Cluster C personality disorders
These are personality disorders characterized by anxious, fearful thinking or behavior and include:

1.Avoidant personality disorder

Antisocial personality disorder is a mental health condition in which a person has a long-term pattern of manipulating, exploiting, or violating the rights of others. This behavior is often criminal.
People with avoidant personality disorder often consider themselves to be socially inept or personally unappealing and avoid social interaction for fear of being ridiculed, humiliated, rejected, or disliked. Childhood emotional neglect and peer group rejection are both associated with an increased risk for the development of AvPD.
Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by feelings of extreme social inhibition, inadequacy, and sensitivity to negative criticism and rejection. Yet the symptoms involve more than simply being shy or socially awkward. Avoidant personality disorder causes significant problems that affect the ability to interact with others and maintain relationships in day-to-day life.

Symptoms

• Hypersensitivity to criticism or rejection
• Feeling inadequate
• Social isolation
• Extreme shyness in social situations
• Timidity

Causes
People with an antisocial or alcoholic parent are at increased risk. Far more men than women are affected. The condition is common among people who are in prison.
While the exact causes of this disorder are unknown, environmental and genetic factors have been implicated. Genetic factors are suspected since the incidence of antisocial behavior is higher in people with an antisocial biological parent.
Genetic factors and environmental factors, such as child abuse, are believed to contribute to the development of this condition.
Environmental factors are believed to contribute to the development of antisocial personality disorder since a person whose role model had antisocial tendencies is more likely to develop the disorder.

Diagnosis:
Both  diagnosis and treatment plan take into account a patient's previous medical and neurologic history. Special attention is paid to stress management, fitness and diet.
A diagnosis for antisocial personality disorder is made by a mental health professional comparing your symptoms and life history . They will make a determination whether your symptoms meet the criteria necessary for a personality disorder diagnosis.
Social phobia and avoidant personality disorder have similar diagnostic criteria and may share a similar causation, subjective experience, course, treatment, and identical underlying personality features, such as shyness
Treatment:
Psychotherapy is the most effective treatment for APD. The goal of psychotherapy is to help you identify your unconscious beliefs about yourself and how others see you. It also aims to help you function better in your social and work lives. Two types of psychotherapy your mental health therapist might use include:
Psychodynamic therapy is a form of talk therapy that helps you become self-aware about your unconscious thoughts and how your past experiences are influencing your current behavior. This allows you to examine and resolve past emotional pains and conflicts.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a goal is to then replace them with healthier ones.tThe herapist will encourage you to examine and test your thoughts and beliefs to determine if they have a factual basis.

Medication
Your doctor may prescribe antidepressant medications to help reduce your sensitivity to rejection. Medication is not a replacement for psychotherapy, but it can help relieve symptoms while you undergo therapy. A combination of therapy and medication might be the most effective treatment option.







2.Dependent personality disorder
Dependent personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people depend too much on others to meet their emotional and physical needs. It is an enduring pattern of distorted thought, behavior, and life functioning. Individuals with this type of personality disorder are more prone to experience anxiety disorders and affects a greater number of women than men.

People who suffer from AVPD often consider themselves socially unsuccessful and tend to remove themselves from social situations in order to avoid the feeling or the risk of feeling rejected by others.They may feel trapped in the relationship and frustrated by their loved-one's tendency to pull them away from family, friends and other "everyday" social settings.
Moreover they feel  pressure to protect them from criticism or to create an artificial  or ideal environment around them in which they can escape the risk of negative self-thought.
People who suffer from AVPD may use withdrawal as a form of communication or as a form of emotional control over friends, partners and family members.

Symptoms:



• Excessive dependence on others
• Submissiveness toward others
• A desire to be taken care of
• Tolerance of poor or abusive treatment
• Urgent need to start a new relationship when one has ended

Causes:


Researchers today don’t know what causes dependent personality disorder.
The disorder usually begins in childhood.There are many theories, however, about the possible causes of dependent personality disorder. Most professionals subscribe to a biopsychosocial model of causation — that is, the causes of are likely due to biological and genetic factors, social factors and psychological factors .If a person has this personality disorder, research suggests that there is a slightly increased risk for this disorder to be “passed down” to their children.
 It is one of the most common personality disorders and is equally common in men and women.


