Hello, again. I've noticed that lately many people have been watching a Korean TV series. I have to admit I've never been a big fan of Korean TV, but this particular one caught my attention because of its unique character setting and its focus on mental health issues.

And you can tell from its rather unconventional name.

The two main characters of this series, one of them is a professional carer at a mental health institution. The other one is a writer suffering anti-social personality disorder. I know a lot of you might have heard of words like antisocial or antisocial behaviors or personality disorders from many TV series, movies or books. But there are so many misunderstandings about personality disorders. So in today's episode, let us continue to explore the fascinating human minds.

Let's get to know a little bit about personality disorders.

To understand what is personality disorder, first of all we need to know what is personality. Personality is the way of thinking, feeling and behaving that makes a person different from other people.

Our personality is influenced by many things, our experiences, environmental surroundings, life situations, and genetics. That means the characteristics that we inherited from our parents. An individual's personality typically stays the same over time, especially after we become adults.

So a personality disorder is a way of thinking, feeling and behaving that deviates from the expectations of the culture causes distress or problems functioning and lasts over time.

One major difference between personality disorders and other types of mental health issues is that many other mental health issues are ego dystonic. This means those who have these problems, they are aware they have a problem and they tend to be distressed by their symptoms. For example, someone is suffering from depression, they know they are depressed, they know something is wrong.

Ego dystonic. But personality disorders are often ego syntonic . This means people having these problems they don't think they actually have a problem. Instead, they often think it's other people that have a problem. Now you might ask, we've seen so many different personality disorders in TV, movie and books, exactly how many types of personality disorders are there?

According to experts, they're 10 major personality disorders. They are usually grouped into three clusters: A, B and C.

Cluster A, this is usually the odd or strange cluster. And this includes three specific personality disorders. The first one is called paranoid personality disorder.

People suffering paranoid personality disorder, they are usually suspicious of others, and they see other people as a threat. They often assume other people will harm or lie to them. So they don't trust others, and they refuse to become too close to other people.

People in this category they are often self centered and they usually have a lot of hostility towards the world. If you want an example, many would say Hitler was a typical case of paranoid personality disorder.

The second type in cluster A is called Schizoid personality disorder. People in this group, they are detached from social relationships and they express very little emotion. They typically do not seek any close relationships and choose to be alone. They seem to not really care about praise or criticism or any feedback from others. You might call them a loner. Interestingly, many people think Batman is a typical case in this category.

And the last type in Cluster A is called Schizotypal personality disorder. This is different from Schizoid personality disorder because Schizotypal personality disorder, they feel very uncomfortable in close relationships. They often have distorted thinking and eccentric or weird behaviors, and person with this personality disorder, they may have very strange beliefs or peculiar behaviour or speech or they may have excessive social anxiety.

If you want an example, think about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the owner of the chocolate factory Willy Wonka is a typical case. Actually I would say a lot of the characters played by Johnny Depp probably fall into that category. They are very eccentric, strange, many would think their behaviors are rather weird.

Moving on to the next Cluster. Cluster B has four personality disorders. And some of these, you might find more familiar. This cluster is usually called the Dramatic Cluster.

Starting with the first in the group, anti-social personality disorder. People with anti-social personality disorder, they usually have a tendency to disregard or violate the rights of others. So they don't really care about other people.

A person with antisocial personality disorder may not conform to social norms. They don't follow any rules because they don't think these rules apply to them, and they may repeatedly lie or deceive others or try to manipulate others.

They also feel very little empathy. So they don't really care if they hurt other people. Many serial killers fall into this category. And if you ever watched the horror classic The Silence Of The Lamb, you will know Hannibal Lector.

The second in the category is Borderline personality disorder, people suffering this particular personality disorder, they usually show a pattern of instability in personal relationships. They have intense emotions and they usually have poor self image and they act on impulses a lot. They may go to great length to avoid being abandoned. They might have extreme behaviors, for example, get extremely angry or have repeated suicide attempts.

The next in Cluster B is Histrionic personality disorder. You may immediately think of drama kings and drama queens. People with this personality disorder, they show excessive emotion and they often seek attention from other people.

They may be very uncomfortable if they are not the center of attention. They may use physical appearance or exaggerated emotions to draw attention to themselves. You might think of many people in showbiz that are probably showing symptoms of this personality disorder.

The last one in Cluster B is Narcissistic personality disorder. People in this category, they need constant admiration from other people. They want people to worship them, they are very self-centered, they often have an exaggerated sense of self-importance, a sense of entitlement, and then take advantage of others. And again, they lack empathy.

So again, in many serial killers you see a combination of antisocial and narcissistic personality disorder. Case in point the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy.

Now we come to the last Cluster. Cluster C is often linked with anxious feelings and behaviors. They are three particular personality disorders.

The first one is Avoidant personality disorder. Usually people in this category they show extreme shyness. They have quite low opinion of themselves and they're terrified of being criticized or rejected.

They may view themselves as not being good enough. So they're unwilling to get involved with other people unless they are absolutely certain they will be liked.

The next type is Dependent personality disorder. People in this category, they constantly need other people to take care of them. And they're very clingy. They may have difficulty making very simple decisions unless they have approval and reassurance from others.

Sometimes you see this type of personality disorders in failed relationships. If someone feels like they always need to be in a relationship because they simply cannot live on their own, then that might be a sign of this particular personality disorder.

The last one will sound quite familiar. This is obsessive compulsive personality disorder. Maybe a lot of you have heard of OCD, but obsessive compulsive personality disorder is different. Because with this personality disorder, the obsessive compulsive behavior has already become part of them.

They are overly focused on details and schedules or they may be workaholics and they do not allow any time for leisure and friends, or they are simply obsessed with the tiniest things that make them very difficult to work with.

One very well known case with obsessive compulsive personality disorder is Steve Jobs. But you might also say is this obsession with details that made him a success.

So that ends a simple introduction to the 10 major personality disorders. Now I'm by no means an expert in psychology, and also in many situations, these personality disorders they can overlap with each other and with other mental health issues. So don't be too quick to self diagnose.

If you feel like you are struggling with some of these problems and it has affected your life, the best way is to actually read more on it and seek professional help. And that ends another episode about fascinating human mind.

If you have anything to share, if you feel like you learned something from this episode, share with us in a common section. See you next time. Bye.

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