Personality disorders are a group of psychiatric conditions in which a person's long-term (chronic) behaviors, emotions, and thoughts are very different from their culture's expectations and cause serious problems with relationships and work.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
The causes of personality disorders are unknown. However, many genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role.
Mental health professionals categorize these disorders into the following types:
Antisocial personality disorder Avoidant personality disorder Borderline personality disorder Dependent personality disorder Histrionic personality disorder Narcissistic personality disorder Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder Paranoid personality disorder Schizoid personality disorder Schizotypal personality disorder
Review Date: 11/14/2010
Reviewed By: Linda Vorvick, MD, Medical Director, MEDEX Northwest Division of
Physician Assistant Studies, University of Washington School of
Medicine; and David B. Merrill, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of
Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical
Center, New York, NY. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA,
Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