Diagnosis:
IA diagnosis of DPD must be distinguished from borderline personality disorder, as the two share common symptoms. In borderline personality disorder, the person responds to fears of abandonment with feelings of rage and emptiness. With DPD, the person responds to the fear with submissiveness and seeks another relationship to maintain his or her dependency.
A diagnosis for dependent personality disorder is only made after comparing your symptoms and life history

Treatment
Talk therapy is considered to be the most effective treatment. Treatment involves long-term psychotherapy with a therapist that has experience in treating this kind ofpersonality disorderThe aim is to help people with this condition make more independent choices in life.
Because personality disorders affect thoughts, behaviors, and interpersonal relationships,cognitive-behavioral therapy is often very effective. This type of therapy helps individuals develop new ways of thinking, behaving, and communicating.

Medications:
Medicines may help treat other mental health conditions, such as anxiety or depression, that occur along with this disorder.It must be prescribed to help with specific troubling and debilitating symptoms. Certain types of drugs such as antidepressants, sedatives and tranquilizers are often prescribed for patients with dependent personality disorder to treat co-occurring conditions.



3.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive behaviors (compulsions),orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency.
Individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder may have difficulty in deciding which tasks take priority or what is the best way of doing some particular task that they may never get started on anything.They are prone to become upset or angry in situations in which they are not able to maintain control of their physical or interpersonal environment, although the anger is typically not expressed directly.
With obsessive-compulsive disorder, you may realize that your obsessions aren't reasonable, and you may try to ignore them or stop them. But that only increases your distress and anxiety. Ultimately, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts in an effort to ease your stressful feelings Their everyday relationships have a formal and serious quality, and they may be stiff in situations in which others would smile and be happy (e.g., greeting a lover at the airport). They carefully hold themselves back until they are sure that whatever they say will be perfect. They may be preoccupied with logic and intellect.
.

Symptoms
• Preoccupation with orderliness and rules
• Extreme perfectionism
• Desire to be in control of situations
• Inability to discard broken or worthless objects
• Inflexibility

Causes
Researchers today don’t know what causes  obsessive-compulsive  personality disorder. Most professionals subscribe to a biopsychosocial model of causation — that is, the causes of  are likely due to biological and genetic factors, social factors.
Faulty parenting has been viewed as a major factor in the development of personality. By people with personality disorders did not have parents who were emotionally warm toward them.
If a person has this personality disorder, research suggests that there is a slightly increased risk   for this disorder to be “passed down” to their children


Diagnosis:
In many cases the person with OCPD is unaware of the discomfort that his or her stubbornness and rigidity cause other people, precisely because these traits usually enable them to get their way with others.

Diagnosis of OCPD depends on careful observation and appropriate assessment of the individual's behavior; The differential diagnosis will include distinguishing between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and OCPD. People with OCPD are preoccupied primarily with managing (however inefficiently) the various tasks they encounter in their daily lives.
It may also be complicated by the fact that behaviors similar to OCPD may be normal variants within a given culture, occupation, or religion; however, in order to fulfill criteria for the personality disorder, the behaviors must be sufficiently severe as to impair the patient's functioning.


Treatment:
Treatments include cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, behavioral therapies, and medications.
Behavioral therapies for OCD include ritual prevention and exposure therapy. Prevention of rituals involves a mental-health professional helping the OCD sufferer to endure longer and longer periods of resisting the urge to engage in compulsive behaviors.
Exposure therapy is a form of behavior modification that involves the individual with OCD getting in touch with situations that tend to increase the OCD sufferer's urge to engage in compulsions, then helping him or her resist that urge.
Cognitive/behavioral therapists help patients change the negative styles of thinking and behaving that are often associated with the anxiety involved with obsessive compulsive disorder.

