Spotlight on Personality Disorders

Living with a person riddled with a personality disorder can be very challenging. Oftentimes, other people would not notice immediately that there is something peculiar about him/her. He/she seems to be no different from anybody else at first glance. It is only when we are involved with that person on an emotionally intimate level that we would see how truly different they are from the rest.
The Personality
Personality disorders are said to result from innate personality and external influences. Although it is hard to understand and accept, yes, these pitiful individuals did not choose to become what they are. Come to think of it, who among us would deliberately choose to acquire a self-destructive and self-deprecating personality?
All of us have innate personalities that we are born with. These can be attributed to genetic factors stemming from our parents. The personality we have at present is a product of our external social environment combined with our innate personality and the influence of all the people who grace our lives, making their marks in our minds and hearts. Based on this premise, we can assume that people with personality disorders develop their personalities in a similar fashion. However, a person with a personality disorder is believed to have certain genes that would either give him/her an inflexibly stubborn innate personality or make him/her highly susceptible to such personality disorders, which can surface due to external factors.
People with personality disorders have a definite pattern of behavior and perception that are described to be ego-syntonic. The latter is a medical term used to refer to certain behaviors, emotions, and/or ideals that coincide with or gratify a person's ego, self-image. This could mean that personality disorders are nearly incurable. Sufferers would naturally deny having them. In their mind, their behavior is anything but abnormal. Thus, they commonly put the blame on other people for the distressing circumstances that happen in their lives.
The Facts
It is estimated that 10-13% of the entire worldwide population is encumbered with personality disorders, which could riddle them during specific periods of their lives. Treating them can be very difficult, which could involve a regimen of taking certain antidepressant types along with prescribed therapy. Nevertheless, this would be dependent on their specific disorder. As of present, the exact reason why people acquire such disorders is still unknown. Researchers, however, have determined these contributory factors that might bring them about.
Having a family history of such personality disorders or mental ailments
Having undergone sexual, physical, or verbal abuse as a child
Having experienced a troublesome family life during childhood
Having been given a diagnosis of conduct disorder during childhood
Losing parent/s either through demise or divorce
Majority of cases have revealed that personality disorders begin to surface during childhood and may persist until adulthood. Diagnosing personality disorders during the childhood years can be difficult since patterns of behavior and perception at this stage are considered transient, for they take place in the developmental years. To date, the ten identified personality disorders are as follows: paranoid, schizoid, histrionic, borderline, schizotypal, narcisssistic, antisocial, avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive.