Personality disorders are not as rare as one might think. They are characterized by a thirst for attention, inappropriate behavior and a desire to stand out. You can read more about the hysterical personality type and how to treat this disorder in this article.
Personality Disorders
To fully understand the essence of the hysterical type, you need to start from the very beginning, namely with the definition of the concept of "personality". What it is? A personality is a model of behavior, thoughts and emotions, unique qualities that are inherent in a particular person. It is a personality that is formed as a result of a long process of development and socialization of a person, and it helps to build relationships with other people and determines human destiny. But sometimes a personality is formed incorrectly, and as a result, a person receives deeply rooted and unhealthy ways of thinking that lead to a deterioration in relations with other people.
Recently, personality disorder was called very differently. The causes of "constitutional psychopathy" were considered incurable neurological pathologies. However, personality disorders are so diverse that doctors changed their minds and came to the conclusion that the cause could be both a genetic predisposition and adverse conditions in childhood, as well as stressful situations. In total, 10 disorders are distinguished, but they are largely similar to each other:
- Cluster A includes eccentric disorders, including schizoid and paranoid.
- Cluster B includes dramatic and erratic disorders, including narcissistic and borderline personality disorder.
- Cluster C includes anxiety disorders such as obsessive-compulsive and dependent.
The first signs of the disorder appear only in adolescence or adulthood. Many people know how a tantrum behaves, but not everyone knows that in some cases this is not a whim, but a disease. What is hysterical personality disorder?
What is a hysterical personality type
Hysterical disorder is also called dramatic or theatrical, as patients with this problem are prone to excessive drama, theatrical pretense and exaggeration of their feelings. The behavior style of people with such personality disorder is far from normal: they want to be in the center of attention in a group of other people and are ready to do everything to achieve what they want. Naturally, people with personality disorder do not socialize well, they rarely have personal relationships, and all friends and relatives turn away from them over time due to inappropriate behavior. Often, patients with hysterical personality disorder are involved in crowding out problems and “run away” into the disease, showing real and imaginary symptoms.
Often such people can be very interesting and lively, they reach special heights in narrow circles - for example, in a theatrical environment in which such behavior is acceptable. But in personal relationships and with emotional closeness, they can experience difficulties. They often seek to manipulate their partners and play a role (for example, “victims” or “princesses”). Also, people with a hysterical type often exhibit sexually seductive or provocative behavior to draw attention to themselves.
Causes of the disorder
The hysterical personality type in men and women is the same. However, researchers have not yet established what exactly causes it. Most professionals believe that the reasons are associated with various biological, social and genetic factors:
- Heredity and chronic diseases, including mental ones.
- Interaction in early childhood with family and other people.
- The level of stress in childhood and the ability to cope with it.
- Temperament of personality.
- Traumatic events.
Not a single factor can become the only reason for the development of a hysterical state. Most likely, this violation occurs due to a combination of several conditions.
Increasing desire to be noticed
Personality disorder is a solid model of inner experience and behavior that is different from the norms and culture of others. This, as a rule, leads to significant problems in all spheres of a person’s life: work, personal, etc. The pattern of behavior is quite stable and can be traced throughout life.
Onset usually occurs in adolescence or adulthood. Close relations with a patient can become a real hell for a second person. A person with a hysterical personality type requires constant attention to himself, while he can not do routine things and wants to get an immediate result in all areas of life. As a result, he constantly manipulates, takes offense, quarrels and emotionally affects his partner or relatives by any means available. But one does not have to consider that this brings pleasure to himself - he just cannot live differently.
Hysterical seizures are frequent companions of personality disorder. They allow not only to attract attention, but also to throw out the accumulated tension.
Symptoms
It is quite difficult for a non-specialist to distinguish pathological deviations from features of character or temperament. In order to suspect mental abnormalities, close contact and psychological education are needed. Since in most cases people with personality disorder do not have close trusting relationships, they rarely get help from professionals. Meanwhile, the sooner the cause of the strange behavior of a person is determined, the more help he can be provided.
Here are the main symptoms of personality disorder that may indicate pathological changes:
- The patient dresses defiantly and behaves intentionally sexually. Sometimes this can interfere not only with love relationships, but also with friendship, since a person can address deliberate sexuality indiscriminately.
- People with a hysterical disorder tend to devote too much time to their appearance. Sometimes they have a completely unrealistic and divorced picture of themselves, as a result of which, for example, they can constantly perform plastic surgery or dress strangely, thus intentionally attracting attention to themselves.
- A person has a desire to be the main object of attention. Such people want to have no other interesting personalities besides them in the lives of other people. They know that if they get attention, they can get what they want.
- These people are easily influenced. When dealing with personality disorder, this factor can be a significant problem. Any person who appears in the patient’s field of attention can have an effect on him, and far from always it is positive.
- They feel discomfort with insufficient attention.
- They reveal impulsiveness, commit spontaneous acts that can not always be logically substantiated, show emotional instability, and throw tantrums for no reason.
- The behavior of such a person is often unnatural, his voice is loud, and his movements are abrupt.
- Groundless aggression is observed. Aggression in psychology is something that contradicts generally accepted norms.
A personality disorder can be of varying degrees of severity, so the intensity of the symptoms can also vary.
