F60 — Specific personality disorders

Concept, in one sentence

F60 requires a pervasive, stable pattern evident since adolescence, causing genuine distress or impairment — not a single behaviour or a later-onset change.

Decisive boundary cues

• A pervasive pattern since adolescence causing real difficulty -> weighs toward a specific F60 type.
• A pattern that actually began later in life after a specific event -> weighs toward F62 instead.
• An isolated impulse pattern against an otherwise unremarkable personality -> weighs toward F63 instead.

Duration/course cue

Evident since late childhood or adolescence, continuing into adulthood, by definition.

Nearest alternatives

f61, f62

Common mistake

Treating a single memorable behaviour, or a trait many people share to some degree, as sufficient evidence of a personality disorder.

Retrieval prompt — one-line memory anchor

Has this pattern genuinely been present since adolescence, across multiple contexts, causing real difficulty?