What is a paranoid personality disorder. Is there any relationship to a narcissi!
Question:
What is a paranoid personality disorder. Is there any relationship to a narcissistic personality disorder ?
Answers:
Paranoid personality disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that denotes a personality disorder with paranoid features. It is characterized by an exaggerated sensitivity to rejection, resentfulness, distrust, as well as the inclination to distort experienced events. Neutral and friendly actions of others are often misinterpreted as being hostile or contemptuous. Unfounded suspicions regarding the sexual loyalty of partners and loyalty in general as well as the belief that one’s rights are not being recognized is stubbornly and argumentatively insisted upon. Such individuals can possess an excessive self-assurance and a tendency toward an exaggerated self-reference. The use of the term paranoia in this context is not meant to refer to the presence of frank delusions or psychosis, but implies the presence of ongoing, unbased suspiciousness and distrust of people.
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), a term first used by Heinz Kohut in 1971[1], is a form of pathological narcissism acknowledged in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980, in the edition known as DSM III-TR. Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by extreme focus on oneself, and is a maladaptive, rigid, and persistent condition that may cause significant distress and functional impairment.
They are fairly unrelated. In fact, the clusters of personality disorders are as follows:
* Cluster A (paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal): odd or eccentric disorders
* Cluster B (antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic): dramatic, emotional or erratic disorders
* Cluster C (avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive): anxious or fearful disorders
Paranoid personality disorder falls in the first cluster, while naracisstic is in Cluster B.