Do Negative Life Experiences Cause Avoidant, Dependent & Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders?

This video answers the question: How do negative life experiences contribute to the development of Cluster C personality disorders. When we talk about Cluster C personality disorders, we're talking about three specific personality disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) and the manual divides up personality disorders into three clusters Clusters A, B, and C. Cluster C contains avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. Now there are a number of theories about what could cause these personality disorders and it's important when we talk about causation though, to start with this idea of causation versus association. A lot of times with mental disorders, including personality disorders, what we're really talking about is some sort of association that's been identified between some sort of construct like a genetic or environmental construct and the development of a disorder. Association and correlation are different than causation. Now when we talk about Cluster C personality disorders and personalities in general, we know that genetics appear to play a part but we don't know the exact contribution. A lot of times for a number of personality disorders, it's speculated that the contribution of genetics is around 50% - 60%, but really we're not sure. In looking at negative life experiences, I'm looking more at the environmental as opposed to genetic. In terms of environmental causes, there are a number of theories that have been proposed over the years. Attachment theorists focus on early relationship quality. Psychodynamic theorists focus on profound dysfunction and conflicts, again in early life. Cognitive theorists focus on maladaptive schemas, which are distorted views about how people see themselves others in the world. All three of these schools of thought though share this one part in common: whatever happened that leads to personality disorders (specifically Cluster C personality disorders) tends to occur early and we conceptualize the negative life experience almost all the time we're talking about childhood experiences. Sometimes the term negative life experience is used interchangeably with negative life event and I don't really see a problem with this normally. If we want to get specific though in terms of what potential difference there is between those two terms, it's that an experience is what somebody perceives an event is what actually happens. It's interpretation versus an actual event. When we are talking about cognitive theory, that's really all about perception and interpretation. What actually happens is secondary to what people perceive is happening when we think about the causality or contribution to development of mental disorders.
For avoidant personality disorder, the negative life experiences that were identified would be physical and sexual abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, bullying, low expression of parental affection, and a lack of nurturing. Dependent personality disorder is associated with physical and sexual abuse, a controlling family environment, and a rule-based family environment. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is only weakly associated with negative life events.

Birgenheir, D. G., & Pepper, C. M. (2011). Negative Life Experiences and the Development of Cluster C Personality Disorders: A Cognitive Perspective. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 40(3), 190–205. https://doi-org.mylibrary.wilmu.edu/10.1080/16506073.2011.566627

Видео Do Negative Life Experiences Cause Avoidant, Dependent & Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders? канала Dr. Todd Grande