Personality Assessments
Personality disorders are deeply ingrained, rigid ways of thinking and behaving that result in impaired relationships with others and often cause distress for the individual who experiences them. Personality assessments can help you understand if you have a personality disorder
What is a Personality Assessment?
The personality assessment screens for enduring personality traits which are the dispositions to behave or feel in certain ways.
What are Personality Disorders?
Currently, there are 10 personality disorders recognized in psychiatry, grouped into three clusters according to shared characteristics. Each personality disorder has its own signs and symptoms, but there are similarities within each of the three clusters:
- Cluster A: paranoid, schizoid and schizotypal personality disorders. These are characterized by feeling paranoid, distrustful and suspicious.
- Cluster B: impulsive personality disorders, such as borderline, narcissistic, histrionic and antisocial personality disorders. These are characterized by having difficulty controlling emotions, fears, desires and anger.
- Cluster C: anxious personality disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive, dependent and avoidant personality disorders. These are characterized by experiencing compulsions and anxiety.
Do I Need a Personality Assessment?
There are many reasons why someone might participate in a personality assessment. Personality assessments can help individuals better understand their strengths and weaknesses so that they can become the best version of themselves.
If you feel that your personal characteristics are interfering with your goals and relationships, personality assessments may be used to diagnose personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder or narcissistic personality disorder.
How Personality Impacts Your Relationships
Personality can affect one’s ability to find happiness in relationships, but it is never the only factor and it does not have to be a roadblock. But an awareness of one’s tendencies to resist or stress out about finding love, and a willingness to talk to partners about it, can help individuals manage their challenges and find a path to a healthy long-term relationship.
Learning about the personality types within your relationship can help you and your partner gain a greater understanding of how you can best work with and support each other.