Personality Disorder Essay

675 Words2 Pages

Mental illness, today we are surround by a broad array of types of mental illnesses and new discoveries in this field every day. Up till the mid 1800’s there was no speak of personality disorder, in fact there was only two type of mental illness recognized. Those two illnesses as defined by Dr. Sam Vaknin (2010), “”delirium” or “manial”- were depression (melancholy), psychoses, and delusions.” It was later in 1835 when J. C. Pritchard the British Physician working at Bristol Infirmary Hospital published his work titled “Treatise on Insanity and Other Disorder of the Mind” this opened the door to the world of personality disorder. There were many story and changes to his theories and mental illness and it was then when Henry Maudsley in 1885 put theses theories to work and applied to a patient. This form of mental illness has since grown into the many different types of personality disorder that we know today. Like the evolution of the illness itself there has been a significant change in the way this illness is diagnosed and treated. The World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10) includes 10 common forms of personality disorder there is a common connection between the personality traits of all. Every single person has their own ways of thinking, feeling, reacting, and relating to certain things. In the instance when one of those elements does not work correctly and is essentially dysfunctional warrant the diagnosis of personality disorder. There is a fine line between the diagnosis of personality disorder and a mental disorder, which makes it hard to diagnose at times. According to The American Psychiatric Association they organize their diagnosis method by us... ... middle of paper ... ...t is important to be able to identify the cause of this change or “triggers”. These triggers can be anything from out loud noise to a change in the weather, again this is another variable that is essentially boundless depending on the patient. Triggers can be an essential game changer for a PD patient as they present a new set of variables in their everyday environment. Personality disorders are considered a chronic condition by definition and because of this there can be many additional links made between PD and other illnesses. According to Randy K. Ward, MD “Conditions such as psychiatric disorders, substance abuse disorders, medical disorder, and neurological disorders” can be found in many different PD patients. Although all of these factors may cause problems for physicians PD patients in general still have a clear sense of knowledge and good memory.

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