What Is a Personality Disorder?
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), defines “personality disorder” generally as “an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment.“ This article reviews some of the research and information on PTSD and its relationship to several important personality disorders. If you have both BPD and PTSD, it’s important to understand other conditions for which you may have a higher risk (for example, substance abuse, depression, or deliberate self-harm). Armed with this knowledge, you can take steps to develop healthy coping skills that will help you minimize those risks. PTSD often co-occurs with avoidant personality disorder. Few studies have looked at the relationship between PTSD and avoidant personality disorder; however, those that have been done indicate that people with both PTSD and avoidant personality disorder may be at higher risk for some serious problems, such as deliberate self-harm. Some of the symptoms of antisocial personality disorder (such as greater impulsiveness) could lead to behaviors or situations (for example, substance abuse) that put a person at greater risk for a traumatic event—which, in turn, could contribute to the development of PTSD. Learn more about antisocial personality disorder in this article from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
