Histrionic Personality Disorder - How to deal with these types?

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness

Boderlines and Histrionics drive therapists crazy. Call all hours of the day and night with crises, drama, suicide threats, etc. (And they are "mandatory reporters" so it presents a problem - as an aside, I find it interesting the suicide hotlines are not mandatory reporters but you can't even mention suicidal ideation to some therapists without them freaking out - and ideation is different than planning and doing for the majority of the population).

Originally Posted by jencam

After now having dealt with it in my personal life, I can tell I would not want to either. They'd manipulate ME. Bless those who are able and willing. I'm sure SOME find a degree of help. Perhaps many that are not at the top of the scale.

Originally Posted by Vasily

I worked with a guy who was finishing his internship for his doctorate in clinical psych, and he just LOVED getting referrals for borderlines and histrionics. Takes all kinds - I personally couldn't do it.

I'd imagine working with these people on a professional level takes an enormous amount of patience and astuteness. I certainly wouldn't be able to do it.

[Lodestar]

I thought of something I'd like to add.


I have had a lot of practice with detachment and have learned many tricks to deflect, distract, engage in more comfortable ways. But.


There are some people with whom these things don't work for me. It's not always because they are closer to me though usually that's the case. It seems usually family members or people with whom I've had long-term relationships can be the most difficult. (I'm reminded of a saying - "Your mother can always push your buttons because she's the one who put them there." LOL)


When people get to know us well, if they are sensitive, they can also figure out what irritates us most. Fortunately most of us have sense enough to make long-term friends kind enough to not plague us like this.


So, then, those people that "get to me," what's the deal with that? It can seem so random and if I knew I could use my handy-dandy bag of tricks to disengage. But no such luck.


I suspect they represent as yet undiscovered parts of my development that are still to be addressed. I pay attention but am usually puzzled. It you don't recognize what it is you can't work on it.


I'm a work in progress. I guess that's a good thing; never reaching perfection means never getting bored.

[mondayafternoons]

Originally Posted by Aredhel

Realistically, the only personality disorder that sometimes improves with therapy is Borderline Personality Disorder. The others generally don’t (which makes sense when you realize that therapy can make a person feel very uncomfortable, and that the majority of people suffering from personality disorders don’t believe there is anything wrong with them, so why would they agree to suffer the discomfort of therapy?).

It’s not impossible that the OP’s relative might some day change for the better, but the odds are against it. So the OP needs to learn effective ways to deal with that relative as she currently is, rather than hoping that some day she might improve.

This may be because there are mental health professionals who do not believe borderline is a personality disorder but rather, a type of mood dysregulation largely caused by trauma in childhood. There is enough of a rift in the mental health community regarding this to constitute what is a valid question on whether it truly is a pd or a mood/ trauma disorder. A couple of the reasons for this question is that unlike other personality disorders, bpd appears to have a very strong hereditary link, and there is a high incidence of childhood trauma in those who exhibit bpd type symptoms. There is a wave in the mental health community to change the label to mood/ emotional dysregulation disorder because of the belief that it is essentially a mood disorder and not a pd.

Thats true what you write that other types of personality disorders do not respond to treatment- for example narcissistic pd which has a total lack of ability to empathize along with grandiosity does not respond to treatment- also due to the fact that a person who is actually a narcissist wouldn't even consider the possibility they need to change anything.

[Aredhel]

Originally Posted by mondayafternoons

This may be because there are mental health professionals who do not believe borderline is a personality disorder but rather, a type of mood dysregulation largely caused by trauma in childhood. There is enough of a rift in the mental health community regarding this to constitute what is a valid question on whether it truly is a pd or a mood/ trauma disorder. A couple of the reasons for this question is that unlike other personality disorders, bpd appears to have a very strong hereditary link, and there is a high incidence of childhood trauma in those who exhibit bpd type symptoms. There is a wave in the mental health community to change the label to mood/ emotional dysregulation disorder because of the belief that it is essentially a mood disorder and not a pd.

That could be. It may also be because Borderline Personality Disorder (unlike the other personality disorders) is actually painful to the person who has it. When something hurts, a person has some motivation to fix the problem that's causing the pain, even if this might require doing things (like undergoing surgery, or in this case mental health therapy) that may increase the pain in the short-term in order to achieve long-term relief.

Whatever the reason, it's interesting! (And a source of hope for those who suffer from BPD, and for those who love them. It's a bad diagnosis to have, but it's not a hopeless one. Borderlines can get better!)

We know so little - not just about BPD, but about personality disorders in general.

[mondayafternoons]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

What's that supposed to mean? Playing god and amateur psychiatrist?

I don't know about the God part but yea, laypeople can't diagnose people medically and that's been mentioned a few times here-- it's a waste of time since we already know that's for psychiatrists or therapists to do in person in meeting with and evaluating a person

[hopefulone]

Originally Posted by senmurv

Run.

Far, far away.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by mondayafternoons

...unlike other personality disorders, bpd appears to have a very strong hereditary link, and there is a high incidence of childhood trauma in those who exhibit bpd type symptoms.

ALL personality disorders develop as a result of childhood trauma. The particular personality disorder is the adaptation to the trauma, which is influenced by the child's personality.

Most personality disordered individuals do not respond well to therapy, for a variety of reasons that have been discussed. One of the reasons that there has been success with treating Borderline personality disorder is because of the effectiveness of DBT, Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

Originally Posted by mondayafternoons

Thats true what you write that other types of personality disorders do not respond to treatment- for example narcissistic pd which has a total lack of ability to empathize along with grandiosity does not respond to treatment- also due to the fact that a person who is actually a narcissist wouldn't even consider the possibility they need to change anything.

Few people with a personality disorder believe that anything is wrong with them. Their personality disorder is what has allowed them to survive in their world; they (logically) see no reason to change their behavior.