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Chapter 7.1 - Clinical Features and Implications of New Classification of Personality Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2024

By
Peter Tyrer
Edited by
David Kingdon ,
Paul Rowlands  and
George Stein
David Kingdon
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
Paul Rowlands
Affiliation:
Derbyshire Healthcare NHS foundation Trust
George Stein
Affiliation:
Emeritus of the Princess Royal University Hospital
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Summary

Personality disorder represents a diagnosis very different from others in psychiatry. This is because it describes a long-standing integral part of a person, not just an affliction that has happened. Because of the sensitivity of ascribing a core part of a person’s being to the impersonality of a diagnostic term, the subject has been widely stigmatised. However, the condition is very common and affects one-tenth of the population. In this chapter, the clinical features of personality disorder identified in the new ICD-11 severity classification are described and their value illustrated. A fuller description of the ICD-11 classification can be found in another College publication.

There are five levels of diagnosis of personality disorder, including the sub-syndromal form – personality difficulty – which is by far the most common. The diagnosis of borderline personality disorder is the most used in practice but is a heterogeneous term that overlaps with almost every other disorder in psychiatry. All personality disorders have approximately equal genetic and environmental precursors, and the involvement of childhood adverse experiences and trauma is unfortunately true for this as for all psychiatric disorders.

Keywords

personality disorderclassificationseveritytrait domainsbehaviour
Type
Chapter
Information
Seminars in General Adult Psychiatry , pp. 404 - 413
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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