Histrionic personality disorder reddit


I have histrionic personality disorder : depression

I have histrionic personality disorder. I have almost every symptom.

  1. Without being aware of it, they often act out a role (e.g., "victim" or "princess") in their relationships to others. They may seek to control their partner through emotional manipulation or seductiveness on one level, whereas displaying a marked dependency on them at another level.

  2.  Is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the center of attention 
  3.  Interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior 
  4.  Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions 
  5.  Consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to themself 
  6.  Shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion 
  7.  Is highly suggestible, i.e., easily influenced by others or circumstances 
  8.  Considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are 
  9.  Constantly seek reassurance or approval 
  10.  Be gullible and easily influenced by others 
  11.  Be excessively sensitive to criticism or disapproval 
  12.  Have a low tolerance for frustration and be easily bored by routine, often beginning projects without finishing them or skipping from one event to another 
  13.  Not think before acting 
  14.  Make rash decisions 
  15.  Have difficulty maintaining relationships, often seeming fake or shallow in their dealings with others 
  16.  Threaten or attempt suicide to get attention 

I used to think I was totally normal and would be thankful I came out unharmed from all the abuse I endured as a child. My moms boyfriend would always physically abuse us and I remember countless nights where I would wake up in the middle of the night to her screaming and crying running around the house while he chased her. She would forgive him by the time the police came. Every time. I was not ever sexually abused but we were poor back then and we all lived in one room together and they would always have sex right next to me or he would watch porn while I was in the room during the day. The weekly visits to my dads were hell since she would always have to trick me into going there. They would get me upstairs and by the time I came back down, she was gone. Then I would cry and my dad would beat me senseless for crying about my mother. My dad is also mentally ill and has been divorced four times. I have a great relationship with my parents now but both of them pretend like they never once hit me or anything. My moms exboyfriend once also stalked me at summer school and would drag me out of class to try to convince me he was actually my dad.

I have been involved with 50+ (dating, hookups, etc) men in the past year. This is honestly not by choice. I just can’t stand being alone and as a result I’ve turned into a serial dater as none of these relationships ever go farther than I hope. I get bored very easily and I am extremely spontaneous in the worst ways possible (I once bought a ticket to see a guy on the other side of the world but by that time our relationship had faded out and I never even saw him while I was there.) I’ve been known to get an idea to move somewhere and then actually move there with little regard to the consequences. I justify this by thinking I’m a person of their word but I seem to have a justification for everything. I’ve suffered through anorexia, bulimia, and I have been a compulsive eater for the past six years. Everyday is a struggle for me.

I am extremely depressed. I have attempted suicide once. I’ve gone through date rapes and an abortion (unrelated to the date rape) which only furthered my depression. I am extremely violent and abusive in relationships both mentally and physically. I’ve busted the lips of two guys I’ve dated. I will insult them to no end and make them feel worthless all while being completely dependent on them. I’ve cheated on every guy I’ve been in a relationship with. I’ve dated guys twice my age, married men, men in relationships, etc etc.

I have no female friends but one. I’ve had many female friends in the past but ever since I was a kid, it would be a new best friend a year. For some reason the past three female friends I’ve had have all become total whores and became prostitutes, strippers, and porn stars. Women hate me. Everyones wife/girlfriend/babymama are convinced I’m trying to steal their man which is rarely the case.

I realize this post is crazy long and I don’t know if anyone will actually read it but its nice to get it all out. I know how this post makes me look so I’m hoping you can read it with an open mind.

Borderline Personality Disorder vs.

Bipolar Disorder

Written by Mary Jo DiLonardo

In this Article

  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality and bipolar: These two disorders are often confused. They both have symptoms of impulsiveness and mood swings. But they are different disorders and have different treatments.

Bipolar Disorder

Also known as manic depression, bipolar disorder causes swings in mood, energy, and the ability to function throughout the day.

Symptoms: Bipolar disorder is defined by alternating periods of depression and mania that can last from days to months. Unlike borderline personality disorder, the mood swings of bipolar disorder are not triggered by interpersonal conflicts, last for days to weeks or months rather than minutes to hours, and episodes are, by definition, accompanied by changes in sleep, energy, speech, and thinking

During times of mania, symptoms might include:

  • An excessively happy or angry, irritated mood
  • More physical and mental energy and activity than normal
  • Racing thoughts and ideas
  • Talking more and faster
  • Making big plans
  • Risk taking
  • Impulsiveness (substance abuse, sex, spending, etc. )
  • Less sleep, but no feeling of being tired
  • Poor judgement

During periods of depression, symptoms might include:

  • Drop in energy
  • Lasting sadness
  • Less activity and energy
  • Restlessness and irritability
  • Problems concentrating and making decisions
  • Worry and anxiety
  • No interest in favorite activities
  • Feelings of guilt and hopelessness; suicidal thoughts
  • Change in appetite or sleep patterns

Treatment: Most people with bipolar disorder need lifelong treatment to keep their condition managed. This usually includes medicine -- usually mood stabilizers, and sometimes also antipsychotics or antidepressants. Therapy can also help people with bipolar disorder understand it and develop skills to handle it.

Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder involves a longstanding pattern of abrupt, moment-to-moment swings -- in moods, relationships, self-image, and behavior (in contrast to distinct episodes of mania or depression in people with bipolar disorder) that are usually triggered by conflicts in interactions with other people.  People with borderline personality disorder can experience overly strong emotional responses to upsetting life events and often try to hurt themselves. They often have chaotic relationships with people.

People with borderline personality disorder are more likely to have other mental health problems, too. They are also more likely to have had some type of trauma as a child than people with bipolar disorder, although trauma in itself does not cause borderline personality disorder.  They often also can have problems with addictions, eating disorders, body image, and anxiety.

Symptoms: A person with borderline personality disorder has trouble controlling their thoughts and managing their feelings, and often has impulsive and reckless behavior. Here are the condition's main symptoms:

  • Frantic efforts to avoid feeling abandoned
  • History of unstable, intense relationships
  • Tendency to view people and situations as either "all good" or "all bad"
  • Poor self-image
  • Impulsiveness (spending, sex, substance abuse, etc. )
  • Self-harm (e.g., cutting) or suicidal behavior
  • Mood swings involving anger and depression, usually in response to stressful events or relationships
  • Feelings of emptiness
  • Problems managing anger and unpleasant emotions
  • Paranoia

Treatment: Long-term  treatment is usually necessary for people with borderline personality disorder. Treatment mainly involves specific forms of psychotherapy, such as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) or transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) aimed at helping people manage impulses (such as suicidal urges or tendencies to self-harm when they feel upset), feelings of distress or anger, and emotional oversensitivity to interactions with other people.  Medications are also sometimes used to help with these symptoms, although they are not always effective and not considered to be the main focus of treatment in borderline personality disorder.  Sometimes, short hospital stays are also needed to manage times of crisis that involve threats to safety and well-being.

Hysterical personality disorder - treatment of hysteroid disorders in the Allianz Central Medical Health Center

Hysterical (hysterical) personality disorder is one of the variants of personality disorder (the obsolete name is “psychopathy”), characterized, along with the common features for this group, by the following distinctive features:

  • strong desire to be the center of attention. Situations where they are deprived of this attention cause severe discomfort, up to the appearance of various physical ailments;
  • theatricality of behavior: dramatization of events, pretentiousness of speech and gestures, hypertrophied manifestation of emotions;
  • increased suggestibility: easily influenced by other people or situations;
  • superficiality and lability of emotional experiences, frequent mood swings;
  • extreme preoccupation with their appearance. Physical attractiveness is another way for them to get attention;
  • inadequate assessment of the degree of closeness of relationships with other people (they consider relationships closer than they really are), as well as frequent provocative behavior aimed at seduction.

Symptoms

Extreme emotional variability and sensitivity, combined with an all-encompassing thirst for attention, form the core of this pathology.

People with hysterical personality disorder are very much like actors who live for praise and applause. Alternative names: theatrical, histrionic (from the Latin histrio - “actor”) disorder, reflect its essence. It was previously thought that women were more susceptible to this pathology, however, recent studies have shown that it occurs with the same frequency in men and women.

People with histrionic personality disorder often resort to various types of manipulative behavior to quench their thirst for attention. These can be both the aforementioned dramatic and theatrical speech and gestures, extravagant appearance and clothing, as well as more serious, even potentially dangerous options, such as demonstrative suicide attempts or simulation of somatic diseases.

Despite the brightness of the symptoms of hysteroid disorder, an important component of the differential diagnosis is the exclusion or detection of a real concomitant somatic or mental pathology.

Important

To conduct a competent differential diagnosis, you need to contact a specialist, otherwise there is a high risk of missing a concomitant disease and undergoing unnecessary medical examinations and procedures.

Treatment and prognosis

The prognosis for hysterical personality disorder is usually favorable - it is possible to achieve stable and long-term compensation.

Correction is easier in individuals whose hysterical manifestations are concentrated mainly in the sphere of physical sensations and ailments (a hysterical lump in the throat, trembling in the whole body or in separate parts, numbness and other disturbances of sensitivity, etc.). With adequate treatment, such people become well adapted socially and professionally by adulthood, although there are still noticeable elements of theatricality in their appearance, speech and gestures.

