Cluster A Personality Disorders

By: Madison Richard, Faye Laufketter, Curtis Rother, Ralph Raskas, Rada Lowery

Cluster A ClassificationPeople with Cluster A personality disorders

tend to have difficulty relating to others and usually show patterns of behaviour most people would regard as odd and eccentric accompanied many times by delusional thinking.

Schizoid● Aloof, cold, and indifferent● passive personality● prefer isolation ● strange or eccentric

thinking● Avoid situations which are

personal ● Example: Batman, J.D.

Salinger and every other writer.

Paranoid * Constant distrust and suspicion of everything and everyone, sees everyone as a potential enemy through distorted and irrational thinking patterns

* Suspicion and distrust leads to anxiety

* Put a lot of effort into protecting themselves and keeping their distance

* Look for conspiracy in meaningless or innocuous comments

* Unlikely to confide in others, fear even their closest friends or family will use personal information against them

* Assumption that others are out to harm or humiliate them

* Pathological jealousy, holding grudges

Paranoid Example: James Tilly Matthews, British tea merchant in the 1700’s who believed in “air looms” (mind control devices used by the government’s enemies)

Schizotypal• Attaching undue and misguided

significance to everyday events

• Believing in special powers, such as telepathy or the ability to influence other people’s emotions and actions

• Having unusual ways of speaking, such as long, rambling vague sentences or going off on a tangent

• Experiencing excessive anxiety in social situations, even if they have known a particular person or group of people a long time

Examples: Phoebe (Friends) Believed that she was possessed by the spirit of an 82 year old women and that her mother was in a cat. Also claims to hear voices in her head and tendency to know what the other friends are doing. Dresses pretty eccentrically as well. Always seemed like the least connected out of all of the friends.

Willy Wonka Odd beliefs and magical thinking that influence his behavior (“I am the maker of music, the dreamer of dreams”). He uses made up words and phrases and is paranoid therefore he stays isolated. No concern, fear, awareness shown by kids being lost in his factory. Avoids interactions with people their own age, interacts only with children.