According to Morrison,
personality traits are, “how individuals perceive, think about, and relate to
the environment and to themselves form patterns of behaviors.” Personality
characteristics can be divided into two categories: positive and negative.
People can move between both positive and negative personality characteristics.
However, when the individual has more negative personality characteristics and
the behaviors affect their life than that is something the clinician will want
to look at. The clinician will want to ask questions about the client, so that
they can determine what behaviors they are displaying and this information can
be used to determine if there is a personality disorder. Historical data is
extremely important when the clinician is diagnosing a personality disorder.
“These diagnosis are made only when character traits are so inflexible and
poorly adapted to the requirements of life that they cause considerable
distress or impair the person’s functioning in the realms of social, work, or
other areas” (p.85-9).
There are several
personality disorders; the personality disorder that interests me is borderline personality disorder. The
symptoms associated with borderline
personality disorder are; “Unstable impulse control, interpersonal
relationships, moods, and self-image, as shown by at least five of these:
frantic attempts to prevent abandonment abuse (again, don’t include suicidal or
self-mutilating behaviors, listed separately below); whether real or imagined…,
unstable relationships that alternate between idealization and devaluation;
Identity disturbances; potentially self-damaging impulsiveness in at least two
areas, such as binge eating, reckless driving, sex, spending, substance abuse
(again, don’t include suicidal or self-mutilating behaviors, listed separately
below), self-mutilation or suicidal thoughts, threats or other behaviors…”
(Morrison, p. 299).
References
Morrison, J.,
(2008). The First Interview. (3rd
Ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
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