The Problem of Interpreting Cluster B Personality Disorders: at the Intersection of Psychiatry and Morality
Articles
Daniel Rogoża-Žuklys
Oslo University, Norway
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2651-0861
Aistė Bartkienė
Vilnius University, Lithuania
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5615-3696
Published 2022-10-19
https://doi.org/10.15388/Problemos.2022.102.9
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Keywords

Cluster B personality disorders
morality
medicalization
responsibility without blame
virtue ethics

How to Cite

Rogoża-Žuklys, D. and Bartkienė, A. (2022) “The Problem of Interpreting Cluster B Personality Disorders: at the Intersection of Psychiatry and Morality”, Problemos, 102, pp. 118–130. doi:10.15388/Problemos.2022.102.9.

Abstract

In medicine, some personality traits, involving specific patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior, are considered to be pathological. Personality types, characteristic of such pervasive and maladaptive traits, are known under the term “personality disorders.” However, some of these pathological traits, diagnostic of so-called Cluster B personality disorders, largely describe immoral behavior. Hence, the question arises as to how such immoral behavior could be framed also as a medical problem. Moreover, it is not immediately clear whether persons with these disorders could be held responsible for their immoral actions. By drawing on virtue ethics and the concept of responsibility without blame, the article demonstrates how the problem of compatibility between medicalization, cultivation of moral character, and responsibility could be resolved. Thereby, it is suggested that Cluster B personality disorders are best understood as both a moral and medical problem.

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