.Medications
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the medications that are most commonly used to treat OCD. These medications increase the amount of the neurochemical serotonin in the brain.
Newer, often called atypical, neuroleptic medications like the ones named above tend to cause fewer side effects than many of the older medications in this class.
Mood stabilizers like carbamazepine (Tegretol), divalproex sodium (Depakote), and lamotrigine (Lamictal) are sometimes used to treat OCD

Cluster B personality disorders
These are personality disorders characterized by dramatic, overly emotional thinking or behavior and include:

1.Antisocial (formerly called sociopathic) personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder also called dissocial personality disorder pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others. A personality disorder (PD) is a persistent pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that is significantly different from what is considered normal within the person's own culture.
Individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder frequently lack empathy and tend to be callous, cynical, and contemptuous of the feelings, rights, and sufferings of others.Lack of empathy, inflated self-appraisal, and superficial charm are features that have been commonly included in traditional conceptions of psychopathy and may be particularly distinguishing of Antisocial Personality Disorder in prison or forensic settings where criminal, delinquent, or aggressive acts are likely to be nonspecific.


Symptoms

• Disregard for others
• Persistent lying or stealing
• Recurring difficulties with the law
• Repeatedly violating the rights of others
• Aggressive, often violent behavior
• Disregard for the safety of self or others
• 
  

Causes
 Most professionals subscribe to a biopsychosocial model of causation -that is, the causes of are likely due to biological and genetic factors, social factors (such as how a person interacts in their early development with their family and friends and other children), and psychological factors (the individual’s personality and temperament, shaped by their environment and learned coping skills to deal with stress). This suggests that no single factor is responsible rather, it is the complex and likely intertwined nature of all three factors that are important.
If a person has this personality disorder, research suggests that there is a slightly increased risk for this disorder to be “passed down” to their children.


Diagnosis
There are no laboratory, blood or genetic tests that are used to diagnose antisocial personality disorder.Many people with antisocial personality disorder don’t seek out treatment. People with personality disorders, in general, do not often seek out treatment until the disorder starts to significantly interfere or otherwise impact a person’s life. This most often happens when a person’s coping resources are stretched too thin to deal with stress or other life events.
A diagnosis for antisocial personality disorder is made by a mental health professional comparing your symptoms and life history with those listed here. They will make a determination whether your symptoms meet the criteria necessary for a personality disorder diagnosis.

Treatment
Treatment of antisocial personality disorder typically involves long-term psychotherapy with a therapist that has experience in treating this kind of personality disorder.
ASPD is considered to be among the most difficult personality disorders to treat. some research on the treatment of ASPD that indicated positive results for therapeutic interventions .Schema Therapy is also being investigated as a treatment for ASPD .Multisystemic therapy (MST) could also potentially improve this imperative issue. However this treatment requires complete cooperation and participation of all family members.Therapeutic techniques should be focused on rational and utilitarian arguments against repeating past mistakes rather than attempt to develop a sense of conscience in these individuals The best treatment or combination of treatments depends on each person's particular situation and severity of symptoms.

Medications
There are no medications specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat antisocial personality disorder. However, several types of psychiatric medications may help with certain conditions sometimes associated with antisocial personality disorder or with symptoms such as aggression. These medications may include antipsychotic, antidepressant or mood-stabilizing medications. They must be prescribed cautiously because some have the potential for misuse.




2.Borderline personality disorder

Borderline personality disorder is a mental illness that causes intense mood swings, impulsive behaviors, and severe problems with self-worth. It can lead to troubled relationships in every area of a person's life.
Their  mood is unpredictable and capricious. There is a liability to outbursts of emotion and an incapacity to control the behavioural explosions. There is a tendency to quarrelsome behaviour and to conflicts with others, especially when impulsive acts are thwarted or censored. Most of the time, signs of the disorder first appear in childhood. But problems often don't start until early adulthood. Treatment can be hard, and getting better can take years.

Sympoms
• Impulsive and risky behavior
• Volatile relationships
• Unstable mood
• Suicidal behavior
• Fear of being alone


Causes
Although there is no specific cause for BPD, like most other mental disorders, it is understood to be the result of a ways of think combination of factors, including temperament, childhood and adolescent experiences. Stressful experiences, such as the break-up of a relationship or the loss of a job, can lead to already present symptoms of BPD getting worse.
Biologically, individuals with BPD are more likely to have abnormalities in the size of the hippocampus, in the size and functioning of the amygdala, and in the functioning of the frontal lobes, which are the areas of the brain that are understood to regulate emotions and integrate thoughts with emotions. Although some research asserts that people with BPD seem to have areas of the brain that are more and less active compared to individuals who do not have the disorder, other.Psychologically, BPD seems to make a person more vulnerable to difficulty managing their emotions, particularly impulsive aggression. Socially, this disorder predisposes sufferers to be more likely to excessively expect to be criticized or rejected and negatively personalize disinterest or inattention from others.


