The clinical summary I have chosen to analyze was the one involving the patient named John. Based on the information given and the diagnostic information in DSM-5 I believe that John has Paranoid personality disorder. He meets five out of the seven requirements to meet criteria A and John’s therapist has ruled out bipolar disorder and psychosis thus he meets Criterion B (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). John initially presents as someone who feels that everyone is out to get him. His agent, his co-workers, his therapist and even his one friend cannot be trusted in his eyes. The idea that someone might be trying to help him doesn’t even register in his mind because the world is out to get him. As a result of not being able to trust anyone he cannot open
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Criticisms that may be meant to help are perceived as an assault on his character. These “attacks” bother him so much that he sulks over them for days (long after most adults would’ve brushed the incidents off or forgotten them). He also easily talks badly about others who he feels are of a lower class and/or status than himself. It would seem that he imagines himself to be very important in his own mind, but any perceived attempt to crack his fragile self-image is met with hostility.
I believe John operates on a borderline level of organization. He does not seem to be entirely out of touch with reality and his beliefs are not outlandishly crazy which indicates he is not psychotic. However, John lacks the self-awareness that neurotic paranoid people have (McWilliams, 2011). He never questions his perceptions or thoughts He cannot see that in all of the situations he describes he is the common denominator and cannot imagine that he could possibly have done anything wrong. Acknowledgement that he is wrong is something John cannot do because his already flimsy self-image could not stand
Criticisms that may be meant to help are perceived as an assault on his character. These “attacks” bother him so much that he sulks over them for days (long after most adults would’ve brushed the incidents off or forgotten them). He also easily talks badly about others who he feels are of a lower class and/or status than himself. It would seem that he imagines himself to be very important in his own mind, but any perceived attempt to crack his fragile self-image is met with hostility.
I believe John operates on a borderline level of organization. He does not seem to be entirely out of touch with reality and his beliefs are not outlandishly crazy which indicates he is not psychotic. However, John lacks the self-awareness that neurotic paranoid people have (McWilliams, 2011). He never questions his perceptions or thoughts He cannot see that in all of the situations he describes he is the common denominator and cannot imagine that he could possibly have done anything wrong. Acknowledgement that he is wrong is something John cannot do because his already flimsy self-image could not stand