Personality disorders

Personality disorders are relatively common. Their impact on work ability is individual, as they may also be accompanied by other mental health disorders such as depression or anxiety.

Personality disorders are relatively common. According to estimates, 5–10% of adults are affected by various personality disorders. Personality disorders result from a variety of genetic and embryonic factors, copying the behaviour of parents and various childhood experiences and traumas.

Personality disorders are essentially characterised by a stubbornly rigid way of behaving or experiencing things, which occurs at a young age and causes suffering to the person or is otherwise harmful to them. In different personality disorders, the issues may be related to the individual’s way of observing or interpreting their own or other people’s feelings and thoughts, the intensity or instability of emotional expressions, proneness to impulsive behaviour or difficulties in interaction.

Personality disorders can affect work ability

As a rule, personality disorders do not lead to longer-term disability if they are not accompanied by other conditions. How the symptoms affect work ability depends on the individual and on factors such as the content of the work, the work community and the support provided by the employee’s own social networks. Personality disorders may be accompanied by other disorders, such as depression or anxiety. These parallel disorders often impair the individual’s work ability more than the personality disorder does.