Personality diatheses: a superior explanation than disorder

Abstract

Diatheses confer vulnerability to disorder but are not necessarily manifest overtly or consistently. It is suggested that the main empirical findings of studies with abnormal personality support the notion that they are diatheses rather than disorders. This includes their onset early in life, their variability of expression dependent on setting, their greater association with more severe disorders and their acceptance as intrinsic components of functioning by most suffering from these conditions. It is argued that a separate axis of classification for personality diatheses rather than disorders is justified.

Distinguishing between adjustment disorder and depressive episode in clinical practice: The role of personality disorder

“…This is also contrary to the salience given by the current classifications to the role of personality in the aetiology of adjustment disorder compared to other disorders. This should be amended in ICD-11 to more accurately the role of personality in many common mental disorders (Tyrer 2007). …”

“…Future research could examine the complex relationships between personality disorder and both adjustment disorder and expanding beyond the features of personality disorders to include less severe personality-related problems , various domains of personality pathology and personality diatheses, which may confer vulnerability to specific disorders (Tyrer, 2007).…”

Personality traits in patients with Parkinson’s disease: assessment and clinical implications

“…Further studies are needed to establish the direction of the relationship between HA and affective features in PD [85]. HA and PD could be caused by shared genetic and/or early environmental risk factors that predispose subjects, independently, to both PD and certain personality traits: therefore the presence of affective disorders in PD may be characterized as a part of a chronic maladaptive strategy belonging to an affective/ personality trait, rather than being state dependent [86][87][88][89]. Conversely, the increased HA could be state dependent and due to the presence of affective disorders; in this perspective many factors could contribute to the high tendency toward negative affect of PD patients, resulting in high rates of affective disorders and high HA: the deficit of serotonin [90][91][92] that characterizes this clinical population since the early clinical stages [93]; the early amygdala dysfunction of PD [94][95][96] which is considered a hallmark of depression and anxiety [97,98]; the executive dysfunction that characterizes PD patients from the early clinical stages [99] and that represents a risk factor for the development of depression in the elderly [100].…”

Personality disorder and public mental health

“…It is partly for this reason that the term 'personality diathesis' is preferable to 'personality disorder' . 16 A very large number of people are affected by the diathesis, a much less stigmatising term than disorder, and, characteristically, it makes them vulnerable in all sorts of ways to the vicissitudes of life to a greater extent than those who lack the diathesis. It is also highly unfortunate that the official classification does not allow personality disorder to be diagnosed before the age of 18.…”