Abstract
Most experts in the field of personality disorders (PDs) agree that prognosis of these patients is predominantly influenced by the early and sensitive diagnostics. With an increasing number of PD patients in both clinical and general populations, there is an increasing need for a unified language to enable clinicians: 1.
Recognize diagnosis early; 2. Interpret the diagnosis to the patient appropriately without causing stigmatization or other emotional damage; and based on them 3.
Establish a treatment plan reflecting the real expectations of the therapy. We would like to follow up with the current state of knowledge of the PD issue in Czech psychiatry and present this monograph to the variety of readers, i.e., not only to mental health professionals, but also to students of relevant disciplines, with the main goal of finding a common point of view of the patient from the diagnostics perspective.
With this publication, we offer a way to understand PDs by linking relevant psychodynamic conceptualizations of PDs with the latest findings from extensive research in the field of so-called "evidence-based" diagnostic systems for PDs. Our priority is not just diagnosis assessment based on diagnostic criteria but finding a person behind the symptomatic accompaniment typical of these patients.
In this context, we agree with the view of the issue of PD described particularly in the current edition of DSM-5 and the psychostructural model of personality psychopathology of O. F.
Kernberg. Readers will be also introduced into innovations planned for the upcoming ICD-11.
Special attention is paid to the interdependence and affinity of some dual disorders - characteristic of patients with PDs, namely addictions and eating disorders. In the form of a case study, the text is supplemented with illustrative demonstrations of administration and interpretation of the so-called alternative diagnostic systems for PDs.
Specific examples of working with a patient in communicating diagnostic results and treatment planning are also presented.