Diagnostics
Personality disorders are diagnosed only by a qualified mental health professional. It can be either a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Therapists and general practitioners, as a rule, do not have sufficient knowledge to distinguish a common hysterical seizure from a mental illness. If you want to get free help, you can first contact a general practitioner, and then get a referral from him to a specialist. At the moment, there are no genetic or laboratory tests that could be used to diagnose the disease.
Many people with mental disorders do not seek treatment on their own and avoid it in every way. Only when changes in the psyche begin to seriously interfere with a person’s life can he see a doctor. But often by this time the patient’s resources are already exhausted to such an extent that he cannot cope with stress and life troubles on his own.
A specialist is diagnosed with a mental disorder after he studies the medical history and compares the symptoms with the classic picture of the disease. There are also special tests that determine the presence of a hysterical type of personality disorder in children and adults. They allow a little clarification of the situation and more accurately establish a diagnosis. But mental tests cannot be the sole or main reason for making a diagnosis.
Medications
The treatment of personality disorders usually includes comprehensive measures that are aimed at eliminating the symptoms and normalizing the patient's condition and well-being. The main method is considered psychotherapy, which can take many years. But besides this, medications can also be prescribed, which usually serve to eliminate the symptoms of a hysterical personality disorder. Appointments are made personally for each patient, depending on the picture of his disease. For example, people suffering from insomnia can be prescribed sleeping pills. Doctors prescribe sedatives and sedatives to some patients, which help reduce anxiety.
The hysterical style of behavior cannot be cured only with the help of drugs. The work to eliminate the disorder can take many years, and the success of treatment depends mainly on the qualifications of the specialist and the patient's motivation. Doctors rarely disclose drug treatment regimens, as in some cases they can be used for self-destructive and harmful effects on the body by patients.
Psychotherapy
The hysterical type of personality in psychology is distinguished by self-centeredness and self-focus. From here comes the lack of empathy and the inability to empathize with another person. Such people are often aggressive not only in relation to others, but also to themselves. Aggression in psychology is a destructive behavior that contradicts generally accepted standards and brings physical or moral damage to people. In fact, the behavior of people with a hysterical type of disorder is aggression. It is rarely expressed directly, but it is always felt by people who have entered into close communication with patients. The style of behavior of such people causes bewilderment and rejection among others. The main method for the treatment of personality disorders is psychotherapy.
People with this disorder are usually difficult to treat. They come to the doctor only as a last resort - when life literally leaves them no other choice. Treatment can be based on a short-term approach, which aims not at long-term changes, but at the moment to alleviate the patient’s life difficulties. This is due to the fact that people with mental personality disorder rarely have the ability to wait for the delayed effect of therapy and simply stop it in the absence of a pronounced result.
Self help
Self-help with the disorder does not bring any result. Also, there are no anonymous groups that support people with similar problems. Even if you find such a community, it is unlikely that such sessions will be sufficiently effective due to the nature of the course of the disease. Since people with hysterical personality disorder are too dramatic, everyone in group meetings will try to draw attention to themselves, not paying attention to the others. Therefore, the most optimal form for treatment is personal consultation with a therapist. Also, experts recommend abandoning family counseling, as in this case, communication will not be constructive.
Disorder Features
Hysteria is a rather dangerous mental illness, which is often characterized by suicidal tendencies. The hysterical personality type in women manifests itself in the form of overly expressed sexuality, in some cases nymphomania, theatricality and attempts to attract attention to their person. The same is observed in male patients.
In children, the hysterical personality type is not diagnosed, since this disease manifests itself only at the end of adolescence or in adulthood. A child is an unformed personality, so it’s incorrect to talk about the disorders of what is only being improved and changed. Children are prone to tantrums and some deviations in behavior, and these problems should be unconditionally corrected by a specialist psychologist, but they have nothing to do with the hysterical type of disorder.
Facts
If a hysterical personality type is found in one of your relatives, then it will be useful for you to find out some facts about this disease:
- Together, psychotherapy, medications and alternative treatments can have a therapeutic effect and significantly reduce the unpleasant symptoms of the disorder. But the treatment for this should be regular and long, only in this case it will bring the desired result.
- Different types of disorders can realize themselves differently in society. For example, some patients may occupy fairly high positions at work, but at the same time fail in personal relationships.
- These disorders are more common in women than in men.
- A hysterical personality type is a disorder in which a person shows excessive emotions, seeks attention, behaves provocatively and constantly gets involved in conflicts in personal relationships.
- Events that occurred in childhood (death, parental divorce, violence) can lead to personality disorder.
- People with the described problems tend to exaggerate the good attitude of others to them and ascribe more importance to friendships than they really are.
Summary
Hysterical personality disorder is a very painful mental illness that causes many problems not only to others, but also to the patient himself. It is characterized by a high level of anxiety, numerous conflicts and contradictions. Such people tend to intentionally look for dangerous situations and get involved in various adventures.
Not all of them may suspect the presence of the disease, so they often do not resort to treatment. Nevertheless, an experienced specialist will be able to quickly diagnose and prescribe treatment through personal examination, conversation, and psychiatric tests. The only effective method at the moment is psychotherapy, which can take a lot of time. But with the help of it, the patient will be able to get rid of painful symptoms and after a while feel much better.