How people with personality disorders look like

Have you ever wonder about personality disorder? As a Psychology major in FIU I am learning about them. First, I am just going to talk about cluster A. If you guys like my writing, I will make another article on cluster B and C. So, in cluster A there is Schizoid, Schizotypal, and Paranoid personality disorder. A person who has Schizoid tends to feel like they do not want to form a relationship with other which can sexual, with friends, and being close with family. This client has difficulties with social hints, showing his or her feeling, and finding enjoyment in activities.

Additionally, people diagnosed with Schizotypal have odd ways of picking out an outfit, acting, and talking. This patient might start hallucinating with voices and everyday norms leave a message for them. Also, they believe that their thought process is somehow magical. People with schizotypal often are suspicious of others and has difficulties in developing relationships. Lastly, patients with Paranoid feel an extreme amount of suspicion toward others without actual reasons. They also have a belief that people surrounding them are against and hurt them.

Since this client has a high level of paranoia, they block themselves from creating meaningful relationships or even opening up to others about their feelings. While taking this class, you start to think about the people in your life that might have these disorders and you start understanding them a little bit better. In each of these disorders you have to have to from three to five symptoms to be diagnosed. Personality develops from birth can be affected by the interaction between the caregiver and the infant. Additionally, there are four different attachment styles that a child can have with the caregiver which are Secure/autonomous, avoidant/dismissing, anxious/preoccupied, disoriented/disorganized.

These attachment transfer into the adulthood when a secure adult displays appreciation for the early moments of live relationships attachment and has memories of the experiences in attachment. In comparison, an avoidant adult may not be able to have memories and does not have an idea of an early relationships. In anxious adults, it is common for them to feel mad, scared or even confusion to an early attachment relationship. Disorganized adults tend to have confusion in their story of trauma which does not allow them to cope with past and emotional issues. You might question the factor that affect these attachment styles and they are the childhood and adult attachment, negative early life events such losing a parent, watching your parents get a divorce, and physical and sexual abuse.

The experience of a child watching their parents get a divorce is not a pleasant experience, one of the parents or even both starts neglect the child’s emotional and sometimes physiological needs. I have experience the emotional aspects of parents get a divorce and the neglection I received from both parents was unpreventable. After you experience the family dysfunctionality you tend to think that other families are normal and do not have trauma and then you realized there are different types of trauma hidden in some families. When I was in college and I took a child development course I started question the father and mother roles in a child’s life. I had to speak to the professor about it, I asked “If a girl did not grow up with their father, do they still need them?” The professor said, “Of course you need your father.”

That answer did not strike me until I graduated, yes you do need a father, but you need loving, caring, and supportive one. A narcissistic father is not a suitable father for anyone, all you ever learn from them are toxic traits that would affect your future relationships. Unfortunately, some toxic traits are in a person’s genes, but they can be controlled through talk therapy. Childhood trauma will following you until you face it!

In conclusion, I give you a brief explanation of cluster A of the personality disorders on how they can be identify through symptoms. I also elaborated on how attachment styles can shape personality and a bit of my experience with childhood trauma.