Personality disorders thorny area for psychiatry

Several epidemiologic studies show that about 10% of the general population meet criteria for personality disorders. The diagnosis of personality disorder should just be for people with highly impaired functioning. These individuals are more apt than those without personality disorders to abuse substances, cut or burn themselves, attempt suicide, and die prematurely. patients are often prescribed a cocktail of different drugs but these have problematic side effects. The development of several effective psychotherapies has improved the prognosis for people with borderline personality disorder.