Diagnois:
A person with a borderline personality disorder often experiences a repetitive pattern of disorganization and instability in self-image, mood, behavior and close personal relationships. This can cause significant distress or impairment in friendships and work.
The best method is to present the criteria of the disorder to patients and to ask them if they feel that these characteristics accurately describe them.It is usually helpful for patients with BPD to know their diagnosis.
This helps them know that others have had similar experiences and can point them toward effective treatments.
In general, the psychological evaluation includes asking the client about the beginning and severity of symptoms, as well as other questions about how symptoms impact the client's quality of life. Issues of particular note are suicidal ideations, experiences with self-harm, and thoughts about harming others. Diagnosis is based both on the client's report of his or her symptoms and on the clinician's own observations. Additional tests for BPD can include a physical exam and laboratory tests to rule out other possible triggers for symptoms, such as thyroid conditions or substance abuse.

Treatment
many people with the disorder have troubled relationships with their counselors and doctors.
Treatment includes Counseling and therapy. It's important to fnd a counselor you can build a stable relationship with. This can be hard, because your condition may cause you to see your counselor as caring one minute and cruel the next, especially when he or she asks you to try to change a behavior. Try to find a counselor who has special training in treating this disorder.
Problems with emotions and behaviors are hard to improve. But with treatment, most people with severe symptoms do get better over time.

Medications:
The use of psychiatric medications, like antidepressants  may be useful in addressing some of the symptoms of BPD but do not manage the illness in its entirety. On the positive side, some women who suffer from both BPD and bipolar disorder may experience a decrease in how irritable and angry they feel. On the other hand, the use of medications in the treatment of symptoms in individuals with BPD may sometimes cause more harm than good. For example, while people with BPD may experience suicidal behaviors no more often than other individuals with a severe mental illness,and therefore great care is taken to avoid the medications that can be dangerous in overdose.


3.Histrionic personality disorder
HPD has a unique position among the personality disorders in that it is the only personality disorder explicitly connected to a patient's physical appearance.  Both women and men with HPD express a strong need to be the center of attention. They have an overwhelming desire to be noticed, and often behave dramatically or inappropriately to get attention. The word histrionic means "dramatic or theatrical."
People with these disorders have intense, unstable emotions and distorted self-images. For people with histrionic personality disorder, their self-esteem depends on the approval of others and does not arise from a true feeling of self-worth. Individuals with HPD are highly emotional, charming, energetic, manipulative, seductive, impulsive, erratic, and demanding.
This disorder is more common in women than in men and usually is evident by adolescence or early adulthood.

Symptoms:

• Constantly seeking attention
• Excessively emotional
• Extreme sensitivity to others' approval
• Unstable mood
• Excessive concern with physical appearance

Causes
The exact cause of histrionic personality disorder is not known, but many mental health professionals believe that both learned and inherited factors play a role in its development. ed. However, the child of a parent with this disorder might simply be repeating learned behavior. Other environmental factors that might be involved include a lack of criticism or punishment as a child, positive reinforcement that is given only when a child completes certain approved behaviors, and unpredictable attention given to a child by his or her parent(s), all leading to confusion about what types of behavior earn parental approval. Personality disorders also usually develop in relation to individual temperament and psychological styles and ways people learn to cope with stress while growing up.Histrionic personality disorder usually begins in early adulthood.

Diagnosis
The diagnosis of HPD is complicated because it may seem like many other disorders, and also because it commonly occurs simultaneously with other personality disorders.
If signs of this personality disorder are present, the doctor will begin an evaluation by performing a complete medical and psychiatric history.  If physical symptoms are present, a physical exam and laboratory tests (such as neuroimaging studies or blood tests) may also be recommended to assure that a physical illness is not causing any symptoms that may be present.psychiatrists and psychologists use specially designed interview and assessment tools to evaluate a person for a personality disorder. The diagnosis of HPD is frequently made on the basis of an individual's history and results from unstructured and semi-structured interviews.

