A lot of #plurals are misdiagnosed with personality disorders because they show the symptoms of one or more personality disorders.

I know. That sounds weird. If you have the symptoms of a #disorder, surely you have the disorder, right?

That's true for a #singlet, but it's not true for a #plural

A personality disorder is #pervasive by definition. This means that it permeates throughout the person's life and colors every #experience that they have. Every single one.

That means that for a #system to be accurately diagnosed with a personality disorder, all of that system must have the personality disorder. Not one #headmate. Not two. All of them.

By way of example, consider a plural system with a #protector/#persecutor, a headmate who exists to protect the system, but that often also harms the system in the #maladaptive way that it chooses to protect the system. This protector/persecutor could be an #introject of that system's external abuser, thereby continuing that individual's abuse on the system long after that individual is gone from the system's life.

That protector/persecutor might easily receive a #diagnosis of #Borderline, #Narcissistic, or #Antisocial Personality Disorder. But often the protector/persecutor is also unique among its headmates. The #BPD, #NPD, or #APD diagnosis may be completely wrong for the other members of the system, and certainly for the host (if there is one), who may be the victim of the protector/persecutor's #abuse more often than not.

This means that the diagnosis of a personality disorder is wholly inaccurate. The personality disorder has not pervaded the system, and it therefore cannot be called a personality disorder. And if even one #headmate is capable of insight into the #abusive protector/persecutor, then that system's #prognosis is likely to be significantly better than that of a person who has been accurately diagnosed with a personality disorder.

In short, for a system to be correctly diagnosed as having a personality disorder, all of that systems headmates must share the symptoms of the disorder. If they do not, they do not have a personality disorder.

I hope this has been helpful!

#mentalHealth #dissociativeDisorders #DID #OSDD #personalityDisorders