Damatic Personality Disorder

Dramatic personality disorders are emotional, project a lot of drama, and are almost impossible to have relationships that are giving and satisfying. Four personality disorders that fall under this category are anti-social, borderline, histrionic and narcissistic. People with antisocial personality disorder persistently disregard and violating other’s rights. Most people with antisocial disorder are repetitive liars, can’t work consistently at a job, are careless with money, fail to pay off debts, impulsive in their behavior, irritable in their mood, aggressive, quick to start fights and reckless in their actions and decision making. They have little regard for their own safety or anyone else, are self centered, have trouble making close relationships, have a knack for making capital at the expense of other people and will do whatever it takes regardless of the consequences. They lack moral conscience, can con, rob and are often in jail. Antisocial people have high rates for drug/substance abuse. Men are four times more likely to have antisocial personality disorders than women.
DTreatment for people with antisocial personality disorder is usually ineffective because of the person’s non-desire to change. Cognitive theorists have the clients think about moral issues and the needs of other people. They are many times placed in a therapeutic community with a structured environment and taught responsibility toward others. The person can sometimes be put on psychotropic medications as well.

People with borderline personality disorders are unstable and have major shifts in mood, unstable self image and relationships, impulsive, angry, can be physically aggressive, violent, inflict harm on others, and are troubled by deep feelings of emptiness. They can have substance abuse problems, delinquent behavior, unsafe decision making, reckless at driving and usually inflict self mutilation. 75% of borderline personality disorders have suicidal thoughts. They become furious when their expectations are not met, have recurrent fears or impending abandonment issues, frequently engage in frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined separations from people, have dramatic shifts in identity by being unable to sense themselves, and may have rapid shifts in goals, aspirations, friends, sexual orientation and dissociation experiences. People with borderline personality disorder want to maintain their own self worth.

Treatment for people with borderline personality disorders in difficult because of with their contact with reality and their misperceptions. Treatment includes psychotherapy helps with coping, emotion regulation and changes in the person’s life. Psychotherapy includes free association, empathetic settings; personnel to help them explore unconscious conflicts and have them examine their personal relationship disharmony. When a person goes in for psychotherapy they must sign a non-suicidal agreement. Their emotions overwhelm their cognitive, they only see in black and white and they have an all or nothing attitude. Dialectal behavior therapy helps them to learn to control their lives and emotions by their own self knowledge. This type of therapy is most effective when treating borderline personality disorder. Borderline personalities have a lot of rage, distrust and fear. The treatment is using self help groups, crisis hotlines and crisis management. Treatment reduces suicidal thoughts, self harm, and hospitalization. Therapy helps them set goals, improve skill building, practice relating to other people in a safe environment, and increase ability to tolerate stress. Therapy helps to develop social skills and respond more efficiently to life’s situations. Treatments focus on decreasing their anger, finding greater gratification, improve job performance and may include help with the reduction in substance abuse.

People with histrionic personality disorder are extremely emotional, seek to be the center of attention, complicate life, change to attract and impress an audience, lack sense of who they really are, draw attention by exaggerating illness, fatigues, relationships and moods and behave proactively. They achieve goals through seduction; obsess about how they look and how people view them, become too involved with romantic partners, are vain and selfish. Histrionic personalities are fake, shallow, always looking for someone to rescue them, have boundary issues and only look for the attractiveness of a romantic partner instead of depth.

Treatment for people with histrionic personality disorder are difficult to deal with because of their out languish demands, tantrums and seductiveness. They may pretend to have important insight or expertise. Cognitive therapy includes changing the belief that they feel helpless, and develop better ways to solve problems. Psychodynamic therapy aims to help recognize dependency, find inner satisfaction and become more self reliant. Insight or cognitive therapy is not recommended because they are notable to asses themselves.

Narcissistic personalities are grandiose, manipulate people have much admiration, feel no empathy for other people, extreme self involvement, impulsive, exaggerate achievements and talents, superior, arrogant, choosy about friends, and charming. They are convinced that they have great success, power or beauty. They rarely maintain long relationships, take advantage of others, and believe that people envy them. They are self sufficient because they believe that they don’t need warm relationships. People with this disorder were usually abused, or lost their parents due to divorce, adoption or death.

Treatment for narcissistic personality disorder involves working through their insecurities and defenses. Cognitive therapy redirects to focus on their opinions of others, teach them to interpret criticism more rationally, increase their ability to empathize and change their all or nothing notions. Psychotherapy includes having a milieu and family involvement. Long term therapy is used when they have poor motivation, fragile object relationships, chronic destruction and acting out and having chronic lifestyles.