Eccentricity

[DrGachet]

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This came up in another thread of mine so I was wondering if somebody here knows of a good recent article/book on eccentricity. When we talk Cluster A personality disorders, we talk odd/eccentric, but what does that mean exactly in operational terms, and how is it different from anxieties and obsessions and full blown mental illness, and how do we assess it reliably? I am not talking schizotypy though they of course overlap.

If it's a peculiar habit, something odd about behavior/appearance, then heck, it's a lot of people like that. Most of my professors for one. And a lot of driven people who are on top of their field, specially in sciences, are eccentric compared to the Average Joe.

I have looked in a few places but no luck. Appreciate the help.

 

[erg923]

Schizoid, Schizotypal, and Paranoid PD are grouped together under that name because it reflects how others are likely to see their behavior. Obviously, it doesn't mean that all odd or eccentric behavior equates to having some sort of disorder or PD.

PDs are more difficult to assess than Axis I disorders because you have to be able to establish that this is a lifelong (at least since age 18) pattern of behavior. Its takes alot of info in other words, and generally, more than one session in order to diagnosis reliably.

Each of the PDs you mentioned have criteria and the DSM clearly spells out when the symptoms are to the magnitude or severity that an Axis I diagnosis should be considered as well.

 

[DrGachet]

No, that's not what I meant, though now I can see how the way I phrased it could be misleading. I'm not talking about DSM and I only made the reference in order to indicate how vague that term is. In other words, all sorts of people can be labeled as odd or eccentric. I'm interested in the concept of eccentricity and if like narcissism or emotionality (emotional dysregulation), there are articles/books written about it.

Let me clarify what I'm saying by using the example of Cluster C (anxious/fearful disorders). There are particular criteria for diagnosing someone with DPD or APD but, what is anxiety exactly? Well, David Barlow and hundreds of researchers have studied the concept of fear/anxiety.

I did find one book about eccentric behavior but it was more anecdotal and quite superficial, written many years ago.