Introduction: Some people always like to express themselves in front of others, no matter what method they use. They may suffer from a psychological problem called histrionic personality disorder. This problem will affect their normal life and social interaction. This article will introduce you to the definition, manifestations and treatment of histrionic personality disorder.
What is histrionic personality disorder?
Some people always like to express themselves in front of others, whether they use exaggerated expressions, words or actions, or use alarmism, sensationalism or self-harm and suicide. Their purpose is to attract other people’s attention and make themselves the center of attention. These people may suffer from a psychological problem called histrionic personality disorder.
Histrionic personality disorder is also known by other names, such as hysterical personality disorder, attention-seeking personality disorder, or infantile personality disorder. These names reflect the main characteristics of this personality disorder: excessive emotionality, exaggerated words and deeds, and immature personality.
What is the relationship between histrionic personality disorder and hysteria? Hysteria is a neurosis characterized by physical symptoms that have no apparent cause, such as blindness, voicelessness, or paralysis. In the past, it was thought that hysteria and histrionic personality disorder were the same problem, just in different degrees. But later, clinical observation found that not all patients with hysteria have histrionic personality traits, and not all patients with histrionic personality will develop hysterical symptoms. Therefore, most experts now tend to distinguish between histrionic personality disorder and hysteria.
According to foreign reports, the prevalence of histrionic personality disorder among adults is approximately 2.2%, with women twice as likely as men. The formation of this personality disorder may be related to childhood trauma, family environment, cultural background and other factors. Histrionic personality disorder usually begins to appear in adolescence. If it is not treated and adjusted in time, it will affect a person’s normal life and social interaction. However, as age increases, some patients will gradually become more mature, and their symptoms will be relieved after middle age.
What are the typical manifestations of histrionic personality disorder?
If you want to know whether you or someone around you has histrionic personality disorder, you can refer to the following aspects:
- Exaggerated Expressions: They like to use exaggerated facial expressions or body language to express their emotions, as if they are acting. They don’t feel deeply about themselves or others, just for effect.
- High suggestibility: They are easily influenced or induced by others and have no opinions or judgments of their own. They also like to use suggestive or teasing ways to attract others to be interested in them.
- Self-centered: They always put themselves first and ask others to fulfill their needs or desires. If rejected or ignored, they may become angry or dissatisfied, and may even seek revenge or cause trouble.
- Desire for Praise and Sympathy: They often hope to receive praise and care from others, and exaggerate their achievements or experiences to attract others’ attention. Their moods fluctuate easily, from happy to sad.
- Thrill-seeking: They like to participate in various social activities and pursue new and exciting things, regardless of the consequences. They are also prone to addiction to alcohol, drugs or sex to satisfy their desires.
- Needs Attention: They need constant attention from others, otherwise they will feel bored or empty. In order to attract attention, they do not hesitate to do some extreme or outrageous things, such as sensationalism, alarmism, self-harm and suicide, etc. They also go overboard in appearance and behavior to attract attention from others.
- Intense and Changeable Emotional Responses: Their emotional responses are strong but also change easily. They judge whether things are good or bad based solely on their feelings, without logic or reason. Their attitudes towards others are also very unstable, sometimes getting close to them and sometimes becoming distant.
- Exaggerated speech: They like to exaggerate when speaking, mixed with fantasy plots, lacking specific real details, and difficult to verify. They also like to make up stories or lies to attract the interest or sympathy of others.
If you meet three or more of the above eight aspects, you may be diagnosed with histrionic personality disorder.
How to treat and adjust for histrionic personality disorder?
Histrionic personality disorder is a difficult psychological problem to treat because patients often don’t think they have a problem or are unwilling to change their behavior. However, if the patient can actively seek professional help and cooperate with the therapist for psychological treatment and behavioral adjustment, it is still possible to improve his condition. Here are some common treatments and adjustments:
- Cognitive Insight Therapy: This method helps patients analyze their inner conflicts and contradictions by guiding patients to review their growth experiences and influencing factors, allowing patients to re-understand and explore their true self. Through this method, patients can gradually develop a rational understanding and understanding of themselves, others and the environment, thereby making their personality mature and develop, and gradually replace naive and primitive reactions with mature and constructive attitudes.
- Reasonable Emotional Therapy: This method is to educate patients on how to deal with their emotions and behaviors correctly and choose a more appropriate response when facing specific stressful situations. This method can help patients reduce irrational emotional outbursts and chaotic behaviors, and improve patients’ ability to communicate and get along with others.
- Crisis Intervention: This method is to provide timely intervention and rescue when a patient threatens or acts of self-harm or suicide to prevent the patient from causing serious physical or psychological harm. This approach requires the therapist to identify the patient’s danger signs as early as possible and establish a trusting and cooperative relationship with the patient to help the patient relieve his emotions and stress and find healthier ways of coping.
In addition to the above treatment methods, patients can also adjust their personality disorders through the following methods:
- Enhance self-understanding: Patients should face their own problems and understand their personality characteristics, emotional reactions and behavioral patterns, and their impact on themselves and others. Patients can increase their understanding of themselves by reading relevant books, articles or videos, or taking some psychological tests or assessments.
- Improve interpersonal relationships: Patients should learn how to establish stable and healthy relationships with others, respect the feelings and needs of others, and not force others to conform to their wishes or attention. Patients can improve their interpersonal skills by participating in activities such as social skills training, intimacy development, or group therapy.
- Develop interests and hobbies: Patients should look for something meaningful and valuable to enrich their lives, and should not rely too much on other people’s attention or stimulation. Patients can choose some hobbies that suit them based on their interests and expertise, such as music, painting, sports, writing, etc., to improve their self-confidence and satisfaction.
- Maintain a positive attitude: Patients should maintain a positive and optimistic attitude, and do not always regard themselves as too important or too helpless. Patients can use some positive psychology methods, such as mindfulness, relaxation, meditation, etc., to regulate their emotions and thinking and reduce negative emotions and thoughts.
Histrionic personality disorder is a psychological problem that can be treated and adjusted. As long as the patient is willing and puts in the effort, it is possible to change his personality characteristics and live a happier and more balanced life.
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