ABSTRACT

The Paranoid Personality Disorder can be recognized by the following descriptors and characteristics: style vs. disorder, triggering event(s), behavioral style, interpersonal style, cognitive style, affective style, attachment style, and optimal diagnostic criterion. This chapter focuses on its description, case conceptualizations, assessment, and treatment interventions. It begins with background information on the disorder as well as a DSM-5 description and a prototypic description of this disorder. According to Benjamin, persons diagnosed with Paranoid Personality Disorder were likely to have experienced sadistic, controlling, and degrading parenting. The Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-IV), the Rorschach Psychodiagnostic Test, and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) can be useful in diagnosing the Compulsive Personality Disorder as well as the Obsessive Compulsive Personality style. A similar type of psychotherapy used for Paranoid Personality Disorder is based on Dialogical Self Theory (DST). The most common symptom disorders associated with the Paranoid Personality Disorder are Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Delusional Disorder.