Histrionic Personality Disorder: Facts and Resources

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Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a mental condition that is grouped with few others as being a dramatic personality disorder. People with HPD have such low self-esteem that it depends on getting approval from others. Therefore, it does not actually ascend from a true feeling of self-respect.

Meaning of Histrionic

The word histrionic means dramatic or theatrical; thus, it should not be a surprise that people with histrionic personality disorder behave with dramatic flair with the purpose of yearning to be noticed. It is also possible that individuals act inappropriately to get attention from others.

Histrionics Want Attention

Individuals with histrionic personality disorder have desire to be the focus of attention in any group of people e. g. at a party. If that doesn’t happen, they unfortunately feel uncomfortable. That is one symptom which is part of the diagnostic criteria for HPD. They have trouble dealing when their ideal situation doesn’t pan out as other people aren’t focusing on them. To draw attention to themselves, they might engage in provocative or eliciting behavior that is of sexual tone. That is another symptom that meets the criteria to diagnose someone as having HPD.

Unpleasant Personality Traits

People with histrionic personality disorder are usually vivacious and engaging to interact with, but they can also be seen as shallow. For example, they make a priority of seeking excitement by forming new relationships as they disregard the long-term, stable ones that they already have. As for achieving emotional intimacy, they may also have a problem with it when involved in romantic or sexual relationships. People with HPD then will attempt to mask their problem by acting out. They could pretend to be a princess or a victim. Their submissive role will enable them to control their partner through emotional manipulation or seductiveness on one level, while on another one they show great dependence.

DSM-IV-TR

The source that mental health professionals use to diagnose mental disorders is a book called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition text revision (DSM-IV-TR). The book categorizes histrionic personality disorder as a Cluster B personality disorder, which includes ones involving behaving with emotional, dramatic, or erratic fashion.

Symptoms Leading to Diagnosing HPD

I’ve already mentioned two of eight symptoms that the DSM-IV-TR listed that is needed to form the full diagnostic standard for histrionic personality disorder. Another one is displaying self-dramatization and exaggerating their emotions. The fourth one is overestimating the level of intimacy in a relationship. The fifth one is expressing one’s emotions but inclines to shift them rapidly and is characterized as shallow. The last two symptoms to list are being easily influenced by other individuals or circumstances, and always utilizing their physical appearance to gain attention for themselves. As for the way they speak, patients with HPD tend to generalize instead of conversing with detailed information. Moreover, they speak with the motivation to admiringly impress other people and with the purpose to please others.

Norepinephrine in Relation to HPD

Since there are only minimal research done to determine the causes of histrionic personality disorder, it is not known what are the causes. Nevertheless, there have been research studies that show patients with HPD have extremely responsive noradrenergic systems. The release of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter, helps individuals with HPD to show inordinate emotional reaction to rejection. Norepinephrine is part of the group of transmitter (catecholamines) that causes the malfunction of not properly react to a negative communication coming from another person.

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory explains different psychosexual stages of development which every person goes through. Early psychoanalysts suggest Freud’s last stage, the genital phase, sets up histrionic personality disorder. Later psychoanalysts disagree and state the first stage to be more influential. Some theorists believe condemnation in the early mother-child relationship causes severe forms of HPD.

Genetic and Cognitive Factors

Mental health professionals assert that inherited and learned factors play a large role in the development of histrionic personality disorder. They are unsure if a child of a parent with HPD may just be copying learned behavior, or if there’s a genetic susceptibility for the disorder to be inherited. An adult behaving inappropriately to get attention can be influenced by getting positive reinforcement only when completed certain approved behaviors during childhood, receiving deficient amount of punishment or criticism during childhood, and getting uncertain attention from parents during childhood. All three factors ultimately causes bewilderedness among children by not understanding which types of behavior will earn approval from parents.

Resources About Histrionic Personality Disorder

Cleveland Clinic

Pysch Central – Learn. Share. Grow

Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders

WebMD – Better Information. Better Health.

Recurrent Depression

Resource by S.Lee

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