Personality disorders are mental health problems where the personality and behaviour of the client causes them or others distress. There are many different types and potential causes for personality disorders and the signs and symptoms are diverse.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Some of the topics covered in this unit include how to identify:

Antisocial personality disorder: Not caring about others to the point of being aggressive and violent, or violating other people’s rights.
Avoidant personality disorder: Being hypersensitive to criticism or rejection, and experiencing extreme shyness.
Borderline personality disorder: Being extremely impulsive, taking huge risks, experiencing significant distress, having an explosive temper and having unstable moods.
Narcissistic personality disorder: Believing that you’re better than everyone.
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: Being extremely controlling, preoccupied with perfection, rules and orderliness, and unable to let broken/old stuff be thrown away.
Schizotypal personality disorder: Not really caring about other people and having unusual thoughts such as “magical thinking” – that is, believing you can influence people and events through your thoughts.
As a practitioner, it is helpful to identify these as you offer therapy as often the disorder can impact on the outcome of treatments which could lead to dependency or negative feedback.
Student contact requirements 1-1.5 hours self paced learning package.