Overview
Overview – Personality Disorders, Cluster C
Personality Disorders, Cluster C, involves a group of mental illnesses that involve long-term patterns of thoughts and behaviors that are unhealthy and inflexible. Cluster C disorders are known as the “anxious, fearful” cluster and include three disorders that share anxious and fearful features. They are characterized by:
- Avoidant behaviors (social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation).
- Obsessive-compulsive behaviors (preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control).
- Dependent behaviors (submissive, clinging, and fearful of separation).
There is a tendency for personality disorders within the same cluster to co-occur, meaning that an individual may be diagnosed with more than one personality disorder. Those diagnosed with Cluster C personality disorders may be seen by others as antisocial or withdrawn. They tend to behave in anxious or avoidant ways and often need things to be orderly and controlled.
As with other personality disorders, Cluster C demonstrates four defining characteristics In order to be diagnosed with a personality Disorder in Cluster C, the individual must exhibit at least two of the four defining characteristics:
- Distorted thinking patterns
- Problematic emotional responses
- Over- or under-regulate impulse control
- Interpersonal difficulties.
Information is presented about four types of Personality Disorders in Cluster C, one type each day for four days. These are:
- Avoidant Personality Disorder
- Dependent Personality Disorder
- Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder
- Other specified Personality Disorder
On the fifth day, the Team reviews each of the Personality Disorders in Cluster C, helping you to fix the information in your memory and to reaffirm the strategies for dealing with each type. Typically, the average person needs to review information several times to move it from short-term memory into long-term memory.
This concludes the Overview for Personality Disorders, Cluster C
