Personality Disorders: Manage them before they manage you (c/o McGill; via Zoom)
Date: Dec 8, 2022
Times: 9:00AM-12:30PM Eastern
Website: http://cbt.ca/uni/mcgill/
Speaker: Greg Dubord, MD
Accreditation: 9.0 Mainpro+ Credits
Virtual Event; via Zoom
The "superpower" of reading and managing personalities
How common are the personality disorders? According to a recent meta-analysis (Volkert, 2018), over 12% of your patients likely have one. The rates are much higher among those in your practice with “illness anxiety disorder”: 75% of hypochondriacs have one personality disorder, and nearly 50% have three or more.
Unfortunately, and as you know all too well, personality disorders aren’t found only among our patients. The personalities of our colleagues, family members, and friends can also contribute to some rather profound suffering.
This practical workshop begins with a review of the science of personality assessment. We examine the most popular inventories, doing a fair bit of debunking along the way. Fortunately, some inventories are indisputably evidence-based. You'll have an opportunity to analyze yourself (and your loved ones, if you're so inclined) using one of the very best.
The core of the workshop is the systematic review of DSM-5’s ten personality disorders: the insensitively-named "MAD" (paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal), "BAD" (antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic), and "SAD" (avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive) "clusters".
As we review each of the ten personality disorders, our emphases are on 1) rapid diagnosis (when possible); 2) modular treatments (when desired), and 3) clinician coping (always). The complex issue of the diagnosis of children and adolescents will be debated.
Borderline personality disorder necessitates extra time. Today nearly 20% of female university students have significant BPD symptoms, and cutting is rising among tweens (ages 8 to 12). In this expanded section we focus on managing non-suicidal self-injuries, with practical tips harvested from CBT and its relevant derivatives (i.e., DBT and ACT).
Although nobody woke would advocate labeling, there is clearly much value in knowing what kind of person one is dealing with. Many case challenges (e.g., in preventive medicine & chronic disease management)—and a high percentage of interpersonal disputes—gain clarity through the lens of personality.
Personalities and their disorders are by definition enduring and predictable. When you improve your skills in reading others, you give yourself a little "superpower".
That superpower will make both your clinical practice and your life in general a fair bit easier.
