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DSM-IV: Personality Change Due to a General Medical Condition

Certain general medical conditions can produce persistent changes in personality characteristics.

Diagnostic criteria for 310.1 Personality Change Due to... [Indicate the General Medical Condition]
(Warning!)

These criteria are obsolete! Current criteria.

A. A persistent personality disturbance that represents a change from the individual's previous characteristic personality pattern. (In children, the disturbance involves a marked deviation from normal development or a significant change in the child's usual behavior patterns lasting at least 1 year).

B. There is evidence from the history, physical examination, or laboratory findings that the disturbance is the direct physiological consequence of a general medical condition.

C. The disturbance is not better accounted for by another mental disorder (including other Mental Disorders Due to a General Medical Condition).

D. The disturbance does not occur exclusively during the course of a Delirium and does not meet criteria for a Dementia.

E. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Specify type:

Labile Type: if the predominant feature is affective lability
Disinhibited Type: if the predominant feature is poor impulse control as evidenced by sexual indiscretions, etc.
Aggressive Type: if the predominant feature is aggressive behavior
Apathetic Type: if the predominant feature is marked apathy and indifference
Paranoid Type: if the predominant feature is suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
Other Type: if the predominant feature is not one of the above, e.g. personality change associated with a seizure disorder
Combined Type: if more than one feature predominates in the clinical picture
Unspecified Type
Coding note: Include the name of the general medical condition on Axis I, e.g. 310.1 Personality Change Due to Temporal Lobe Epilepsy; also code the general medical condition on Axis III

Based on the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition APA

The online Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists most of the major psychological disorders and illnesses and lists the criteria that must be fulfilled in order for a diagnosis to be made. This resource is not a substitute for proper professional psychiatric diagnosis.