Social experiment by Mariana Abramovic

This is not about personality disorders per se, but clearly has to do with personality. In this interesting and brave experiment by Mariana Abramovic, she gives people the opportunity to do whatever they like to her for 6 hours without resisting. What happened was not exactly pretty, but was it surprising? Watch the video and judge by yourself.

Bipolar II vs. Borderline

I didn't really think there still was a big disagreement about these disorders being distinct in nature. But I guess those voices pop up on a regular basis. This study shows, however, that bipolar II-depression patients are more likely to have close relatives with bipolar disorder than patients with a combination of major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder (MDD-BPD). MDD-BPD patients also had a higher frequency of co-morbid axis-1 disorders than the the bipolar II-depression patients, most significantly post-traumatic stress disorder. Ratings of anger, anxiety, paranoid ideation and somatization were also significantly higher in the MDD-BPD group and in addition to that their over all functioning was lower. This certainly is evidence supporting the disorders to be different in nature.

Interpreation of social situations related to personality disorder

The study was published in
Child & Adolecent Psychiatry

A study Conducted by Carla Sharp finds empirical evidence that hypermentalization in teens and symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. Mentalization is the ability to understand and attribute feelings and thoughts to others and predict their behavior. This ability seems is heightened in individuals suffering from BPD and this study links hypermentalization with symptoms of BPD. This study took two years and included 111 subjects at the age of 12 to 17.
These results are somewhat contradictory to some theories of BPD. For example has a therapy form named Mentalization Based Therapy been used to treat individuals who suffer from BPD, but the main goal of this type of therapy is to enhance the mentalization capabilities of those with BPD based on the idea that it is lacking in those who suffer from BPD. Mentalization Based therapy has been shown to have good effect in several studies.
This study is the first to find a link between hypermentalization in teens and symptoms of BPD according to author, so it is important for its results to be replicated in order to conclude about this matter. The results, however, are beneficial in order to diagnose early symptoms of BPD in order to start treatment early by teaching the teenagers not to overestimate thoughts and feeling of others and instead to stick to facts.

Danish study finds modern psychoanalytic therapy effective in treating personality disorders

Carsten René's book
on personality disorders

A new study, conducted by the psychology department of Aarhus University and the Clinic for Personality Disorders at Aarhus University Hospital, offers evidence that modern psychoanalytic therapy is effective in treating Personality Disorders. The study has been a run for the last seven years and was led by Carsten René Jørgensen who is a professor at Aarhus University. In the study, two versions of modern psychoanalytic treatments were compared but they mainly differed in intensity. One treatment was mainly a group therapy and the other group therapy combined with more intensive weekly sessions of individual therapy. The latter form resulted in better outcome where patients achieved a higher level in functioning, but both forms of therapy where highly effective. In order for the treatment to be successful it needs to be administered by well trained professionals and requires two years of therapy, sometimes longer. 85 patients have started treatment connected with the study of whom 65 have finished treatment. It is estimated that 10% of the danish population is suffering from personality disorders and around 2% of severe personality disorder, according to study.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121023101027.htm

Egomania – A documentary

Another documentary to be found on youtube is called Egomania. Egomania is an old word used to describe people who are obsessed with their own ego, and are today referred to as suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The documentary describes the symptoms of NPD and interviews people suffering from the disorder. Enjoy!

“Back From the Edge” – Borderline Personality Disorder

This is a documentary about Borderline Personality disorder created by the Borderline Personality Disorder Resource Center at NewYork-Presbyterian. Several patients describe how it is to have BPD and leading specialists on the disorder are interviewed as well. A very interesting video.