The new Dysfunctional Personality Model of the Anxiety Matrix (DPM-AM): “Neurotic Personality Disorder” (NPD)

Abstract

Background and objectives: According to the PICI model, second edition, the personality disorders of the neurotic area are six (anxious, phobic, obsessive, somatic, avoidant, and manic) and the diagnosis of the psychopathological disorder is determined on the basis of the persistence of certain dysfunctional traits present in the personality framework. However, on the basis of clinical experience and through the application of IPM/PICI, Deca, PDM, PHEM, and PPP-DNA models (including PF-SPEM and NDAM), it was found that all the disorders of the neurotic area had in common the anxiety traits and that the symptoms of the six different disorders were often present in comorbidity. This assumption led to the hypothesis that there was a different and better way to group them into a single, all-encompassing category: “neurotic personality disorder”. This research aims to demonstrate whether or not the use of this hypothetical new nosographic construct is useful. Materials and methods: Individual clinical interview, consisting of the amnestic collection and administration of the PICI-2TA (Perrotta Integrative Clinical Interviews, version 2-TA), PAD-Q (Perrotta Affective Dependency Questionnaire), PSM-1 (Perrotta Sexual Matrix) and PDM-Q (Perrotta Defence Mechanisms Questionnaire), to each group of population. Result: Of the selected sample of 326 subjects, 318 were eligible because they met the inclusive criteria. The three male groups, subdivided by age (18-36, 37-54, 55-72), completely resolved their neurotic symptoms in 86.7% (13/15), 87.5% (7/8) and 60% (3/5), for a partial total of 78.1% (23/28), while the remaining 21.9% (5/28) declared to have benefited from the PPP-DNA protocol with an attenuation of at least 50% of their neurotic symptoms. The three female groups, subdivided according to age (18-36, 37-54, 55-72), completely resolved their neurotic symptoms in 93.3% (154/165), 95% (57/60), and 92.3% (60/65), for a partial total of 93.5% (271/290), while the remaining 6.5% (19/290) declared to have benefited from the PPP-DNA protocol with at least a 50% attenuation of their neurotic symptoms. Conclusion: The PPP-DNA protocol is effective for 85.8% (with a greater prevalence of effectiveness in the female population) in the resolution of neurotic symptoms of anxious, phobic, somatic, avoidant, obsessive, and manic nature, both with the previous wording and with the new nosographic hypothesis “neurotic personality disorder”, as it does not represent a new psychopathological construct but only a different way of grouping disorders of cluster A (neurotic) to avoid that the absorptions do not take into account important dysfunctional traits that are instead at the base of those disorders and therefore does not affect in any case the exact diagnosis of the dysfunctional personality profile.