Treatment:
Psychotherapy (a type of counseling) is generally the treatment of choice for histrionic personality disorder. The goal of treatment is to help the individual uncover the motivations and fears associated with his or her thoughts and behavior, and to help the person learn to relate to others in a more positive way.
family therapy can support family members to meet their own needs without supporting the histrionic behavior of the individual with HPD who uses dramatic crises to keep the family closely connected.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches individuals with HPD to identify automatic thoughts, to work on impulsive behavior, and to develop better problem-solving skills. Medication might sometimes be used as supplemental treatment for distressing symptoms that might occur with this disorder, such as depression and anxiety.

Medications
Medication might sometimes be used as supplemental treatment for distressing symptoms that might occur with this disorder, such as depression and anxiety.
 Pharmacotherapy is not a treatment of choice for individuals with HPD unless HPD occurs with another disorder. For example, if HPD occurs with depression, antidepressants may be prescribed. Medication needs to be monitored for abuse.




4.Narcissistic personality disorder

Narcissistic personality disorder is thought to be less common than other personality disorders .As with other personality disorders, this disorder is an enduring and persistent pattern of behavior that negatively impacts many different life areas including social, family, and work relationships.
People with narcissistic personality disorder are frequently perfectionists and need to be the center of attention, receiving affection and admiration, and controlling the situation. To get the attention he craves, he may try to create crises that return the focus to him. He feels that the world owes him, regardless of whether he makes a contribution.
A patient with a personality disorder frequently uses AODs to relieve her symptoms: to raise self-esteem, decrease feelings of guilt and amplify feelings of diminished individuality use of drugs, particularly stimulants. As a disinhibitor, alcohol may help lower anxiety and alleviate depression. A shy person with narcissistic personality disorder may depend on marijuana to relieve her social anxiety, while others use. In a crisis, she may become severely depressed.


Symptoms:

• Believing that you're better than others
• Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness
• Exaggerating your achievements or talents
• Expecting constant praise and admiration
• Failing to recognize other people's emotions and feelings

Causes
Although onset of the disorder is usually early adulthood, it is likely to be in response to childhood experiences.Childhood experiences such as parental overindulgence, excessive praise, unreliable parenting, and a lack of realistic responses are thought to contribute to narcissistic personality disorder.

Diagnosis:
Narcissistic personality disorder are typically diagnosed by a trained mental health professional, such as a psychologist or  psychiatrist.
It explores thoughts, feelings, relationships, behavior patterns and family history, which may include psychological tests about personality. He or she asks about symptoms, including when they started, how severe they are, how they affect daily life and whether similar episodes have occurred in the past. The doctor also asks about thoughts of suicide, self-injury or harming others.
 There are no laboratory, blood or genetic tests that are used to diagnose personality disorder.
A diagnosis for narcissistic  personality disorder is made by comparing your symptoms and life history


Treatment
 People with this disorder rarely seek out treatment. Individuals often begin therapy at the urging of family members or to treat symptoms that result from the disorder.
Therapy can be especially difficult because clients are often unwilling to acknowledge the disorder. Psychotherapy may be useful in getting the individual with narcissistic personality disorder to relate to others in a less maladaptive manner. The following guidelines may help therapists working with these patients, especially those who are also AOD-dependant.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is often effective to help individual's change destructive thinking and behavior patterns. The goal of treatment is to alter distorted thoughts and create a more realistic self-image. Psychotropic medications are generally ineffective for long-term change, but are sometimes used to treat symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Medications
Patients with narcissistic personality disorder often benefit from the use of psychiatric medications to help alleviate certain symptoms associated with the disorder, such as depression, anxiety, transient psychosis, mood lability, and poor impulse control. In addition, many patients with narcissistic personality disorder have concomitant Axis I diagnoses for which they are taking regular psychiatric medication.

