Histrionic Personality Disorder

Individuals with this disorder do not simply drift in and out of friendships, but instead show abrupt, frequent and dramatic changes between "intense love and equally intense hate" (Durand 334) in any one relationship. The fluctuations in their mood, involved with their anger; involved with their thought disturbances, and mixed with their paranoid thoughts about betrayal and abandonment by others; as well as their impulsiveness make it difficult to maintain relationships with others.

People with Histrionic Personality Disorder do not limit their seduction to people with whom they have romantic interest, but it extends to a variety of social, occupational and professional relationships beyond what is appropriate for the social context.10

Psychological disorders are very real and present in many people we come in contact with daily, however, are very rarely talked about. Learning about these disorders can help us to understand others and ourselves better by telling us why we do and think the things we do. One effective way that we can observe and learn about psychological disorders is through movies. “Mommie Dearest” was directed by Frank Perry. It is centered around the actress Joan Crawford, who suffered from various psychological disorders. Joan’s daughter, Christina, wrote a book about her mother and her many problems and it was later turned into a movie. It is very effective to use movie analysis as a way of learning, especially in psychology, because it provides a great way to observe without distractions. When you’re looking at disorders, it’s difficult to find a person who has many of these disorders and will allow you to observe them. Psychological disorders can be split into two major groups, personality disorders and mood disorders. Personality disorders are patterns of traits that can get in the way of your social or work life and may interrupt the individual’s normal lifestyle. Mood disorders are inconsistent and unreliable changes in mood by the affected individual. (Rathus, 1998). With all of this being said, it brings me to my point that I will be talking about for the rest of this essay. Joan Crawford demonstrates the personality disorders of histrionic, narcissism, and OCPD. When it comes to mood disorders, Joan demonstrates bipolar disorder.

Individuals with this disorder are usually needy for attention, social contact, and appraisement. This should not be confused with dependent personality style, which is healthy . Dependent personality disorder is a pathological version of the dependent personality style. It occurs after a triggering event and is a maladaptive response. Those with dependent personality disorder have submissive personalities, try to minimize difficulties, think uncritically, and in turn are susceptible to suggestibility. They look for a great deal of advice. In relationships, their behavior is self-sacrificing and constantly requires the reassurance of others, leading to subtle reliance for others to take responsibility in major areas of their life. They have problems starting tasks and sticking to them on their own, but are able to do this for others if assigned to them. Because of these attributes, they avoid positions of leadership. Their emotional style is

A personality disorder is characterized by a distinct pattern of behavior that does not meet normal standards of behavior within one’s culture. This pattern is ingrained as the norm to the person affected, and the characteristics of the affected person deviate markedly from societal standards (Hebblethwaite, 2009). The two main features that help to identify a personality disorder are chronic interpersonal difficulties and persons with one’s identity or sense of self (Livesly, 2001). Within this set of mental health disorders lie several other subsets, including one of the most prominent personality disorders - Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). BPD is a severe, long-lasting disorder that has an incidence of occurrence approximately equal to that of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia combined (Grant, Chou, Goldstein et al., 2008). BPD also puts those affected at risk for damage in many areas of their life if not properly diagnosed and treated, including personal relationships, school, work, and self-imagine. Furthermore, this disorder has a high co-morbidity with other disorders such as depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, and social phobia, among many more (Hebblethwaite, 2009). Misdiagnosis of borderline personality disorder can have serious clinical implications. This paper looks to identify the risk factors associated with BPD, the affects on various aspects of the person’s life, treatments, and give recommendations as to how to properly identify and

We’ve all experienced the feeling that we’ve moved into a different life, dissociation from reality, just mild like when we daydream, delve into a good book or become engrossed with a project. But then after that, we do still come back to reality. However, some people are diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder or the popular multiple personality disorder (MPD). This differ from mild dissociation that all of us commonly experience. People who have this live a fairly complicated life. Sadly, people who have this experience traumatic physical, sexual or emotional abuse during their childhood.

