Evidence Of Personality Disorder Research Articles

A cross-sectional study on the personality traits of episodic and chronic migraine patients.

Migraine, is a common neurological disorder that may be associated with certain personality traits. This study aims to identify and compare the personality traits accompanying the clinical and sociodemographic profiles in migraine groups. The study included a cohort of chronic, episodic migraine (CM - EM) and healthy controls (HC). Migraine was diagnosed according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders-3β criteria. Age, gender, migraine-related disease duration, number of days with a headache each month, and headache intensity of the patients were recorded. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) was used to determine personality traits. The study groups were similar in terms of sociodemographic characteristics (70 CM, 70 EM, and 70 HC). The visual analog scale (VAS) score was significantly higher in CM (p<0.05). No statistically significant difference was found between the groups concerning symptoms of migraine such as osmophobia, photophobia, phonophobia, and nausea (p>0.05). When the personality traits were examined, the mean scores of the MMPI test results of migraine patients were found to be higher than healthy controls in line personality disorders (p<0.05 for all personality traits). In CM patients, the 'hysteria' score was found to be higher in subgroup evaluation (p<0.05). EM and CM patients had more evidence of personality disorders than healthy controls. CM patients had higher hysteria scores than EM patients. In addition to pain treatment, determining personality traits and providing appropriate management with a multidisciplinary approach can benefit both in terms of treatment, cost, and time.

Distinguishing vulnerable clients from psychotic patients with follow-up mortality data

AimsThe aim of the present study is to determine whether vulnerable non-psychotic clients presenting in court proceedings do not share the same mortality profile as psychotic patients in similar environments. It is hypothesised that the two display quite separate mortality profiles.BackgroundThe increased mortality of psychiatric patients and prisoners has been documented but less is known of the outcomes among other vulnerable populations .The population for study is a consecutive series of assessments in court proceedings of carers of children at risk and violent offenders.MethodAssistants not involved in the initial assessments transferred data from case notes and this material was transferred to computer files. Statistical analysis SPSS19Formal psychiatric diagnoses were those agreed in court proceedings. National mortality records were searched and copies of death certificates obtained. A small number of cases known to have returned overseas were excluded. 772 cases were studied. One in five were assessed in prison, twice as many gave a history of violent criminal behaviour. Over a half suffered abuse or neglect or admitted to being unhappy in childhood. Three subgroups have been identified: Vulnerable with no psychotic illness(60%), psychosis with no evidence of personality disorder or of mixed psychosis(18%), linked psychosis(22%). It was found that demographic variables , deprivation factors, adverse childhood experiences and outcomes and clinical variables are in excess among linked psychotics compared with other groups. Linear regression of unnatural death among psychotic patients identifies five risk factors. The distribution of high-risk factors among linked psychosis is more than twice that found in other groups.ResultNatural mortality is most evident among clients suffering from psychosis without personality disorder or mixed disorder.Unnatural mortality is more than 10 times greater among patients with linked psychosis, compared with those with no psychosis and four times greater than other psychoses. Risk factors for unnatural mortality are: physical illness, stressful relationship, violence to self or others, detained and history of behaviour disorder.ConclusionThe findings of the present study demonstrate that vulnerable clients without psychosis are less likely to die by unnatural causes than clients who suffer psychosis coexisting with personality disorder or mixed psychosis. The null hypothesis is upheld. The findings suggest that risk assessment of vulnerable populations should take account of risk factors of unnatural death which have been identified in this study.

Impaired Pavlovian conditioned inhibition in offenders with personality disorders

Certain types of violent offending are often accompanied by evidence of personality disorders (PDs), a range of heterogeneous conditions characterized by disinhibited behaviours that are generally described as impulsive. The tasks previously used to show impulsivity deficits experimentally (in borderline personality disorder, BPD) have required participants to inhibit previously rewarded responses. To date, no research has examined the inhibition of responding based on Pavlovian stimulus-stimulus contingencies, formally "conditioned inhibition" (CI), in PDs. The present study used a computer-based task to measure excitatory and inhibitory learning within the same CI procedure in offenders recruited from the "personality disorder" and the "dangerous and severe personality disorder" units of a high-security psychiatric hospital. These offenders showed a striking and statistically significant change in the expression of inhibitory learning in a highly controlled procedure: The contextual information provided by conditioned inhibitors had virtually no effect on their prepotent associations. Moreover, this difference was not obviously attributable to nonspecific cognitive or motivational factors. Impaired CI would reduce the ability to learn to control associative triggers and so could provide an explanation of some types of offending behaviour.

