Author: Linda Lebelle, BA, MEd

A personality disorder is identified by a pervasive pattern of experience and behavior that is abnormal with respect to any of the following two: thinking, mood, personal relations, and the control of impulses. The character of a person is shown through his or her personality – by the way an individual thinks, feels, and behaves. When the behavior is inflexible, maladaptive, and antisocial, then that individual is diagnosed with a personality disorder. Most personality disorders begin as problems in personal development and character which peak during adolescence and then are defined as personality disorders. Personality disorders are not illnesses...