorders
What Are Personality Disorders?
Understanding Personality Disorders in General
Treating Personality Disorders: General Issues
Odd/Eccentric Personality Disorders
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Treating Odd/Eccentric Personality Disorders
Dramatic/Erratic Personality Disorders
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder
Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Fearful/Anxious Personality Disorders
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Dependent Personality Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
Understanding Fearful/Anxious Personality Disorders
Treating Fearful/Anxious Personality Disorders
Follow-up on Rachel Reiland
Rachel Reiland wrote a memoir called Get Me Out of Here, about living with a personality disorder. In the opening of the book, Reiland remembers Cindy, the golden-haired grade-school classmate who was their teacher’s favorite. At the end of a painting class, Cindy’s painting was beautiful, with distinctive trees. Rachel’s painting looked like a “putrid blob.” Rachel then recounts:
I seethed with jealousy as Mrs. Schwarzheuser showered Cindy with compliments. Suddenly, rage overwhelmed me. I seized a cup of brown paint and dumped half of it over my picture. Glaring at Cindy, I leaned across the table and dumped the other half over her drawing. I felt a surge of relief. Now Cindy’s picture looked as awful as mine.
“Rachel!” Mrs. Schwarzheuser yelled. “You’ve completely destroyed Cindy’s beautiful trees. Shame on you. You are a horrible little girl. The paint is everywhere—look at your jeans….”
I felt my body go numb. My legs, arms, and head were weightless. Floating. It was the same way I felt when Daddy pulled off his belt and snapped it. Anticipation of worse things to come—things I had brought on myself because I was different.
“In all my years, I’ve never seen a child like you. You are the worst little girl I’ve ever taught. Go sit in the corner, immediately.”
Shame on Rachel. That language I understood. And deserved….
Mrs. Schwarzheuser was right. I was horrible.
(2004, pp. 1–2)
Reiland’s actions toward Cindy that day were troublesome and troubling, but many children have episodes of feeling intensely jealous and angry toward others and then “act out” those feelings. Such episodes don’t necessarily indicate that a child, or the adult he or she grows up to be, has a disorder.
Personality disorders A category of psychological disorders characterized by an enduring pattern of inflexible and maladaptive thoughts, emotional responses, interpersonal functioning, and impulse control problems that arise across a range of situations and lead to distress or dysfunction.
But some children and teenagers exhibit problems with relationships that persist into adulthood—problems that interfere with an aspect of daily life, such as work or family life. These problems have existed for so long that they seem to be a part of who the person is, a part of his or her personality. Such persistent problems are central to personality disorders, a category of psychological disorders characterized by an enduring pattern of inflexible and maladaptive thoughts, emotional responses, interpersonal functioning, and impulse control problems that arise across a range of situations and lead to distress or dysfunction.
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