Personality Disorders – Symptoms and Causes

Overview

Personality traits form the foundation of how individuals perceive themselves and interact with the world around them. These traits develop early in life through a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Genetic influences, sometimes referred to as temperament, are inherited from parents, while environmental factors include surroundings, life events, and relationship patterns with family and others.

When personality traits function well, they allow people to adapt to changing circumstances, maintain healthy relationships, and develop effective coping strategies. However, some individuals develop less adaptive traits that lead to:

• Difficulty managing emotions
• Poor stress tolerance
• Impulsive behaviors
• Trust issues
• Relationship challenges

A personality disorder occurs when someone has persistent patterns of thinking and behaving that cause significant problems in their daily life. These patterns typically begin in adolescence or early adulthood and remain stable over time.

People with personality disorders often experience:

Area Affected	Impact
Relationships	Difficulty forming and maintaining connections
Work/School	Performance problems and conflicts
Self-image	Distorted perceptions of themselves
Emotional regulation	Trouble understanding and managing feelings

These challenges can severely impact quality of life, making it difficult to function in social settings, maintain employment, and experience fulfilling relationships.

The rigid nature of these personality patterns makes it hard for individuals to adapt to new situations or learn from experiences that might otherwise lead to personal growth.

Understanding personality development helps explain why some people struggle with particular patterns of behavior that cause persistent difficulties throughout their lives.

Signs of Personality Disorders

Type A Personality Patterns

People with Type A personality patterns often show distrust or lack of social interest. They think and act in ways that create distance from others.

Paranoid Pattern

• Always suspicious of others without reason
• Believes others want to harm them
• Questions everyone’s loyalty
• Refuses to trust people
• Fears sharing personal information
• Takes harmless comments as personal attacks
• Gets angry quickly at perceived insults
• Holds grudges for a long time
• Often suspects partners of cheating without evidence

Detached Pattern

• Appears cold or uninterested in relationships
• Prefers being alone most of the time
• Shows limited emotional expression
• Finds little joy in activities
• Misses social cues
• Shows little interest in sexual relationships

Unusual Thinking Pattern

• Displays strange beliefs, speech, or behaviors
• Experiences unusual perceptions like hearing their name whispered
• Shows flat or socially inappropriate emotional responses
• Feels uncomfortable with close relationships
• Interacts with others in odd ways
• Believes in “magical thinking”—that thoughts can directly affect events
• Sees hidden messages in ordinary events

Type B Personality Patterns

Those with Type B personality patterns show dramatic, overly emotional, or unpredictable behaviors. These patterns seriously affect their relationships and daily life.

Emotional Instability Pattern

• Deeply fears abandonment
• Feels chronically empty inside
• Has an unstable self-image
• Forms intense but unstable relationships
• Experiences rapidly changing moods, often triggered by social stress
• Makes suicide threats or engages in self-harm
• Shows intense anger
• Behaves impulsively (unsafe sex, gambling, binge eating)
• Develops brief paranoia during stressful times

Attention-Seeking Pattern

• Constantly needs to be the center of attention
• Acts overly dramatic or flirtatious to gain notice
• Makes strong statements with little supporting evidence
• Is easily influenced by others
• Shows shallow, quickly changing emotions
• Is excessively concerned with physical appearance
• Believes relationships are closer than they actually are

Self-Importance Pattern

• Believes they are special and superior to others
• Fantasizes about unlimited power and success
• Fails to recognize others’ feelings and needs
• Exaggerates achievements and talents
• Demands constant praise and admiration
• Feels entitled to special treatment
• Exploits others for personal gain
• Envies others or believes others envy them

Rule-Breaking Pattern

• Shows little concern for others’ feelings
• Frequently lies, steals, and manipulates others
• Has repeated legal problems
• Violates others’ rights
• Displays aggression and violence
• Disregards safety of self and others
• Acts on impulse
• Takes unnecessary risks
• Shows no remorse for harmful actions

Type C Personality Patterns

People with Type C personality patterns show persistent anxiety and fear in their thinking and behavior. These patterns significantly limit their social and personal growth.

Social Avoidance Pattern

• Highly sensitive to criticism
• Feels inadequate or unattractive
• Avoids work activities involving others
• Lives an isolated life
• Avoids new activities and people
• Extremely shy in social settings
• Fears disapproval and ridicule

Dependency Pattern

• Relies excessively on others for support
• Acts submissive or clingy
• Fears being alone and having to care for themselves
• Lacks self-confidence
• Needs excessive reassurance for decision-making
• Struggles to start or complete tasks independently
• Cannot disagree with others out of fear
• Tolerates mistreatment to maintain relationships
• Desperately seeks new relationships when one ends

Perfectionism Pattern

• Obsesses over details, order, and rules
• Demands perfection, becoming upset when not achieved
• Cannot complete projects due to impossibly high standards
• Needs to control people and situations
• Unable to delegate tasks
• Sacrifices social life for work or projects
• Hoards worthless objects
• Displays rigid and stubborn behavior
• Inflexible about moral issues
• Excessively controls spending

This pattern differs from anxiety-related obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Many people show symptoms of multiple personality patterns at once. The number and intensity of symptoms vary from person to person.

When to Get Help

If you notice any signs of these personality patterns in yourself, contact a doctor or mental health professional. Without treatment, these issues can seriously damage your relationships, emotional well-being, and ability to reach personal goals.

Early help can make a significant difference in your quality of life.

Causes

Personality disorders stem from a combination of genetic makeup and environmental influences. People may inherit genes that increase their risk for these disorders.

Life experiences can then trigger the development of a personality disorder in those who are genetically predisposed.

The way your genes and life experiences interact plays a key role in shaping your personality. When this interaction happens in certain ways, it may lead to personality patterns that cause problems in daily life.

Risk Factors

Certain factors may increase the likelihood of developing personality disorders:

Personality Traits

• Extreme harm avoidance behaviors
• Constant thrill-seeking tendencies
• Difficulty controlling impulses

Early Life Experiences

• Unstable or unpredictable home environment
• Lack of proper emotional support during childhood
• History of trauma including:
  • Physical neglect or abuse
  • Emotional neglect or abuse
  • Sexual abuse

These factors don’t guarantee someone will develop a personality disorder, but they may contribute to increased risk. Research continues to explore how these elements interact with biological and genetic factors.

Problems with Personality Disorders

Personality disorders can cause major problems in daily life. They may harm your relationships with family and friends.

At work or school, these disorders can make it hard to succeed or fit in.

People with personality disorders often feel alone. They may struggle to connect with others, leading to social isolation.

These disorders can also lead to other mental health issues and problems with addictions.

Legal and job-related troubles are common too. The behaviors linked to personality disorders might break rules at work or even laws, causing serious consequences.