diagnosis of personality disorder

Last reviewed 01/2018

diagnosis of personality disorder

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 5 criteria for diagnosis of personality disorder are as follows:

  • an enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviated markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture. This pattern is manifested in two (or more) of the following areas:
    • cognition -  ways of perceiving and interpreting self, other people and events
    • affectivity - range, intensity, lability, and appropriateness of emotional response
    • interpersonal functioning
    • impulse control
  • the enduring pattern is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations
  • the enduring pattern leads to clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
  • the pattern is stable and of long duration, and its onset can be traced back at least to adolescence or early adulthood.
  • the enduring pattern is not better accounted for as a manifestation or consequence of another mental disorder.
  • the enduring pattern is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., head trauma)

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