What is a Personality Disorder?
Personality disorders are a group of mental illnesses, categories by long term patterns of thoughts and behaviours that are unhealthy. A personality disorder affects how a person thinks, feels, relates or behaves and this will differ from people without a disorder.
There are 10 different types of personality disorders recognised in the UK. These are grouped into three categories.
Suspicious:
Paranoid personality disorder
Schizoid personality disorder
Schizotypal personality disorder
Emotional and impulsive:
Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)
Borderline personality disorder (BPD)
Histrionic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder
Anxious:
Avoidant personality disorder
Dependent personality disorder
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)
Each of these personality disorders has its own set of diagnostic criteria – to get a diagnosis you must meet some of these criteria. If you meet criteria for more than one type this may be called ‘mixed personality disorder’.