Diagnosis of personality disorder

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)

Reference:

• (1) Gask L, Evans M, Kessler D. Clinical Review. Personality disorder. BMJ. 2013;347:5276.