This paper represents an attempt to give a psycho-religious analysis of the character of Mrs. Winterson, who is the main protagonist of Jeanette Winterson’s debut novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985) and her memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? (2011). Mrs. Winterson was the author’s adoptive mother, and was characterized by a pronouncedly idiosyncratic psychology. Here we will try to suggest that Mrs. Winterson had a personality disorder of the paranoid kind, based on the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Edition 5) psychiatric criteria for diagnosing this disorder. Every single criterion will be substantiated by instances and quotes from the two analyzed works. This personality pathology inevitably spilled over into the way she approached religion, practiced it, and imposed it on those around her, primarily on her adoptive daughter. Unlike with some other mental illnesses, it is very difficult to develop healthy religiosity in case one has a personality disorder, due to the proverbial lack of objective selfobservation and meaningful insight into one’s authentic personality. Nevertheless, Mrs. Winterson rigidly and intensely upheld the social and religious values of extremely dubious nature, and instilled them in her daughter. Such direct, strong, and essentially unwholesome parental influence was detrimental for the healthy development of Jeanette Winterson’s personality, which may be corroborated by both of her books, in which she described the same autobiographical story. The personality of Mrs. Winterson is dominant in both the novel and the memoir, an unmistakably idiosyncratic axis around which these two texts revolve, forcefully blurring the borders between the two genres.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common language and standard criteria. It is an internationally accepted manual on the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, though it may be used in conjunction wi T… The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the DSM-5, was approved by the Board of Trustees of the APA on December 1, 2012. Published on May 18, 2013, the DSM-5 contains extensively revised diagnoses and, in some cases, broadens diagnostic definitions while narrowing definitions in other cases. The DSM-5 is the first major edition of the manual in 20 years. DSM-5, and the abbreviations for all previous editions, are registered trademarks owned by the American Psychiatric Association. A significant change in the fifth edition is the deletion of the subtypes of schizophrenia: paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and residual. The deletion of the subsets of autistic spectrum disorder – namely, Asperger's syndrome, classic autism, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not…

The relationship between the MCMI personality scales and DSM-III, axis II. Compared were the personality scales of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) to the diagnosis of personality disorder, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed. [DSM-III]; American Psychiatric Association, 1980), obtained by means of the Structured Interview for the DSM-III Personality Disorders (SIDP). The results from 272 psychiatric outpatients show a good correspondence for the Avoidant and the Dependent scales, a fairly good correspondence for the Schizotypal, the Histrionic, the Borderline, the Narcissistic, and the Paranoid scales, and no correspondence for the Schizoid, the Passive-Aggressive, and the Compulsive scales. The Passive-Aggressive scale seems to be positively correlated to personality disorders in general, whereas the Compulsive scale seems to be negatively correlated to a number of personality disorders. Published in Journal of personality assessment (1990)

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 39,200 members who are involved in psychiatric practice, research, and academia representing a diverse population of patients in more than 100 countries. The association publishes v The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 39,200 members who are involved in psychiatric practice, research, and academia representing a diverse population of patients in more than 100 countries. The association publishes various journals and pamphlets, as well as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM codifies psychiatric conditions and is used mostly in the United States as a guide for diagnosing mental disorders. The organization has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Do not prescribe antipsychotic medications to patients for any indication without appropriate initial evaluation and appropriate ongoing monitoring. Do not routinely prescribe two or more antipsychotic medications concurrently. Do not prescribe antipsychotic medications as a first-line intervention to treat behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Do not routinely prescribe antipsychotic medications as a first-line intervention for insomnia in adults. Do not routinely prescribe antipsychotic medications as a first-line intervention for children or adolescents for any diagnosis other than psychotic disorders.

Personality is unique for each individual and can be defined as the dynamic collection of characteristics relative to emotions, thought and behaviour.Personality trout’s only mean a Personality Disorder (PD) when they are inflexible and maladjusted and cause notable functional deterioration or uneasiness.According to Bermudez personality is “the enduring organization of structural and functional features, innate and acquired under the special conditions of each one’s development that shape the particular and specific collection of behaviour to face different situations”.According to the Diagnostic a Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), a Personality Disorder is “an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the person’s culture is pervasive and an inflexible, is stable over time and leads to distress or impairment. The onset of these patterns of behaviour is the beginning of the adulthood and, in rare instances, early adolescence”.There are several types of Personality Disorders (paranoid, schizoid, borderline, antisocial, dependent…). Dependent Personality Disorder is one of the most frequent in the Mental Health Services.People who suffer from this disorder are unable to take a decision by themselves because they don’t have confidence in themselves. They need a lot of social support and affection until the point of deny their individuality by subordinating their desires to other person’s desires and permitti

Delusional (paranoid) disorders. The group of paranoid or delusional disorders, although not nearly as common as the mood and schizophrenic disorders, may be much more frequent than has usually been thought. DSM-IIIR has made a decisive step in recognizably defining at least one group of them. Interestingly, this change partly came about because the advent of an effective treatment helped to define that group more clearly. Nevertheless, DSM-IIIR's classification is too restrictive, and it was wrong to exclude the diagnosis of paraphrenia. Cases fitting this description will have to be consigned to the category of Psychotic Disorder NOS, which will inevitably be a grab-bag of mixed diagnoses. Also, DSM-IIIR does not emphasize the link between the delusional disorders and paranoid schizophrenia, and the somewhat less well defined overlap with affective disorders, both of which give rise to much diagnostic confusion and inappropriate treatment. Precise history taking and mental status examination and, above all, an up-to-date knowledge of their existence are essential to the recognition and appropriate treatment of the delusional disorders.

To evaluate whether probands from a clinical sample diagnosed as having DSM-III schizotypal and/or paranoid personality disorder have a familial relationship to the schizophrenia-related disorders, the morbid risk for schizophrenia-related disorders and other psychiatric disorders were evaluated in the first-degree relatives of patients with schizotypal and/or paranoid personality disorder and compared with the corresponding risk for these disorders in the first-degree relatives of patients with other non-schizophrenia-related personality disorders. The morbid risk for all schizophrenia-related disorders, and specifically for schizophrenia-related personality disorders, was significantly greater among the relatives of the probands with schizotypal and/or paranoid personality disorder than among the relatives of probands with other personality disorder. The morbid risk for other psychiatric disorders did not differ significantly between the first-degree relatives of the schizotypal/paranoid personality disorder and the other personality disorder control proband samples. These results suggest a specific familial association between schizophrenia-related disorders, particularly schizophrenia-related personality disorders, and clinically diagnosed schizotypal patients.

Many patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) appear to have co-occurring symptoms of character pathology; however, to date there have been no empirical studies of comorbid clinician-rated axis II personality disorders in war veterans with chronic PTSD. The authors' objective was to assess DSM-III-R personality disorders in treatment-seeking combat veterans with PTSD.They used the Personality Disorder Examination, a standardized diagnostic interview for DSM-III-R axis II disorders, to assess DSM-III-R personality disorders in 34 patients with PTSD; 18 of the subjects were inpatients and 16 were outpatients.A high rate of character pathology was observed in both inpatient and outpatient groups. The most frequent disorders for which criteria were met were borderline, obsessive-compulsive, avoidant, and paranoid personality disorders. Inpatients had a higher rate of nearly every personality disorder than did outpatients. Inpatients were significantly more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for paranoid, schizotypal, avoidant, and self-defeating personality disorders.War-related PTSD in treatment-seeking Vietnam veterans is often accompanied by diffuse, debilitating, and enduring impairments in character. Subtyping patients with PTSD on the basis of specific axis II profiles may aid in the selection of more specific and effective treatments.