Causes of personality disorder

Like other psychiatric illnesses, it is thought that personality disorders are caused by a number of factors. These include parental upbringing in childhood, personality, social development as well as genetic and biological factors.

Psychological causes

There is a body of research which shows that the vast majority of patients with personality disorders were abused as children. 75% of people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder have experienced physical or sexual abuse. Abuse can come in the form of physical, sexual or just not being parented properly.

Childhood is the time to learn to cope and manage intense emotional changes and this is one of the most important goals of parenthood. Children who are abused often do not learn these lessons, thus they are more likely to have difficulty regulating their emotions as adults.

Genetic causes

two men on beach
There is a growing amount of research that indicates that personality disorders can be inherited.

The most dramatic research in this area are the studies of identical twins who were adopted separately at birth, raised in different households and then found to have similar personality traits when studied as adults, and investigations that have found there is a greater chance that if one of a pair of twins has a personality disorder the other will also have a similar condition, for identical than non-identical twin pairs.