This page contains definitions and clinical criteria for Personality Disorders as defined by the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization.
Understanding the clinical criteria for personality disorders is a good first step. However, learning how to cope with or live with a loved-one who suffers from a personality disorder is generally not covered in the diagnostic literature.
Therefore, father than focusing exclusively on the clinical traits for diagnosis, it is our aim at Out of the FOG to approach personality disorders from the Non-PD’s point of view. In other words - what is it like to live with a person with NPD or BPD? What’s it like to have a parent with a Histrionic or Dependent Personality Disorder? How do you cope when caring for someone with a Dependent Personality Disorder?
How do you protect yourself when living with a person who suffers from Antisocial Personality Disorder?
Here, at Out of the FOG, we have compiled a separate collection of Common Behaviors & Traits of Personality-Disordered Individuals which is written from a Non-PD's perspective and includes ideas for coping which you will not find in the clinical information on personality disorders listed on this page. You are encouraged to review the common behaviors page where you may find examples which match your own experiences.
Another effective way for Non-PD's to learn about personality disorders is to hear from other people who have faced similar circumstances. It can be a relief to discover that your situation is not unique. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to visit our Support Forum.
DSM-IV-TR Personality Disorder Definitions
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) divides personality disorders into 3 clusters and 10 distinct diagnoses:
These are definitions which have been created to give Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Therapists a set of “shorthand” labels to describe the pathology and behaviors of a particular category of patients. Click on the Links above to learn more about each condition.
ICD-10 Personality Disorder Definitions
The World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) organizes personality disorder diagnoses in a different groupings compared to the DSM-IV-TR as follows:
A number of studies have been conducted in recent years to determine the prevalence of personality disorders in the general US population.
According to a 2007 study, 9.1% of the US population (about 1 in 11 people) meet the DSM-IV criteria for a personality disorder. Two previous smaller surveys have estimated the percentage between 9.0% and 15.7%.
Comorbidity is a psychological term used to describe the occurrence of more than one diagnosis in a single patient. Comorbidity is common in the diagnosis of psychological disorders.
Description:
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) Criteria for Personality Disorders are broad and imprecise and the APA acknowledges that diagnosis is a subjective art. A patient has to exhibit some, but not all of the traits of a particular disorder in order to be given that diagnosis. Additionally, there is a lot of overlap, known as "Comorbidity" between the different definitions.
So, for example, it is possible for a person who suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder to exhibit some of the traits listed in the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder. Likewise, it is possible for a person with Dependent Personality Disorder to behave a lot like a person with Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. You can click on the links above to read more about each disorder, traits, clinical treatment regimes etc. This overlapping nature of personality disorders is known as Comorbidity.
Dec 30 2009 - Those of you who use the "stay logged in" feature of the Out of the FOG support forum will notice that you unexpectedly had to log in again today. Please don't be alarmed. This was caused by some updates to the board behind the scenes. Please excuse the inconvenience.
Nov 1 2009 - Out of the FOG is celebrating 2 years in bringing information and support to family members and loved-ones of people who suffer from personality disorders. In the two years since we launched, our traffic has grown exponentially and we are rapidly becoming one of the internet's premier sources of information on coping with personality disorders. Happy birthday OOTF and thanks to all our members and supporters around the world.
Out of the FOG Support Forum Zetaboards Upgrade
June 15 2009 - Please excuse our appearance while the Out of the FOG Support Forum upgrades to run on the new Zetaboards software platform. The new software contains a number of new features and improvements over our existing system which should become evident after the conversion is completed.
This upgrade will convert all our existing forums, posts, PM's, memberships and profiles. There should be very little interruption in service or loss of data. The only thing you will notice is changes to the appearance of the graphical interface. It will take 1-2 weeks to complete the conversion.
Our main Out of the FOG information site, here at http://www.outofthefogsite.com will be unaffected by the upgrade. Bookmark this site and visit here if you have any trouble logging into the board. Should any unexpected interruption in our service occur, an announcement will be posted in the "Latest News" Box at at http://www.outofthefogsite.com. Additionally, a temporary discussion forum has been established here which you can use should we experience any long-term interruption of service.
Please excuse any inconvenience you may experience as we perform the upgrade.
June 3 2009 - BPD author A.J. Mahari has launched a new version of her website called BPD INFO which has a section which invites members to submit website articles about BPD. Our own gary submitted an article to her site this week.
