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This personality disorder is characterized by overly dramatic behavior, overreaction to minor events, craving for attention and excitement, tantrums, appearance to others of shallowness and lack of genuineness, apparent helplessness and dependence, proneness to manipulative gestures (coping skill), and threats of suicide. A person who has this disorder is commonly referred to as a "hysterical personality" or a "hysteric."
Symptoms:
Uncomfortable in situations in which they are not the center of attention.
Interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior.
Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions.
Consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self.
Has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacking in detail.
Shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion.
Suggestible, i.e., easily influenced by others or circumstances.
Considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are.
Treatment Considerations:
We are born with a genetically determined temperament that will continually influence our behaviors throughout life. Understanding of personality disorders and how it affects your life is important -- increased awareness does not lead to radical change but rather to a smoothing of the rough edges and a greater ease of going with their natural flow. To either change or learn how to work with and around personality disorders will require large doses of honesty, hard work, humility, and courage.
Become aware that you have a powerful, and perhaps excessive, need to be liked.
Realize that you don't really need to be liked by everyone, only by the people whom you really like or who are important to you.
Learn to tone yourself down.
The more ambitious goal would have you go more for substance and less for appearance.
Get more committed to people, a job, and intellectual interests.
Get organized and know a few things well rather than a lot of things superficially.
Treatment goals should focus on goal development, improving communication, improving self-esteem, appropriate social behavior and appropriate emphasis on appearnce.
Information and or Criteria summarized from:
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Added Oct 03, 2001. |
