Personality Disorder Assessment & Diagnosis
People often start looking into personality disorders because certain patterns in their life keep repeating.
Maybe relationships tend to become difficult in similar ways. You might find it hard to trust people, react strongly to rejection or criticism, struggle with how you see yourself, or notice that the way you respond in certain situations keeps creating problems even when you want things to be different.
Sometimes these patterns have been there for so long that they simply feel like part of who you are.
A personality disorder assessment gives you the chance to look at those patterns with a registered psychologist and understand whether there is something more going on.
The goal isn’t to fit you neatly into a label. It’s to understand the way you think, feel, relate to other people and respond to difficult situations, and whether those patterns are consistent with a personality disorder or something else.
What a Personality Disorder Assessment Involves
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Confidential Video Consultation
Your assessment begins with a private 50-minute video appointment with a registered psychologist.
There’s no need to arrive knowing which personality disorder you think you have, or whether you have one at all.
You can start by talking about what has been difficult.
That might include relationships that repeatedly break down, strong emotional reactions, difficulty trusting people, feeling unsure of who you are, becoming defensive when criticised, withdrawing from others, or noticing behaviours that seem hard to change.
Your psychologist will ask questions to understand how long these patterns have been there and how they affect different parts of your life.
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Discussion of your experiences
Personality is complicated, and everyone has traits that can become more noticeable in certain situations.
The question isn’t whether you recognise yourself in a handful of characteristics.
What we’re looking at is whether there are long-standing patterns in the way you experience emotions, think about yourself and others, manage relationships and respond to stress.
You may notice that the same kinds of conflicts come up again and again, even with different people. Perhaps you become very close to someone quickly and then pull away, find it difficult to trust other people, need a lot of reassurance, or react strongly when you feel rejected or misunderstood.
For other people, the difficulty may be more about feeling disconnected, rigid in the way they think, or unsure of their own identity.
There can also be overlap with trauma, mood disorders, ADHD, anxiety and other mental health concerns.
That wider context matters. The assessment is about understanding the overall pattern, not taking one behaviour and attaching a diagnosis to it.
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Use of validated assessment tool/s
Your psychologist may use questionnaires or structured personality measures during the assessment.
These can help explore particular traits and patterns in more detail, but they are only part of the process.
A questionnaire cannot tell us why a relationship keeps breaking down, what happens when you feel rejected, or how your experiences have developed over time.
Those things come from the conversations you have during the assessment and the history behind them.
The results are considered alongside everything else rather than being treated as a diagnosis on their own.
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Feedback and recommendations
Once there is enough information, your psychologist will talk you through what they have found.
If your experiences appear consistent with a particular personality disorder, they will explain why.
If the picture is less clear, or another issue seems to better explain what has been happening, that will be part of the discussion too.
Sometimes people have certain personality traits without meeting the criteria for a personality disorder. That information can still be useful.
From there, you can talk about what may help, whether that involves therapy, practical strategies, further assessment or support from another health professional.
The point is to leave with a better understanding of yourself and a clearer idea of what to do next.
FAQs about PErsonality Disorder assessments
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You may want to consider an assessment if certain patterns keep affecting your relationships, work or sense of wellbeing and you’re struggling to understand why.
Perhaps you find yourself having the same arguments in different relationships, reacting very strongly to rejection or criticism, struggling to trust people, feeling uncertain about who you are, or behaving in ways that you later wish you had handled differently.
You do not need to identify with a particular diagnosis before booking.
You may simply know that something keeps repeating and you’d like to understand it better.
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No.
Online personality tests can make it easy to recognise yourself in particular traits, but personality disorders are not diagnosed by matching yourself to a list.
Most people will recognise some personality traits in themselves. What matters is how persistent those patterns are, how they fit together and how much they affect your life.
Questionnaires may be used during the assessment, but they are considered alongside your history, relationships and experiences.
The assessment happens online. It isn’t an online self-test.
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Video appointments allow you to speak with a psychologist from somewhere private and familiar.
For many people, that makes difficult conversations easier.
You’re still working directly with a registered psychologist throughout the assessment. The online format simply removes the need to travel to a clinic.
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Your psychologist will explain what they have found and what it may mean.
If a personality disorder appears to fit the patterns you’ve described, you can talk about what kind of support may be useful.
If another explanation seems more likely, that will be discussed instead.
You may also find that you have particular personality traits that cause difficulties without meeting the criteria for a specific disorder.
Whatever the outcome, the aim is to give you something useful to work with rather than simply handing you a label.
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For many people, personality assessment can be completed effectively through video consultation.
What matters most is whether your psychologist can gather enough information about your history, relationships and patterns over time to form a clear clinical picture.
If more information or another type of assessment is needed, your psychologist will talk that through with you.
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Most Personality Disorder assessments take place across two or three appointments of around 50 minutes each.
Some assessments take longer, particularly where there are several overlapping concerns or a more complicated history.
If more time is needed, your psychologist will explain what they still need to explore and why.
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A formal diagnosis may be provided where it is clinically appropriate and supported by the assessment.
If you need a written psychological report, we can also discuss what is required and whether there is an additional fee.
Some people want formal documentation. Others mainly want to understand themselves better and work out what kind of support may help.
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Your Personality Disorder assessment will be conducted by a registered psychologist.
They will guide you through the assessment, help you make sense of the patterns you have been experiencing and explain how the different pieces may fit together.
If another health professional needs to be involved, they will explain that too.
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Choose an available appointment through the online booking system, via the button below.
You’ll receive a short intake form before your first session so we have some background information before we meet.
You don’t need to know which diagnosis fits before you book. That’s part of what the assessment is there to explore.