Cluster A Personality Disorders
These are personality disorders characterized by odd, eccentric thinking or behavior and include:
People with this particular disorder may or may not have a tendency to bear grudges, suspiciousness, tendency to interpret others' actions as hostile, persistent tendency to self-reference, or a tenacious sense of personal right.They tend to be guarded and suspicious and have quite constricted emotional lives.
This disorder usually begins by early adulthood and appears to be more common in men than in women.

Symptoms

• Distrust and suspicion of others
• Believing that others are trying to harm you
• Emotional detachment
• Hostility

Causes
Paranoid personality disorders involves a combination of biological and psychological factors.
Psychosocial theories implicate projection of negative internal feelings and parental modeling.Paranoid personality disorder can result from negative childhood experiences fostered by a threatening domestic atmosphere. It is prompted by extreme and unfounded parental rage and/or condescending parental influence that cultivate profound child insecurities.

Diagnosis
Paranoid personality disorder are typically diagnosed by a trained mental health professional, such as a psychologist or  psychiatrist.The psychiatrist or psychologist will conduct a psychological assessment in which they  may ask about childhood, school, work,relationships or several hypothetical questions. This is to gauge how you react to certain situations.There are no laboratory, blood or genetic tests that are used to diagnose paranoid personality disorder.
In general people with this disorder do not often seek out treatment until the disorder starts to significantly interfere or otherwise impact a person’s life.

Treatment
Because of reduced levels of trust, there can be challenges in treating PPD. Psychotherapy is the most promising method of treatment for Paranoid Personality Disorder. People with paranoid personality disorder rarely initiate treatment and often terminate it prematurely. Likewise, building therapist-client trust requires great care and is complicated to maintain even after a confidence level has been founded.

 Medications:
Medications for paranoid personality disorder are generally not encouraged, as they may contribute to a heightened sense of suspicion that can ultimately lead to patient withdrawal from therapy. Medications prescribed for precise conditions should be used for the briefest interval possible to successfully control them. However, psychotherapy, antidepressants, antipsychotics and anti-anxietymedications can play a role when an individual is receptive to intervention.


2.Schizoid personality disorder

Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, and apathy.
Schizoid personality disorder is characterized by a persistent withdrawal from social relationships and lack of emotional responsiveness in most situations. It is sometimes referred to as a "pleasure deficiency" because of the seeming inability of the person affected to experience joyful or pleasurable responses to life situations.
Affected people typically have an acute discomfort when put in circumstances where they must relate to others. These individuals are also prone to cognitive and perceptual distortions and a display a variety of eccentric behaviors that others often find confusing.

Symptoms:

• Lack of interest in social relationships
• Limited range of emotional expression
• Inability to pick up normal social cues
• Appearing dull or indifferent to others

Causes
Little is known about the cause of schizoid personality disorder, but both genetics and environment are suspected to play a role.  The schizoid personality disorder has its roots in the family of the affected person. These families are typically emotionally reserved, have a high degree of formality, and have a communication style that is aloof and impersonal.  The  lack of stimulus during the first year of life is thought to be largely responsible for the person's disinterest in forming close, meaningful relationships later in life and thus in this environment, affected people fail to learn basic communication skills that would enable them to develop relationships and interact effectively with others. Many individuals with schizoid personality disorder feel misunderstood by others.

Diagnosis
Diagnosing schizoid personality disorder is usually based on an in-depth interview with your doctor about your symptoms as well as your medical and personal history. Your doctor may perform a physical exam to rule out other conditions that may be causing or contributing to your symptoms. If your initial visit is with a primary care doctor, you'll likely be referred to a mental health professional for further evaluation.

Treatment
Group therapy in which a goal of individual treatment may be a group setting in which you can interact with others who are also practicing new interpersonal skills. In time, group therapy may also provide a support structure and increase your social motivation,increasing general coping skills, as well as on improving social interaction, communication, and self-esteem. Because trust is an important component of therapy, treatment can be challenging for the therapist, because people with schizoid personality disorder have an inability to form relationships with others.

Medication
Medication is generally not used to treat schizoid personality disorder itself. Drugs might, however, be prescribed if the person also suffers from an associated psychological problem, such as depression.