It must be emphasized that in this disorder, it is often not a true simulation of symptoms, in which the simulator lies about his malaise, but the result of the peculiarities of perception and thinking of a hysteroid personality. With this disorder, part of what is happening (external events or internal sensations) is perceived especially sharply, and part is only superficial or even escapes attention. In combination with the rich imagination inherent in people of this type, this leads to the fact that in places they blur the line between reality and fantasy. As a result, certain physical symptoms appear, which are not the fruit of true simulation, i.e. deliberate deception. A person really believes that the symptoms he produces are a manifestation of a real disease beyond his control.

The prognosis becomes less certain if the symptomatology is dominated by pathological fantasizing (pseudology), which manifests itself in telling a lot of invented facts about oneself, designed to impress listeners with the extraordinary significance and uniqueness of the narrator. Such people lie about themselves relentlessly and almost constantly, sometimes senselessly, even though it is obvious that they will be exposed. Often, pathological liars, possessing outstanding acting talent, resort to criminal activity - all kinds of fraud options.

Due to the peculiarities of the psyche, self-seeking for medical help is quite common for people with hysterical personality disorder. Treatment of this pathology, first of all, occurs by methods of psychotherapy. The most commonly used areas are: psychoanalysis, cognitive, psychodynamic and group psychotherapy. Drug treatment is used only in individual cases and is auxiliary.

The Alliance mental health center employs qualified psychotherapists who have effective methods for diagnosing and treating hysterical personality disorder. Our specialists have many years of successful experience in this field, individually and carefully approach the management of each case, which allows us to get a positive effect from the treatment in the shortest possible time and improve the patient's quality of life.

People with histrionic personality disorder are bright, emotionally charged and attention-hungry individuals. Resorting to various manipulations, they themselves are often used by others because of their suggestibility and desire to please. Tireless actors, they often lose the line between reality and fantasy. In a state of mental compensation, they manage to achieve a high level of social and professional adaptation and lead an active lifestyle.

FGBNU NTsPZ. ‹‹Borderline mental disorders››

Hysterical personality disorder, or hysterical type of psychopathy. Hysterical reactions (stigmas, fainting, etc.) and other forms of hysterical behavior (extravagance, a tendency to dramatize trivial situations, the desire to be in the spotlight), characteristic of this type of psychopathy, are quite widespread and are often observed in psychopathic personalities of other types with the development of neurotic reactions or reactive psychoses. Hysterical psychopathy is characterized not only by psychogenic hysterical reactions and behaviors, but also by a certain personality type. These people are internally empty, sometimes empty and even miserable; external impressions play the greatest role in the balance of their mental life. They do not have their own opinion, their own established views on life; their judgments lack maturity, seriousness, and depth. Their behavior is not dictated by internal motives, but is calculated for an external effect. The desire to attract attention to oneself, the "thirst for recognition", a tendency to imitate, fiction and fantasies, capriciousness are noted in tantrums even in the preschool period. In adolescence and youth, along with this, their egocentrism, disorganization, a tendency to frivolous acts, wastefulness, and various adventures come out more clearly. They are incapable of systematic, hard work, prefer amateurish activity when choosing their occupation and succumb to tasks that require perseverance, thorough knowledge and solid professional training. Most of all, they like an idle life with external, ostentatious splendor, various entertainments, and frequent changes of impressions. They willingly and selflessly perform the rituals of festivities and banquets, strive to follow fashion in everything, attend successful performances, “idolize” popular artists, discuss sensational books, etc.

For the most part, they are gullible, easily attached to people. At the same time, a tendency to eroticize interpersonal relationships is often found [Yakubik A., 1982]; quickly fall in love, starting numerous, often short-lived novels, accompanied at first by violent manifestations of feelings. However, being fickle in their hobbies, they cool down just as quickly. In more rare cases, persistent ecstatic attachments are formed, which are formed according to the type of overvalued formations [Dubnitskaya E. B., 1979; Filts A. O., 1987].

As K. Jaspers (1923) points out, one of the main properties of hysterics is the desire to appear larger than they really are, to experience more than they are able to survive. Some try to emphasize their talent, while operating with very superficial information from various fields of science and art, others exaggerate their social position, hinting at close ties with high-ranking officials; others, without stinting on promises, talk about their vast possibilities, which in fact turn out to be the fruit of their rich imagination. Hysterics use everything possible to be in the spotlight: eccentricity in clothing, “flashy” forms of external behavior, unusual actions that contrast with generally accepted views, allegedly mysterious symptoms of an unknown illness, fainting, etc.

