Essay on Approaches for the Treatment of Personality Disorders

There are three classifications of personal disorders. The first group includes paranoid, schizotypal and schizoid personality disorders. The second group deals with antisocial, borderline, historic and narcissistic personality disorders; while the third group describes the features of avoidant, dependent and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. There are a lot approaches to treatment of these disorders but it goes without saying that all of them must take into account such factors, as surrounding, family, inheritance, biological and sociocultural aspects.

The peculiarity of all personality disorders is the fact that they are usually seen in children, especially during awkward age but children grow out of such behaviors. For people with personality disorders this state only intensifies in adulthood. Some people aren’t ready for the process of socialization or maturation when they grow older and even now personality disorders are badly researched and there isn’t one common approach to the treatment.

First researches of personality disorders have been performed on dogs. The processes of the dog socialization take their normal course in the surrounding of other dogs. In such a way the dog is well adopted. If the dog lives with humans, the period for adaptation is necessary.

The process of human socialization comes through the same periods. Effective discipline and parents’ care is as important in childhood as contact with coevals. Persons who are deprived of this can suffer personality disorders later. Of course, there are cases when children aren’t deprived of all this and still they have personality disorders. Scientists claim that these children were born with these disorders.

The most effect approach for personality disorders treatment includes “interpretation of the meaning of maladaptive behaviors within a collaborative therapeutic alliance that is part of a multidisciplinary treatment approach” (Gunderson, 1986).

Psychodynamic methods play the main role in the treatment. Psychodynamic concepts include concepts of counter transference and concepts of enactment. Enactment presumes the modern interpretation of Freud’s conception. Personality disorders make the person repeat situations from their past so they influence their present core issues. Clinical approach for the treatment includes the interpretation of the meaning of these past situations. It’s considered that affecting the weakest points of the person it’s possible to get rid from the disorder. The duration of the treatment is individual and depends on personal situation. Treatment is “a collaborative endeavor with a patient who is an active agent, with responsibility for utilizing limited resources to improve his or her capacity to adapt to reality”(Stone, 1987).

Marital and family therapy approaches combine individual models of treatment with family systems, which provide a multidimensional approach. The family interaction supports the patient and helps him to manage crises and adapt to the reality.

Committee approach to the treatment is based on the committee’s main role and so needs to be applied by the committee. Most hospitals may include this approach in their practice because communication inside some group of people helps the person to understand the mechanism and laws of this group. So, as we see there isn’t one common approach because it’s very difficult to treat personality disorders and every case requires its own individual approach.

Bibliography

1. Gunderson, J.G. (1986). Pharmacotherapy for patients with borderline personality disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 698-700.
2. Hurt, M.H., Stone, D.K. (1987). The PI 500: Long-term follow-up of borderline inpatients meeting DSM-III criteria, I: Global outcome. Journal of Personality Disorders, 1, 291-298.
3. J. Nevid, S.Rathus, B.Greene Abnormal Psychology In a Changing World, 6th edition,2006.