Personality Disorders (Cluster C) - 'Anxious' and 'Nervous'
- Jia Xi
- Jan 4, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 22, 2020
Let’s continue from last week with the last cluster of personality disorders. Personality disorders in Cluster C are characterised by anxious and nervous behaviours.
The personality disorders under this cluster include: avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
Avoidant Personality Disorder
People with avoidant personality disorder are extremely shy, tend to feel inadequate and are very sensitive to rejection (Kivi & Leonard, 2017).
Those with this disorder may fear (Kivi & Leonard, 2017):
Being rejected
Being disapproved of
Being embarrassed
Getting criticised
Making friends
Getting into intimate relationships
Being ridiculed
They might also have trouble believing that others like them and might misinterpret neutral statements or actions as negative ones as they are susceptible to criticism and rejection.
Dependent Personality Disorder
Those with dependent personality disorder are unable to be alone and may be anxious when others are not around them (Kahn & Kristeen, 2018). They depend on others to be comforted, reassured, advised and supported (Kahn & Kristeen, 2018).
People with dependent personality disorder might (Kahn & Kristeen, 2018):
Be submissive
Rely on others (friends/family) to make decisions
Require constant reassurance
Be hurt easily when disapproved of
Feel nervous and isolated when left alone
Fear being rejected
Be too sensitive to criticism
Not be able to be alone
Tend to be naïve
Fear being abandoned
Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder
Individuals with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder has a need for extreme perfectionism, neatness and order. They also feel a serious need to enforce their personal standards on their outside environment. This is different from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. People with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder believe that their thoughts and behaviours are correct and everyone else is wrong.
They might exhibit symptoms like:
Being stiff, formal or rigid
Being very frugal with money
Having a great need to be on time
Having a great need for order
Being so devoted to work, their family or social relationships suffer
Having a tendency to hoard worn or useless things
Being unable to delegate or distribute work as they are afraid things will not be done correctly
Being fixated with lists
Needing to be so perfect that tasks cannot be completed
Needing to adhere strictly to rules and regulations
Needing to adhere strictly to moral and ethical codes
Having a sense of righteousness on how things should be done
Here is a video that summarises up the three personality disorders introduced.
We hope that with this brief introduction to the personality disorders under Cluster C, you now have a better understanding of these anxious and nervous personality disorders.
This article marks the end of our introduction to different mental health disorders.
Next week, we will be sharing our reflections on a volunteering experience that we embarked on during the duration of this project. Stay tuned for the reflections!
References
Kahn, A., & Kristeen, C. (2018, September 29). Dependent Personality Disorder: Causes, symptoms, and support. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/dependent-personality-disorder.
Kivi, R., & Leonard, M. (2017, April 19). Avoidant Personality Disorder: Causes, symptoms, diagnosis. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/avoidant-personality-disorder.
Watson, K. (2018, September 29). Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD). Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/obsessive-compulsive-personality-disorder.
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