DSM-IV-TR Criteria for

PERSONALITY DISORDER
Disturbances in two or more of the
following must be present:
A. Cognition (thinking about self,
people, and events)
B. Affectivity (range, intensity, lability,
and appropriateness of emotional
response)
C. Interpersonal functioning
D. Impulse control
Cluster A: Odd-Eccentric
Behaviors
Criteria for Paranoid Personality
Disorder
a. Suspicious of others
b. Doubts trustworthiness or loyalty of
friends
and others
c. Fear of confiding with others
d. Suspicious, without justification, of
spouses
or sexual partners
fidelity
e. Interprets remarks as demeaning or
threatening
f. Holds grudges towards others
g. Becomes angry and threatening
when he or she perceives being
attacked by others
Criteria for Schizoid Personality
Disorder
a. Lacks desire for close relationships
or friends
b. Chooses solitary activities
c. Little interest in sexual experiences
d. Avoids activities
e. Appears cold and detached
f. Lacks close friends
g. Appears indifferent to praise or
criticism
Criteria for Schizotypal
Personality Disorder
a. Ideas of reference
b. Magical thinking or odd beliefs
c. Unusual perceptual experiences,
including
bodily illusions

d. Odd thinking and vague,

stereotypical,
overelaborate
speech
e. Suspicious
f. Blunted or inappropriate affect
g. Odd or eccentric appearance or
behavior
h. Few close relationships
i. Excessive social anxiety
Cluster B: Dramatic, Emotional,
Erratic Behaviors
Criteria for Antisocial Personality
Disorder
a. Deceitfulness, as seen in lying or
conning
others
b. Engages in illegal activities
c. Aggressive behavior
d. Lack of guilt or remorse
e. Irresponsible in work and finances
f. Impulsiveness
g. Reckless disregard of safety for self
and others
Criteria for Borderline Personality
Disorder
a. Frantic avoidance of abandonment,
real or
imagined
b. Unstable and intense interpersonal
relationships
c. Identity disturbances
d. Impulsivity
e. Affective instability
f. Recurrent suicidal behavior or selfmutilating behavior
g. Rapid mood shifts
h. Chronic feelings of emptiness
i. Problems with anger
j. Transient dissociative and paranoid
symptoms
Criteria for Narcissistic
Personality Disorder
a. Grandiose self-importance
b. Fantasies of unlimited power,
success, or brilliance
c. Believes that he or she is special or
unique
d. Needs to be admired

e. Sense of entitlement (i.e., deserves

to be favored or given special
treatment)
f. Takes advantage of others for own
benefit
g. Lacks empathy
h. Envious of others or others are
envious of him or her
i. Arrogant or haughty
Criteria for Histrionic Personality
Disorder
a. Needs to be center of attention
b. Displays sexually seductive or
provocative behaviors
c. Shallow, rapidly shifting emotions
d. Uses physical appearance to draw
attention
e. Uses speech to impress others but
is lacking
in depth
f. Dramatic expression of emotion
g. Easily influenced by others
h. Exaggerates degree of intimacy
with others
Cluster C: Anxious-Fearful
Behaviors
Criteria for Dependent Personality
Disorder
a. Unable to make daily decisions
without much
advice and
reassurance
b. Needs others to be responsible for
important
areas of life
c. Seldom disagrees with others
because of fear
of loss of support
or approval
d. Problem with initiating projects or
doing things on own because of little
self
confidence
e. Performs unpleasant tasks to obtain
support
from others
f. Anxious or helpless when alone
because of fear of being unable to
care for self

g. Urgently seeks another relationship

for
support and care after a close
relationship ends
h. Preoccupied with fear of being alone
to care
for self
Criteria for Avoidant Personality
Disorder
a. Avoids occupations involving
interpersonal
contact because of
fears of disapproval
or rejection
b. Uninvolved with others unless
certain of
being liked
c. Fears intimate relationships because
of fears
of shame or ridicule
d. Preoccupied with being criticized or
rejected
in social situations
e. Inhibited and feels inadequate in
new interpersonal situations
f. Believes self to be socially inept,
unappealing,
or inferior to others
g. Very reluctant to take risks or
engage in new
activities because
of possibility of being
embarrassed

Criteria for Obsessive-Compulsive

Personality Disorder
a. Preoccupied with details, rules, lists,
organization
b. Perfectionism that interferes with
task completion
c. Too busy working to have friends or
leisure
activities
d. Overconscientious and inflexible
e. Unable to discard worthless or
worn-out
objects
f. Others must do things his or her way
in work
or task-related activity
g. Reluctant to spend and hoards
money
h. Rigid and stubborn.
*Modified from the American Psychiatric
Association: Diagnostic and statistical
manual of mental disoreders, Text
revision, ed 4, Washington, DC, 2000, APA.