• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Should there be at least 6 month duration for personality disorders?

Oz67

Well-Known Member
Should there be a six month duration for personality disorders? Personality Disorders shouldn't have to be life long, it just has to be chronic, long-term pattern of maladaptive inner experience and sense of self, age onset is late adolescent 16+.

Although, I made an argument that personality disorders shouldn't be diagnosed until age 26 and six months, to make sure that not only are personalities developed, but until your brain is completely rewired and stops growing.
 
Should there be a six month duration for personality disorders? Personality Disorders shouldn't have to be life long, it just has to be chronic, long-term pattern of maladaptive inner experience and sense of self, age onset is late adolescent 16+.

Although, I made an argument that personality disorders shouldn't be diagnosed until age 26 and six months, to make sure that not only are personalities developed, but until your brain is completely rewired and stops growing.
Interesting, I’m inclined to agree with you, my only hesitation is sometimes getting a diagnosis can lead to also getting treatment. With personality disorders in particular, however, I am not sure that this is always the case. I think it’s a very interesting question.
 
Technically, personality disorders are life-long, but that's not something you need to prove to get a diagnosis. I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder somewhere around the age of 22. He also fired me as a patient, saying I can't be helped.
 
I was told as a teenager that I had a personality disorder, but my current psychiatrist said that I definitely don't and the symptoms are typical of complex PTSD. I don't know why anyone would think I had anything other than PTSD.

I often hear maliciousness described as being one of the characteristics of most personality disorders. Also things like arrogance, manipulative behavior, sexual impulsivity and fetishes, deliberate attention seeking, dishonesty, harming other people and animals/homicidal thoughts, and lack of empathy. None of those things sound like me at all!
 
He also fired me as a patient, saying I can't be helped.
This sounds like a massive problem – personality disorders seem to remain among the toughest mental health conditions to treat - the healthcare system and mental health system in the USA does not treat people with personality disorders well in my view, and the relationship there is so rarely beneficial. There is definitely a good amount of room for better support and perhaps a unique approach for these types of conditions. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I am not diagnosed with a personality disorder, so my experience is not actually personal, and it is anecdotal.)
 
I was told as a teenager that I had a personality disorder,
This also sounds like a massive problem, supporting @Oren Franz’s point that diagnosing these conditions before brains are fully developed or in the presence of other conditions is also detrimental. This is a hugely complicated issue here. Although I do not work as one, I am a licensed social worker, and the way we were trained to deal with personality disorders was a bit upsetting to me, and my compassion for people who are dealing with these things has grown over the years.
 
I have to agree with Oren here and find it quite disturbing how quick some mental health practitioners are to diagnose or leave people in limbo after a diagnosis.
Personally, I would go for a 2nd or 3rd opinion without disclosing previous diagnosis.
There is no one person in the world who knows everything about mental health states and disorders. In fact I would say we still know very little compared to what we will in the future.

Fast forward 50 - 100 years and people will look back upon this time in mental health as incompetent assessments and barbaric treatments.
 
I was told as a teenager that I had a personality disorder, but my current psychiatrist said that I definitely don't and the symptoms are typical of complex PTSD. I don't know why anyone would think I had anything other than PTSD.

I often hear maliciousness described as being one of the characteristics of most personality disorders. Also things like arrogance, manipulative behavior, sexual impulsivity and fetishes, deliberate attention seeking, dishonesty, harming other people and animals/homicidal thoughts, and lack of empathy. None of those things sound like me at all!

I have some of those traits of personality disorders, but I don't harm people, I do have empathy, but it's kind of underdeveloped after being bullied in the past.
 
Personality disorders can get better to a degree and they are not really your personality they are patterns in behaviour.

We all have patterns in the way we drive to work, get dressed in the morning, the way we speak, and the way we express ourselves. A personality disorder is a series of dysfunctional patterns of behaviour that cause issues in the person's life and just like the way you drive to work everyday it can be hard to go off autopilot and change the behaviour you may also not want to change it.

Typically PDs are diagnosed at 18 or later and those diagnosed at 18 have had these patterns going back years to childhood or early teens. Sadly there is not enough treatment for PDs out there besides BPD having DBT so often those diagnosed feel they are in limbo after a diagnosis but at the very least diagnosis can help professionals interact with the person and the person to have better insight into why they are they way they are.

You could make the argument of course that patterns of behavior is what a personality is but I would say that not only the way you interact with others are what makes you you. Your personality is also your preferences and your hobbies and even those with PDs have varied responses to all sorts of things in life. It may be a lifelong struggle to adapt but it's not impossible and there are those even with very stigmatized PDs (NPD, ASPD) who lead productive lives and don't cause harm to others or themselves.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom