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IPDE - Extranet Systems - World Health Organization

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6 A. A. Dahl and A. Andreoli<br />

of personal and social situations and result in considerable personal distress<br />

or social disruption, they are called PD. They represent extreme or<br />

significant deviations from the way in which the average individual in a<br />

given culture perceives, thinks, feels, and relates to others. They are thus<br />

only quantitatively and not qualitatively different from normal personality.<br />

However, the border between normal and abnormal personalities is<br />

difficult to draw.<br />

The relation to culture and sex<br />

Cultural diversity is a characteristic of human nature. Behavioural patterns<br />

considered normal in one culture are seen as deviant in another. To<br />

identify behavioural panerns that are deviant in all cultures is very difficult.<br />

The PDs primarily reflect the views of Western European and North<br />

American psychiatry and they may not be equally applicable in other<br />

cultures. Role expectations and behaviour, also differ considerably<br />

between the sexes. Problems may arise if psychiatry defines personality<br />

deviance without considering social role expectations.<br />

Unknown personality traits and the use of informants<br />

Many individuals may be unaware of some of their personality traits and<br />

behavioural patterns. Therefore, an individual often can only provide<br />

limited information about him or herself. Heishe may also consciously<br />

try to deny certain socially undesirable personality traits. These problems<br />

can pmially be solved by interviewing an informant who knows<br />

the individual well, but this is still not a standard procedure in the evaluation<br />

of PD. Sometimes informants describe PD-pathology that patients<br />

deny.9 When the accounts of the subject and the informant deviate,<br />

which source of information is more valid? A method of integrating<br />

information from such discrepant reports is needed.<br />

Separate axis and diagnostic criteria<br />

The DSM of Mental Disorders, Thiid Edition (DSM-m)' published by the<br />

American Psychiahic Association in 1980 made two innovations of major<br />

importance for the study of PDs. They were placed on a separate axis<br />

(Axis E), and explicit criteria provided guidelines for the diagnosis of each<br />

of the 11 PDs. The introduction of diagnostic criteria stimulated empirical<br />

research on the reliability of PDs and the optimal diagnostic criteria.

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