What are the 3 type of personality disorders?

There are different ways to classify personality disorders, and experts often disagree about the best way to group them together. Generally, they agree that personality disorders lie on a spectrum, along with normal personality traits. So, some people may have some features of a personality disorder without having the entire disorder.

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Some people may also show features of more than one personality disorder.

One of the main classification systems groups personality disorders into 3 main 'clusters'.

Cluster A

People with this type of disorder are generally described as having 'odd' or 'eccentric' thoughts or behaviours:

Paranoid personality disorder: people with this disorder are suspicious and mistrustful of others, interpret other people’s motives as harmful, and may be hostile or emotionally detached.
Schizoid personality disorder: this disorder causes someone to lack interest in social relationships and have an unemotional response to social interactions.
Schizotypal personality disorder: this may cause people to behave eccentrically, have peculiar dress, have unusual or bizarre thoughts and beliefs, feel discomfort in social settings, and have trouble forming close relationships.

Cluster B

General features of this cluster group include unstable emotions and dramatic or impulsive behaviours:

Antisocial personality disorder: this disorder may cause a disregard for the law or for the rights of others, with a lack of remorse, including lying and stealing, aggression, violence or illegal behaviour.
Histrionic personality disorder: people with this disorder are highly emotional and dramatic, have an excessive need for attention and approval, and may be obsessed with their appearance.
Borderline personality disorder: the main features include fear of abandonment, intense and unstable relationships, extreme emotional outbursts, deliberate self-harm or self-destructive behaviour and a fragile sense of self or identity.
Narcissistic personality disorder: a pattern of inflated self-esteem, need for admiration, lack of empathy or concern for others, and fantasies of success, power or beauty.

Cluster C

General features of these disorders include anxious and fearful thoughts and behaviour:

Avoidant personality disorder: people with this disorder avoid social interaction and are extremely sensitive to negative judgements by others; they may be timid and socially isolated with feelings of inadequacy.
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: people with this disorder are preoccupied by rules, orderliness and value work above other aspects of life. They are perfectionistic and have a need to be in control. Note that this is different from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which is a form of anxiety disorder.
Dependent personality disorder: this disorder causes a fear of being alone and a need to be taken care of, difficulty separating from loved ones or making independent decisions. People may be submissive and even tolerate domineering or abusive relationships.

Some people with personality disorders may be at risk of harming themselves or others. You can call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or dial triple zero (000) if you or someone you know has attempted to or is at risk of attempting to harm themselves or someone else.

Department of Health (What is a personality disorder?), ReachOut (Services for personality disorders), ReachOut.com (Personality disorders), ReachOut (Borderline personality disorder), National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Borderline Personality Disorder (2012))

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Last reviewed: December 2018

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Personality disorders are mental and behavioral problems that are so severe they impair the person’s functioning in work and relationships. There are three main groups, each with different specific disorders as subtypes.

A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder that describes personality traits so inflexible and maladaptive they impair one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Thoughts, displays of emotion, impulsiveness, and interpersonal behavior must deviate significantly from the expectations of an individual's culture in order to be diagnosed with a personality disorder.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) groups the 10 personality disorders into three clusters based upon descriptive similarities:

Cluster A characteristics: Individuals may appear odd and eccentric
- Paranoid personality disorder
- Schizoid personality disorder
- Schizotypal personality disorder
Cluster B characteristics: Individuals often appear dramatic, emotional, or erratic
Cluster C characteristics: Individuals often appear anxious or fearful
- Avoidant personality disorder
- Dependent personality disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (this is not the same as obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD)

Personality disorders develop over time. Symptoms of a personality disorder can range from mild to severe and may include:

Frequent mood swings
Angry outbursts
Social anxiety and difficulty making friends
Need to be the center of attention
Feeling of being taken advantage of
Impulsivity/difficulty delaying gratification
Not feeling there is anything wrong with one’s behavior
Blaming the world for one’s behaviors and feelings

Specific symptoms of individual personality disorders include:

Paranoid: Distrust and suspiciousness of others and interpreting motives as vindictive or unkind, assumption people will harm or deceive them, will not confide in others or become close to them
Schizoid: Detachment from social relationships, restricted range of expression of emotions with others, does not seek close relationships, chooses to be alone, does not appear to care about praise or criticism from others
Schizotypal: Social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions, eccentric behavior, odd beliefs, peculiar behavior or speech, excessive social anxiety
Antisocial: Disregarding and violating the rights of others, not conforming to social norms, lying and deception, stealing, impulsivity, defaulting on debts, neglecting children
Borderline: Instability in interpersonal relationships, poor self-image, intense emotions, and poor impulse control, suicide attempts, inappropriate intense anger, feelings of emptiness
Histrionic: rapidly shifting or exaggerated emotions, attention seeking, discomfort when not the center of attention
Narcissistic: Grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, lack of empathy, sense of entitlement, takes advantage of others
Avoidant: Social inhibition, extreme shyness, feelings of inadequacy, hypersensitivity to criticism, unwillingness to become involved with others unless they are certain they will be liked, preoccupation with being rejected, seeing themselves as not good enough
Dependent: Feelings of inadequacy, inability to make own decisions, submissiveness, clingy behavior, need to be taken care of, avoidance of confrontation for fear of losing source of support, difficulty making daily decisions without reassurance
Obsessive-compulsive: Preoccupation with perfectionism, mental and control, and orderliness, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency; excessive focus on details, works excessively without allowing time for leisure or friends, inflexibility in morality and values

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Personality disorders may be caused by:

Genetics
- Family history of mental illness
Environment
- Childhood trauma
- Verbal abuse in childhood
High reactivity (being overly sensitive)

Personality disorders are diagnosed by mental health professionals and are generally not diagnosed until a person is over age 18, because personalities are still developing.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) outlines specific criteria patients must meet in order to be diagnosed, including:

An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture. This pattern is manifested in two (or more) of the following areas:
1. Cognition (i.e., ways of perceiving and interpreting self, other people, and events)
2. Affectivity (i.e., the range, intensity, lability, and appropriateness of emotional response)
3. Interpersonal functioning
4. 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 explained as a manifestation or consequence of another mental disorder.
The enduring pattern is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or another medical condition (e.g., head trauma).

The DSM-5 also includes diagnostic criteria for each of the individual personality disorders.