Mild personality disorder

Essential (Required) Features:

• All general diagnostic requirements for Personality Disorder are met.
• Disturbances affect some areas of functioning of the self but not others (e.g., problems with self-direction in the absence of problems with stability and coherence of identity or self-worth; see Table 6.18), or affect all areas but are of mild severity, and may not be apparent in some contexts.
• There are problems in many interpersonal relationships or in performance of expected occupational and social roles, but some relationships are maintained and/or some roles fulfilled.
• Specific manifestations of personality disturbances are generally of mild severity (see below for examples).
• Mild Personality Disorder is typically not associated with substantial harm to self or others.
• Mild Personality Disorder may be associated with substantial distress or with impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning that is either limited to circumscribed areas (e.g., romantic relationships; employment) or present in more areas but of milder severity.

Examples of specific personality disturbances in Mild Personality Disorder

Note: This list of examples is not exhaustive and not intended to suggest that all items will be present in any single individual.

• The individual’s sense of self may be somewhat contradictory and inconsistent with how others view them.
• The individual has difficulty recovering from injuries to self-esteem.
• The individual’s ability to set appropriate goals and to work towards them is compromised; the individual has difficulty handling even minor setbacks.
• The individual may have conflicts with supervisors and co-workers, but is generally able to sustain employment.
• The individual’s limitations in the ability to understand and appreciate others’ perspectives create difficulties in developing close and mutually satisfying relationships.
• There may be estrangement in some relationships, but relationships are more commonly characterized by intermittent or frequent, minor conflicts that are not so severe that they cause serious and long-standing disruption.
• Alternatively, relationships may be characterized by dependence and avoidance of conflict by giving in to others, even at some cost to themselves.
• Under stress, there may be some distortions in the individual’s situational and interpersonal appraisals but reality testing typically remains intact.