And part of having a personality

is how we experience the world,

our inner experience of the world,

our emotional experience,

and also how we behave outwardly.

So, what happens when we say somebody has

a personality disorder?

Well what we're saying there is that

there's a really marked deviation

from what we expect and how we expect them to behave,

or how they are experiencing the world.

And that really leads to a great deal of distress

and impairment in their function.

Now, saying somebody has a personality disorder

is actually a controversial thing,

and actually, this whole category

has been controversial in many regards.

But there are lots of details, and the research

hasn't fully validated some of the things I'm saying

and further what needs to be done.

So please bear that in mind.

One of the things that we know

in the current categorization,

there are ten personality disorders,

and they are separated out

into three big clusters, as we can see the three circles.

We have Cluster A, Cluster B, and Cluster C.

As a general overview, the personality disorders

in Cluster A are often defined as being odd or eccentric.

Those in B are often labeled as being dramatic,

emotional, or erratic.

And finally, in Cluster C, these personality disorders

are often described as encompassing

anxiety and fearfulness features.

One of the things that you may have noticed

is that there's a fair degree of overlap

between these clusters.

And it may very well be that, even though

there's ten different types of personality disorder,

an individual may very well have one or more types.

So let's start with A.

In our A category, we have three different

personality disorders: paranoid personality disorder,

schizoid personality disorder,

and schizotypal personality disorder.

So let's start off with paranoid personality disorder.

The key feature that really causes impairment here

is this really profound distrust and suspicion

of other people.

And that would be in keeping with the name, right?

Paranoid.

Let's look at schizoid.

Someone who is schizoid is often very emotionally detached,

detached in their relationships and shows little emotion.

And finally we get to schizotypal.

People with schizotypal personality disorder

not only tend to avoid close relationships,

but they also have this kind of odd or magical thinking

that would really differentiate them from the other

Cluster A personality disorders.

Now there's a whole heap of extra criteria

and descriptions, but this is just an overview.

So, as we can see, these individuals are somewhat odd

and somewhat detached from the people

that are around them, and they may have

unusual beliefs or degrees of distrust or suspiciousness.

Let's move on to Cluster B.

This is a cluster that has four

of the personality disorders, including

anti-social,

borderline,

histrionic,

and narcissistic.

As I mentioned, Cluster B often contains

dramatic, emotional, or erratic traits.

When we think about people with anti-social

personality disorder, they tend to have

little or no regard for others.

They're often involved in the legal system,

they may commit crimes, and they will often show no remorse.

They're very inconsiderate of others.

And that would be consistent with the name, right?

Anti-social, they're not social people.

They're the opposite of social.

Secondly, we have borderline.

People on the borderline are always at the brink

of having some kind of emotional or relationship issue.

They have very unstable relationships.

Their emotions can actually be pretty unstable too,

and they could have a really variable self image.

They can be pretty impulsive, and this can

put them in quite a lot of danger.

Next we have histrionic.

People with histrionic personality disorder

are very attention seeking.

They might wear very bright clothes, they might

wear things that are very provocative,

and they can display a lot of their emotions outwardly.

Finally, in this category, we have narcissistic.

People with narcissistic personality disorder

have huge egos.

They might think that they're the best thing

since sliced bread.

They have a lot of need for admiration and praise,

and they don't take it lightly

if you try and criticize them.

One of the other ways to describe them

is being very grandiose.

They think very, very highly of themselves,

much more highly than you would think of them.

And finally, let's move on to our last cluster,

the anxious and fearful Cluster C.

In this cluster, we have three different

personality disorders.

We have avoidant, we have dependent,

and we have obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

I'm going to stress that this

is a personality disorder here,

as opposed to obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Do not mix them, and I'll tell you why in a minute.

Let's start with avoidant.

The main issue with people who are avoidant

is that they're very inhibited,

they feel inadequate, and generally

they try to avoid putting themselves

in a situation where they can be criticized.

Secondly, we have dependent.

People who are dependent are,

as the name says, very dependent.

They can be very submissive, they can be very clingy.

They may really need the help of others all the time.

Now, I want to spend a second on

obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

because these people are very focused

on their life being ordered, things being perfect,

and for them to be in control

of everything that's going on.

And the reason why this is actually different

from obsessive-compulsive disorder,

which is another condition, is that

with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder,

the focus is on order and perfection

and them being in control.

They don't necessarily have to check the locks

and the windows, or repeatedly wash their hands,

be very concerned about germs or bugs,

or things like that, that some people

with actual obsessive-compulsive disorder will be.

So these people, the real focus here

for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

is this focus on control, orderliness, and perfection.

And they do it to such an extent

that it really annoys other people

and can delay projects, like at work and at school

because they're hyper-focused on these issues.

So this overview of the ten different

personality disorders, over these three different

A, B, C clusters, and you can go

into far more detail, and there is a large degree

of controversy over these because

not all the research has fully validated this concept,

but this is the broad concept

that you need to be aware of.