3.Schizotypal personality disorder

Schizotypal personality disorder is a chronic condition characterized by a need for social isolation, anxiety in social situations, odd behavior and thinking, and often unconventional beliefs.People with this disorder feel extreme discomfort with maintaining close relationships with people,a pervasive pattern of distorted thought, behavior, and functioning. they may react oddly in conversations, not respond or talk to themselves.[1] They frequently misinterpret situations as being strange or having unusual meaning for them; paranormal and superstitious beliefs are not uncommon. They usually do not have the more severe and disabling psychotic symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations
Individuals with this disorder are more prone to experience depression and psychotic disorders.Schizotypal personality disorder occurs in 3% of the general population and is slightly more common in males.[2]

Symptoms

• Peculiar dress, thinking, beliefs or behavior
• Perceptual alterations, such as those affecting touch
• Discomfort in close relationships
• Flat emotions or inappropriate emotional responses
• Indifference to others
• "Magical thinking" — believing you can influence people and events with your thoughts
• Believing that messages are hidden for you in public speeches or displays

Causes
The exact cause is unknown. Genes are thought to be involved, because this condition is more common in relatives of schizophrenics.Schizotypal personality disorder is believed to stem from the affected person's original family, or family of origin. Usually the parents of the affected person were emotionally distant, formal, and displayed confusing parental communication. The social development of people with schizotypal personality disorder shows that many were also regularly humiliated by their parents, siblings, and peers resulting in significant relational mistrust. Many display low self-esteem, self-criticism and self-deprecating behavior. This further contributes to a sense that they are socially incapable of having meaningful interpersonal relationships.


Diagnosis:
If symptoms are present, a health care professional will begin an evaluation by performing a complete medical history and physical exam. Children with these tendencies appear socially out-of-step with peers and often become the object of malicious teasing by their peers, which increases the feelings of isolation and social ineptness they feel.
The common difficulty in diagnosing schizotypal personality disorder is distinguishing it from other the schizoid, avoidant, and paranoid personality disorders . Schizoids are deficient in their ability to experience emotion, while schizotypals are more pronounced in their inability to understand human motivation and communication. While avoidant personality disorder has many of the same symptoms as schizotypal personality disorder, the distinguishing symptom in schizotypal is the presence of behavior that is noticeably eccentric. The schizotypal differs from the paranoid by tangential thinking and eccentric behavior.If the doctor finds no physical reason for the symptoms, he or she might refer the person to a psychiatrist or psychologist, health care professionals who are specially trained to diagnose and treat mental illnesses.


Treatment
Schizotypal personality disorder often is treated with a combination of medication and psychotherapy.People with schizotypal personality disorders may find psychotherapy difficult because, as part of the disorder, they tend to be uncomfortable in relationships.If a person's symptoms are mild to moderate, he or she may be able to adjust with relatively little support. If the problems are more severe, however, a person with schizotypal personality disorder may have more than average difficulty maintaining a job or living independently
Since people with this disorder have difficulty picking up on social cues, it is often necessary to teach specific social skills, Similarly, a therapist can help a person with schizotypal personality disorder learn how his or her thoughts and perceptions are distorted and how best to respond to them.

Medications
Schizotypal patients who appear to be almost schizophrenic in their beliefs and behaviors are usually treated with low doses of antipsychotic medications, e.g. thiothixene. However, it must be mentioned that long-term efficacy of neuroleptics is doubtful.
Schizotypal patients who are more obsessive-compulsive in their beliefs and behaviors - in this case SSRIs, e.g. fluoxetine, appear to be more effective.

Ways to improve personality


Everybody wants to get liked by others but for this you must have something to which others can get attracted to.A very important thing you need to remember is that your personality, regardless of what it is now, can develop and evolve.Here is some tips to improvise your personality.

1.Be a good listener.
 There is nothing more appealing than having someone listen to you intently making you feel like you're the only person in the world.Being a good listener is often more important than speaking. It gives a deeper level of understanding about someone’s situation, and helps to know what words are best to use and what words should be avoided.

2.Develop readinng skills
Good readers can understand the individual sentences and the organizational structure of a piece of writing. They can comprehend ideas, follow arguments, and detect implications.
Personality development depends on understanding, analyzing, and applying the information gathered through reading.

