Year: 2009
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Over the past twenty years, there seems to have been an increased interest on the topic of \nadolescent personality pathology among researchers and clinicians in the field of \npsychiatry and clinical psychology. There have been many contentious debates on the \ntopic, the most prominent being around the possibility of diagnosing a personality \ndisorder or variant thereof in adolescence. With this in mind, the researcher attempted to \nunderstand some of the most pertinent debates as well as investigate some of the \nhypotheses proposed in the arguments. The main focus of the study was on the possibility \nof diagnosing personality pathology in adolescence and whether or not this was being \nachieved in an inpatient psychiatric ward. \nThe present study quantitatively investigated the prevalence of personality pathology as \nwell as the extent to which health care professionals in South Africa are diagnosing \nvarious personality pathologies among adolescents admitted to an inpatient psychiatric \nward. The data collected has been analysed using the statistical study of frequencies and \ncorrelations, in order to assess whether there were positive correlations between genders, \nAxis I disorders, a set of reported problematic or pathological behavioural symptoms and \nhaving an Axis II diagnosis. The results reveal that clinicians are cautiously diagnosing \npersonality pathology in an inpatient adolescent psychiatric ward, with the borderline \npersonality pathology being the most prevalent.
Author: Melissa Card
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2271044181