Personality disorders are diagnosed when personality traits become inflexible and maladaptive and significantly interfere with how a person functions in society or cause the person emotional distress. They usually are not diagnosed until adulthood, when personality is more completely formed. Nevertheless, maladaptive behavioral patterns often can be traced to early childhood or adolescence. Although there can be great variance among cli-ents with personality disorders, many experience significant impairment in fulfilling family, academic, employment, and other functional roles.
Diagnosis is made when the person exhibits enduring behavioral patterns that deviate from cultural expectations in two or more of the following areas: