What Are The Main Types Of Personality Disorder?

All of us are characterised by our own unique way of thinking, feeling and acting. All these thoughts, feelings and actions constitute our personality. When your personality traits begin to cause problems in your everyday life, you may be diagnosed as having a personality disorder.

A personality disorder can have an impact on how you react to different life circumstances, how you deal with emotions and how you behave in relation to others.

Different Types Of Personality Disorders

There are various types of personality disorders that are clustered into 3 groups: Suspicious, Emotional / Impulsive and Anxious. These are the five most common types:

Paranoid Personality Disorder

You may feel excessively worried about trusting others and are constantly suspicious without a reason, if you have been diagnosed with a paranoid personality disorder. You may often feel that others are taking advantage of you, or are lying.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

If you have schizoid personality disorder, you may not be interested in forming close relationships with other people / your family, as you fear they will take over your personal space and cause problems. You may prefer to be alone, and you seem emotionally empty in your relationships.

Borderline Personality Disorder

If you feel that you can’t control your emotions, and you are often experiencing feelings of distress and mood swings, then you may be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. You may engage in self-harming behaviours or abuse drugs and alcohol to cope with negative emotions.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

If you have avoidant personality disorder, you may be constantly worried about others judging you in a negative way, which in turn makes you avoid social situations. You may have low self-worth and be sensitive to criticism. Although you might want to get closer to others, you avoid relationships and intimacy as you worry that you will be rejected.

Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder

You may feel anxious in situations that are seen as unorganised or ‘chaotic’, and you have a need to keep everything under control. You often have unrealistically high expectations of yourself and others. You tend to worry a lot and focus on small details that have no real value.

You may have already been given a diagnosis of a personality disorder, and are struggling with relationships in your life.

Or you may be looking to make sense of repeated relationship breakdowns or regular mood swings, and see some of yourself in the descriptions above.

Either way, our team are trained in working with personality disorders, and can help you build resources to manage relationships and life in a healthier way.