 3 Be a good conversationalist
The art of conversation takes practice, but it's not as hard as you might think.It is an important step in developing one’s personality.One of the best ways to connect with people and build quality relationships is through making conversation.

  4.Must have an openion:
Opinions are an integral piece of how we define ourselves and our own individuality.Don’t take anyone’s opinion for a fact. Have your own opinions.If u have a different openion you are more likely to be noticed and considerd.Therefore while describing one’s personality their openion is also being evaluated.

5.Be sincere:
 You need to stand up for what you believe in and show the world the beauty of what makes you unique.Sincerity can be very difficult, and there are plenty of reasons to disguise who we are, what we’ve done, and our real intentions. But instead of giving false impressions or manipulating the facts, we must practice transparency.
The way to stand out today is simply to show yourself, share your individuality with the world, and build up your own personality.

 6.Be friendly and meet new people
Meeting new people has to be one of the most adventurous, exciting, and worthwhile things that you can do with your life.
While meeting new people you become excited and attentive.
It is essential inorder to accept new ideas and opprrtunities to develop our personality.

7.Be positive
Being positive is not actually being happy and smiling all the time.Positive people helps to grasp our dreams. Be genuinely happy about not only your own success – but the success of others in your life.
Your personality is  attracted only if you have a positive look and attitude in life.It is to be noted that no one loves to be around a person who spreads negative energy.

8.Be funloving and humourous
We all enjoy the company of a person who could make us laugh and feel relaxed in a tense or in a worried situation rather than being with a person who shows sympathy.It requires abstract thinking, appreciation of the audience's mind, highly advanced language skills and being creative, all means a good sense of humour reveals a really quick brain. Because it's tough to be funny and therefore rare, this becomes a demonstration of high quality.

9.Be supportive and helpful:
Being supportive in nature is the most loving quality that a person can possess.Inorder to attract your personality you should develop a supportive mind and must be helpful to others in all ways.
As we  all wish to have a cheer leader around us,being supportive nature improvises our personality.

10.Be honest
When we are honest, we build strength of character that will allow us to be of great service to others. It develops our self respect too.
Honesty is the best policy.Respect for others is also an important trait that must be focused while improving personality.

"Give respect to people whether they deserve it or not, Not as a reflection of their character, but as a reflection of your own personality."



Personality is defined as the enduring personal characteristics of individuals.
An individual's personality is an aggregate cluster of the decisions they have made throughout their life and the memory of the experiences to which these decisions led. Personality depends upon heridity factors or the social environment in which people lives.

Personality also refers to the pattern of thoughts, feelings, social adjustments, and behaviors consistently exhibited over time that strongly influences one's expectations, self-perceptions, values, and attitudes. It also predicts human reactions to other people, problems, and stress.
Personality development is quite essential for students.A person’s personality is quite important in winning success in life. A forceful personality means a person who has self-confidence, courage and the ability to outshine others. But anyone who concentrates on developing his personality should aim at developing the positive or good qualities.

A candidate for an interview should be impressive when he talks to the interviewer, should he self-confident and should be ready in answering the questions put to him. He should impress the interviewer as a person who has self-confidence.Compassion for others, readiness to help others in distress, determination to face dangers and the courage to stand face to face with a cunning enemy are the ideal qualities of an exemplary personality.
A great personality in any field, whether it is politics, literature, science, art or education, has distinguished himself by his extraordinary mental faculties and characteristics. A politician through his singular devotion for the cause of the downtrodden and the oppressed leaves indelible imprints on the sands of time. Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela have carved a niche for themselves in the hearts of one and all, because of their boundless compassion for humanity, which was the great strength of their personalities. Their unceasing struggle to lift the masses from the mire of ignorance and poverty has made them immortal.

Shakespeare, an exquisite poet and playwright, is a marvellous literary personality of all time. A great musician, the late M.S. Subulakshmi, enthralling audience after audience through the years, has left us marveling at her honey-sweet melodies. MR. Hussein’s paintings reveal his highly insightful personality.
The major theories include dispositional (trait) perspective, psychodynamic, humanistic, biological, behaviorist, evolutionary and social learning perspective. A commonly used explanation for personality development is the psychodynamic approach.