Personality disordersPersonality disorders indicate the presence of chronic rigid and maladaptive personality traits, through which the person's interpersonal or professional functioning is negatively affected, or which lead to unhappiness and personal problems (Louw, 1990). Discuss this statement from a biopsychosocial frame of reference and refer to a personality disorder in any group to illustrate your answer. The biopsychosocial model:========================= =The biopsychosocial model (Engel, 1980, cited in Paris, 1993) suggests an integrated approach that includes psychopathology in terms of multiple causes, none of which alone is sufficient for the development of the disorder. These factors could include biological vulnerability, the psychological impacts of life experiences, and the influence of the social environment, all of which can be considered risk variables or protective variables. The biopsychosocial model differs from more linear cause-and-effect approaches such as heredity in that only the cumulative interactive effects of multiple variables can produce the manifest disorder. Personality disorders================== === Personality disorders are characterized by long-standing inflexible and maladaptive personality traits that cause significant impairment and subjective distress for the 'individual. Signs of a personality disorder appear in adolescence or early adulthood. Individuals differ in the extent to which they possess personality traits and it can be difficult to decide whether the trait exists to an extent that can be considered pathological... middle of paper.. ....tice, 10, (2), 161- 165. Hayes, S.J. (2002, March) Acceptance, awareness and science. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 9, (1), 101-106. Klein, M. H. (1993, Spring). Problems in the assessment of personality disorders. Journal of Personality Disorders. Supplement 1, 18-33.Morey, L. C. (1993, Spring). Psychological correlates of personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, Supplement 1, 149-166. Paris, J. (1993). Personality disorders: a biopsychosocial model. Journal of Personality Disorders, 7(3), 255-264. Sue, D., Sue, D, W. & Sue, S. (2000). Understand anomalous behavior. (6th ed.). USA: Houghton Mifflin Vincent, K. R. (1990). The relationship between personality disorders, normality, and healthy personality: Personality on a continuum. Social behavior and personality, 18(2), 245-250.