Who we are
Bubbly, playful, and kind. Those are all personalities traits that I believe define who I am. There are other people in the world who are defined with characteristics that steer them out of the societal norm for a person’s behavior and actions. All around the world there are so many people with many different personalities and most people seem to act within the societal norm when it comes to personality characteristics. There are a few in the world who seem to deviate from the societal norm and can be diagnosed with a personality disorder that most people are ignorant to. Personality disorders are “personalities that upset others and interfere with their interaction with others” (Hersen and Turner). People diagnosed with a personality disorder falls into one of these three categorizes: Cluster A, B, and C.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 9.1% of people over 18 years old have been diagnosed with a personality disorder. In the type of world we live in today its understanding why some people don’t trust other people or why we might distort reality. There is a certain point where some people’s behaviors may be out of the ordinary and can be diagnosed with a Cluster A personality disorder. Cluster A personality disorders include disorders such as paranoid and schizoid personality disorder. Paranoid personality disorder is the fear of trusting others. According to the American Psychiatric Association, “People with paranoid personality disorder often assume people will harm or deceive them and are reluctant to confide in others or become close to them.” Paranoid personality disorder makes you almost incapable of trusting others or hold intimate relationships.
Just like paranoid personality order makes it hard to trust people, an individual with schizoid personality disorder lacks trust in others. Along with the lack of trust schizoid personality disorder doesn’t have an interest in maintaining close relations with someone. Psychology Today explains that “The disorder manifests itself by early adulthood through social and emotional detachments that prevent people from having close relationships. People with it are able to function in everyday life, but will not develop meaningful relationships with others.” Schizoid personality disorder can affect a person’s life on a personal level as they may find it difficult to bond with someone. Someone diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder would be very apathetic. The personality disorders that fall under Cluster A can disrupt your daily life and can not simply be mistaken as just having a day where people just really get under your skin.
Cluster A personality disorders are caused by biological and environmental factors. Schizoid personality disorder may be caused by having a parent with this specific disorder or schizophrenia or being brought up by harsh and cold guardians (MayoClinic.com). This also goes for those diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder, along with an unstable and tragic childhood (Healthline.com Legg).
There are days that we as humans just are a wreck, hyperactive, or just an emotional mess. There are some people where these qualities will be taken to the extreme. Those individuals are usually diagnosed as having a Cluster B personality disorder. Personality Disorders that fall under Cluster B include antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic.
Someone diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder may exhibited as a liar and very emotionless. They don’t know how to have a normal and healthy relationship with someone and can also be quite impulsive.
A person with borderline personality disorder can be portrayed as mentally unstable, impulsive, and suicidal. The main concern for individuals with borderline is the danger they bring upon themselves. The suicide rate for those with borderline personality disorder is 3-9% (Stanley and New). Suicide is not the only means of self-destruction for people with this disorder. Non-suicidal self destruction include “non-suicidal self injury, eating disorders, and substance abuse are frequently seen in the context of borderline personality disorder” (Stanley and New).
The only difference between borderline and histrionic personality disorder is the determination for someone diagnosed with histrionic to need the attention. Histrionic personality disorder is someone who constantly needs and seeks to be noticed and the spotlight needs to always be on them. Additionally, people diagnosed with histrionic personality disorder typically have very unstable emotions and are overly sensitive. A psychologist, Dr. Steve Bressert, explains that “People with this disorder may be perceived as being shallow, and may engage in sexually seductive or provocative behavior to draw attention to themselves”.
Likewise, people diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder want the attention to themselves. As the named defines them, they are usually very narcissistic and only put themselves first and lack a sense of empathy for others.
Psychologist have not found a soul reason as to how cluster B personalities develop. A study by The Journal of Personality Disorders, found that “[Cluster B] personality disorders are highly divergent, with some studies finding high heredity and others very low”. This means that there is no hereditary cause for these types of personality disorders.
As humans it’s only natural to have fears but they only typically arise when we are met with the cause of the fear and tend not to disrupt our daily life. This is an exception for people who are diagnosed with a Cluster C personality disorder. Cluster C personality disorders include avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive.
Avoidant personality disorder is someone who avoids people when they are unsure about how someone may feel about them. In short, people diagnosed with avoidant personality Disorder have a fear of not being liked and that drives them to not be socially inclined.
Dependent personality disorder is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as someone with “[the] fear of inability to take care of himself or herself”. Just as the name of this disorder explains it, individuals with this disorder are dependent on others to take care of them and believe they can not care for themselves properly.
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is someone who strives to make everything perfect. Individuals diagnosed with Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder are delayed by making everything perfect that they can’t maintain friendships or balance a healthy lifestyle.
When it comes to the cause of cluster C personality disorders, psychologist do not know where the fears stem from. A psychologist, Dr. Randy K. Ward, explains that “All patients in this cluster exhibit anxiety in some form whether it is caused by fears of evaluation by others, abandonment, or loss of order, these patients experience uncomfortable ideas and sensations that cause distress and interfere with their functioning within the physician-patient relationship”. Cluster C has an unknown root cause but can disrupt a person’s ability to hold normal healthy relationships.
Who we are seems to not physically throw our lives into disarray, but helps us make choices and makes up who we are in our lives. We all have qualities that may bring havoc to our lives. For me, I have the tendency to feel guilty and empathetic for people easily and that can make me very naive, but that doesn’t interrupt my day to day life.People with the three types of personality disorders (Clusters A, B, and C) have personality traits that disrupt their daily lives in numerous ways that are way outside the societal norm that defines what a “normal” personality is. We as a society should not be ignorant to these disorders and should be able to understand and recognize the symptoms of these personality disorder for ourselves and others.