Personality traits in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

There is evidence of personality disorders in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). To date, there have been no published quantitative studies on personality traits in JME. The aim of the work described here was to study a group of patients with JME and quantitatively measure personality traits. We evaluated 42 patients (mean age: 26.57years, SD: 8.38) and 42 controls (mean age: 26.96, SD: 8.48) using a validated personality inventory, the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). We applied two scores, one for the Beck Depression Inventory and one for the State–Trait–Anxiety Inventory, as depression and anxiety may impact the performance of these patients on the TCI. We compared both groups on TCI scales using analysis of covariance with Beck Depression Inventory and State–Trait–Anxiety Inventory scores as covariates. Patients with JME obtained significantly higher scores on Novelty Seeking (P=0.001) and Harm Avoidance (P=0.002) and significantly lower scores on Self-Directedness (P=0.001). Patients with JME have a higher expression of impulsive personality traits that demand early recognition to avoid further consequences and facilitate social insertion, consequently avoiding future stigma.

Hochstrittige Trennung und Persönlichkeitsstörung

We tried to identify clues related to personality disorders - especially related to borderline personality--in parents of high-conflict divorce. We compared n = 34 high-conflict clients of psychological counselling to n = 45 clients not related to high-conflict divorce. Parents of high-conflict divorce did not show significantly more hints related to personality disorder. Parents who live separated scored higher than parents living together. Extreme-group-analyses over all clients revealed in 20% definitely evidence of personality disorders or very low resiliency. Psychological counselling in the realm of Child care units also addresses clients who rate themselves as seriously impaired or non-resilient.

Defining the personality disorders: description of an Australian database.

We seek to improve the definition and classification of the personality disorders (PDs) and derive a large database for addressing this objective. The paper describes the rationale for the development of a large set of descriptors of the PDs (including all DSM-IV and ICD-10 descriptors, but enriched by an additional 109 items), the design of parallel self-report (SR) and corroborative witness (CW) measures, sample recruitment (of 863 patients with a priori evidence of personality disorder or disturbance) and preliminary descriptive data. Analyses (particularly those comparing ratings on molar PD descriptions with putative PD dimensions) argue for acceptable reliability of the data set, while both the size of the sample and the representation of all PD dimensions of interest argue for the adequacy of the database. We consider in some detail current limitations to the definition and classification of the PDs, and foreshadow the analytic techniques that will be used to address the key objectives of allowing the PDs to be modelled more clearly and, ideally, measured with greater precision and validity.

Microgenetic styles in histrionic and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.

Microgenetic styles of regulation of subjects with (n = 46) and without (n = 44) psychometric evidence of personality disorders were assessed by means of the Serial Color-Word Test. The disordered group were characterized by the primary Dissociative pattern and by very low values of the initial strategy called ITa. Subjects with psychometric evidence of Histrionic (n = 21) and Obsessive-Compulsive (n = 21) Personality Disorders were then compared. Histrionic personality corresponded most often to a primary Stabilized style, with a progressive slight increase of dissociation over time (Cv type). The compulsive trait was instead associated with high primary cumulation (and moderately elevated dissociation), concomitantly with secondary dissociative patterns (CDr and Dv/CDv). These results seem to encourage further clinical research with the Serial Color-Word Test.

Natural history of male psychological health: VIII. Antecedents of alcololism and "orality"

The author reports a prospective study of the mental health and alcohol use of 184 men first studied during their college years. When the men were 50 years old a rater blind to all other data classified the subjects' alcohol use as little (N = 48), social (N = 110), or abuse (N = 26). The warmth of the men's childhood environment and their personality stability in college were assessed by other raters blind to data on subjects' lives after college. Vignettes identifying "oral" adult behavior (pessimism, self-doubt, passivity, and dependence) were collected for each man by a rater blind to subjects' alcohol use and childhood ratings. Poor childhood, personality instability in college, and adult evidence of personality disorder were correlated with oral-dependent behavior but not with alcohol abuse. The 26 problem drinkers seem to have been depressed and unable to cope as a consequence--not a cause--of their inability to control their alcohol consumption.