This disorder occurs in most by early adulthood. The unstable pattern of interacting with others persists for years and is usually closely related to the person’s self-image and early social interactions. The pattern is present in a variety of settings, and often is accompanied by a similar fluctuation in a person’s emotions and feelings. Relationships and the person’s emotion may often be characterized as being shallow. People with BPD often have odd thinking and

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental health disorder that cause changes in the mood and behavior of a person. According to www.mhhe.com, traits of BPD would be “self-destruction behaviors, fear of abandonment, and mood shifts.” People suffering from BPD has symptoms and problem with regulating emotions (intense mood swings), low self-worth, aggressive behavior, and a fear of abandonment (being left behind). It has been found that BPD has vague symptoms that is based on a wide collection. The cause of BPD are not well understood, but some psychoanalytic believe the symptoms come from poor care taking during childhood.

Histrionic personality disorder, which is a part of cluster B of personality disorders, is classified by an extreme desire for attention. In order for a person to be diagnosed with it, they must exhibit at least 5 of the symptoms in DSM-5, which include awkward social encounters, shallow expression of emotions, talking in a way that lacks details, theatrical acts, and finding relationships more intimate that they actually are (Kupfer & Skodol 667). Personality disorders as a whole are characterized by lasting behaviors that inhibit normal social functioning (Myers 596). Histrionic personality disorder specifically however is the one where people need to get attention. They make all their relationships about themselves and look to have social events focus on them more than others. While it can seem that many people have it, especially since it is sometimes referred to as the “teenage girl syndrome”, it is only seen in about 1.84% of people (Kupfer & Skodol 668). This disorder is commonly treated through cognitive-behavioral therapy which aims to change people's negative thoughts as well as behaviors. For people with histrionic personality disorder, understanding why they think the way they do as well as learning coping mechanisms can help their alter their behaviors that were formerly socially

Key factors of this diagnosis include the definition of a personality disorder: a persistent pattern of maladaptive behavior that causes dysfunction in relationships or at work. NPD is also very common is serial killers. Other characteristics of this diagnosis include: requiring constant admiration, having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others, and also behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner.

(j) My critique of the source material the research only focused mainly of the internal state the involved BPD, although some environmental influences where mention.

The three main clusters of personality disorders are odd and eccentric behavior, dramatic, emotional or erratic behavior, and anxious and fearful behavior. Cluster A, Odd and eccentric behavior are personality disorders characterized by social awkwardness and social withdrawal. These disorders show a stable pattern of remarkably unusual behavior and are commonly characterized by distorted thinking. An example is Paranoid Personality Disorder which is characterized by a pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of other people. Next cluster B is dramatic, emotional, or erratic behaviors and these disorders are characterized by shared problems with impulse control and emotional regulation. An example is Antisocial Personality Disorder which is characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for the rights of other people that often manifests as hostility and/or aggression. Lastly, Cluster C is anxious and fearful behavior and these personality disorders are share a high level of anxiety and represent range of symptoms for abnormal manifestations of apprehensiveness, timid, or frightened behavior. An example is Avoidant Personality Disorder which is characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and a hypersensitivity to negative evaluation. People with this disorder are intensely afraid that others will ridicule them, reject them, or criticize them.

Individuals with dependent personality disorder (DPD) shows an extreme need to be taken care of, which leads to clinging and submissive behavior (Hooley, p.365). They are scared to be alone and usually build their lives around other people and subordinate themselves to them. They tend to be

b.People with these disorders also have difficulty forming relationships because they aren’t able to cope with emotional or professional stress which causes them to tune out, or disappear, which may make them seem unreliable.

With BPD there are often extremes in beliefs and views, such as all good or all bad. People with BPD are can be uncertain about whom they truly are as a person. With no self sense, interests and values may conflict as well as change rapidly. Their views of others may also change quickly. One day a certain person may be admired. The next day that same person may be despised or hated. Suddenly shifting feelings often foster relationships that are unstable and intense. There are numerous other identifiable traits someone with BPD may display. Some of these symptoms may include fear abandonment, feelings of emptiness and boredom, frequent displays of inappropriate anger, destructive impulsiveness, intolerance of being alone, as well as repeated self crises (i.e. self injury).