Most people have a fairly flexible personality that allows them to adapt to a variety of circumstances, people and events. Persons with Personality Disorders, instead, get stuck in fairly rigid ways of relating to people and events. It may affect how they think about themselves and the world around them, how they experience emotion, how they function socially, and how well they can control their impulses.
There are ten recognized personality disorders, typically arranged into three clusters.
- Cluster "A" - Paranoid, Schizoid, and Schizotypal Personality Disorders.
- Cluster "B" - Antisocial, Histrionic, Narcissistic and Borderline Personality disorders.
- Cluster "C" - Avoidant, Dependent and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders.
It is possible for people to have traits or symptoms of more than one personality disorder at the same time, while not meeting criteria for any one of them. In this case of "mixed personality disorder" the diagnosis of Personality Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (NOS) is made, and the traits are listed out.
