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The need to be on everyone's lips and overkill in certain behaviors are not only a feature of some celebrities, but also a disorder found in patients with histrionic personality. People with histrionic personality disorders draw attention to themselves through their theatrical behavior, but also through exaggerated seductiveness or exceptionally strong emphasis on their physical attractiveness. Learn how to recognize the histrionic personality.

Among the various personality disorders, medical classifications (both ICD-10 and DSM-5) distinguishhistrionic personality(histrionic personality disorder). According to the available statistics, up to 3% of the representatives of the human population meet the histrionic personality criteria. This type of personality disorder is much more common in women - according to some authors, up to 2/3 of all patients with histrionic personality are representatives of this gender.

Histrionic personality: how to recognize it?

Patients withhistrionic personality disorderdefinitely stand out in their environment. Their behavior can be downright theatrical and they have one goal - to attract the attention of other people to a patient with a histrionic personality. These patients constantly try to be the center of attention of those around them, because when this does not happen, they simply experience various degrees of discomfort.

The mentioned theatricality may be noticeable in behavior - the way of expressing oneself, which is usually extremely emotional and full of emotional statements, may attract attention. Patients' stories can be full of momentous content, suggesting experiencing unusual events - it can be especially noticeable when the patient talks about himself as an extraordinary person. Excessive gesticulation can also arouse interest. Patients with histrionic personality disorder may try to gain attention not only through their behavior, but even through their clothing.

A person with a histrionic personality may experience various problems in contacts with other people. Their source may be that in the case of these personality disorders, patients may very quickly exceed the interpersonal distance, which may occur even in the case of acquaintance withstrangers to them. Patients may often overestimate their relationships with the environment - they can very quickly define someone they have just met as a close acquaintance or even a friend. In addition, the behavior of people with histrionic personality is often described as seductive or even sexually provocative. Such behavior can be presented by the patient almost everywhere, both in relation to his life partner, but also in relation to his household members or co-workers.

In the course of histrionic personality disorders, the emotionality of the patients may also draw attention. Their emotionality is usually shallow and very changeable, in addition, the emotions they experience can be very extreme, and patients can quickly develop completely alternating emotional states.

At the center of the various problems associated with the histrionic personality is the already mentioned need to be the center of attention. This can lead to different behaviors, for example a patient with a histrionic personality can very easily give up his views and approve of completely different opinions that really belong to his environment. This behavior is to please other people.

Histrionic personality: causes

So far, it has not been possible to clearly establish the factors responsible for the emergence of histrionic personality disorders in patients. It takes into account the possibility that the increased susceptibility to the problem may result from inheriting certain genes - it is noticeable that histrionic personality is more common in those people whose families have already suffered from this personality disorder.

Problems experienced by the patient during his childhood and adolescence may also be a potential cause of histrionic personality. Phenomena that may be associated with the development of these personality disorders include, inter alia, parents 'indiscrimination towards the child, but also rewarding only those offspring's behaviors that fully meet the parents' expectations. Yet another aspect that is considered a possible cause of histrionic personality disorder is the failure to develop (during adolescence) the correct mechanisms of responding to stress.

Histrionic personality: comorbid problems

Patients often have other mental he alth problems associated with their histrionic personality. Among the most common in people with histrionic personality disorder, the following can be mentioned:

  • other personality disorders (e.g. narcissistic personality,borderline personality or dependent personality disorder),
  • mood disorders (e.g. depression),
  • anxiety disorders,
  • anorexia,
  • substance abuse.

Histrionic personality: healing methods

The treatment of histrionic personality disorders mainly includes psychotherapy. Among the various psychotherapeutic interactions, the techniques of psychodynamic psychotherapy are of particular importance in people with histrionic personality.

Pharmacotherapy is not the primary method of treating histrionic personality disorder. Patients are usually given drugs only when they develop mental he alth problems other than personality disorders. Symptoms, e.g. depression or some type of anxiety disorder (e.g. panic disorder) may make a patient recommend pharmacological treatment. However, it is emphasized that drugs should be prescribed very carefully to patients with histrionic personality disorder. This is due to the fact that - as it has been emphasized many times - these people want to be constantly in the center of attention, which means that they are at risk of, for example, misusing drugs in order to attract the attention of their environment.

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Category:

Psychiatry