Substance abuse and personality disorders: The impact of three personality clusters on prevalence, course, and treatment

Personality governs our way of thinking about ourselves, relating to others, and interacting with our environment. Behavior patterns, cognitive styles, and disposition toward certain emotions are all influenced by personality. It is precisely because personality influences every aspect of one’s approach to life that personality disorders are particularly disabling conditions. Indeed, by definition, a personality disorder is characterized by “an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment” (1).