A feature of the hysterical psyche is also the absence of clear boundaries between the products of one's own imagination and reality. Focusing on this property, P. B. Gannushkin emphasizes that the real world for a person with a hysterical psyche acquires a peculiar bizarre shape; the objective criterion for him is lost, which often gives those around him a reason to accuse such a person, at best, of lying and pretense. The hysteric perceives the processes in his own body and his own psyche in the same way. Some experiences completely escape his attention, while others, on the contrary, are evaluated extremely thinly. Because of the brightness of some images and ideas and the pallor of others, a person with a hysterical mentality very often does not see the difference between fantasy and reality, between what happened in reality and what was seen in a dream, or, more precisely, is not able to do it.

The prognosis for hysterical psychopathy in general cannot be considered unfavorable. In adulthood, with good social conditions and a working environment, in most cases, long-term and stable compensation is possible [Semke V. Ya., 1988]. During this period, the pathocharacterological structure of hysterical psychopathy largely coincides with the accentuated personalities of the “demonstrative” type described by K. Leonhard (1968). Compensated hysterical psychopathic personalities are infantile, youthfully graceful, with emphasized plasticity and expressiveness of movements. Among them there are people with a certain stage talent, artistic natures, but also poseurs and "dandies", dressed with exaggerated elegance. With age, they become smoother and more serious, acquire the necessary labor skills, but the elements of theatricality in behavior remain; First of all, this is reflected in the ability to make a good, favorable impression for oneself, to arouse sympathy, and if necessary, sympathy. Most fully in hysterical psychopathy, compensation processes occur in the case of a predominance of psychopathic manifestations of a tendency to various autonomic and hysterical paroxysms (spasms, a feeling of suffocation during excitement, globus hystericus, nausea, vomiting, aphonia, tremor of the fingers, numbness of the extremities and other sensitivity disorders). Already by the age of 30-35, such psychopathic personalities are sufficiently adapted to the real situation, they can correct their behavior. In life, these are emphasized obligatory people, diligent, successfully coping with their professional duties, maintaining fairly strong family ties. However, with such variants of hysterical psychopathy, the risk of decompensation at involutionary age is more likely, which is often associated with a deterioration in the somatic condition (hypertension, coronary artery disease and other diseases) and menopause. Manifestations of decompensation (usually in the form of emotional instability, violent hysterical reactions and paroxysms) in more severe cases correspond to the clinic of involutional hysteria [Geyer T. I., 1925]. Along with increasing depression, asthenia, tearfulness, anxious fears for one's health, more persistent hypochondriacal symptoms, accompanied by various algias, conversion and vegetative disorders, may come to the fore.

The prognosis is less favorable in the case of a predominance in the structure of the hysterical personality of a tendency to pathological fantasizing. Such psychopathic personalities are distinguished by some authors into a separate group - pathological swindlers and pseudologists according to A. Delbruck (1891), mythomaniacs according to E. Durpe (1909), liars and deceivers according to E. Kraepelin (1915), pathological liars according to P. B. Gannushkin (1964). These people lie from a young age, sometimes without any reason or meaning. Some get so used to the situations created by their imagination that they themselves believe in them. Some can enthusiastically talk about journeys into the remote taiga as part of a geological expedition in which they have never participated; others, having no medical education, describe as if they performed complex surgical operations. Fantasies sometimes turn into self-incrimination with confessions to fictional crimes and even murders. Decompensation, usually quite frequent, occurs either already in the school years, or somewhat later, with the transition to independent activity. For the first time after starting a job or moving to a new place, they impress others as thoughtful, conscientious, enterprising, gifted specialists. However, their complete failure is soon discovered. They are extremely frivolous about the assigned work, incapable of systematic work, instead of real problems, they are busy with fantastic fictions. Compared to ordinary hysterics, as G. E. Sukhareva points out, pseudologists are more active in their desire to realize their plans. It's not always an innocent lie. More often, certain selfish goals are pursued, which leads to a collision with the law. A motley gallery of petty swindlers, soothsayers, marriage swindlers, charlatans posing as doctors, or extortionists who accept valuable gifts and cash advances for services that they can never provide is formed from among the pseudologists.

Some taxonomies (DSM-IV) distinguish narcissistic personality disorders, having in common with hysterical psychopathy. The definition of "narcissus" goes back to Greek mythology (Narcissus fell in love 1 with his own reflection in the water and died while trying to hug him). Conceptualization of the concept "narcissistic" belongs to Z. Freud. Later, the concept of narcissism developed in the context of psychoanalytic research. The term "narcissistic personality disorder" was introduced by H. Kohut in 1968. Narcissistic and hysterical personality disorder bring together the features of demonstrativeness, a tendency to dramatize, a thirst for recognition, but significant differences are also found. Narcissistic personalities are characterized by pathological ambition, conceit, arrogance, a sense of superiority over others. "Narcissists" are always confident in their significance, correctness, cannot stand criticism, tend to exaggerate their knowledge and achievements (narcissistic falsification of reality according to H.


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