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Histrionic personality disorder: what is it?

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What is the histrionic personality?

It is often said that someone has a histrionic personality when their behavior shows patterns of showmanship, dramatization and, ultimately, of actions and attitudes that seek to attract the attention of others.

How are the histrionic people?

In order to focus the attention of the people around them, it is common for individuals with a tendency to histrionics to use strategies like seduction or the victimhood.

Histrionism with a tendency to seduction

The histrionic personality that tends to use seduction repeatedly is usually well valued by others. In fact, they are people with a good capacity to relate socially, and They tend to have good positions in companies thanks to their people skills and their loquacity. However, when they are unable to gain attention, they are susceptible and tend to victimize themselves, saying that they do not feel valued or understood.

The histrionic people they live in a continuous swing of emotions and feelings. They are very emotionally unstable, and therefore their mood fluctuates rapidly; They can go from being cheerful and talkative to being sad and melancholic.

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Discovering Histrionic Personality Disorder

When the Personality traits that we associate with histrionics become chronic, can result in a picture that mental health experts know as Histrionic Personality Disorder.

Traits of Histrionic Personality Disorder

The traits, signals and behaviors characteristic of Histrionic Personality Disorder are the following:

  • Exaggeratedly "seductive" behavior towards other people. They can take on and push certain traditional sex roles to the extreme
  • Influential. They tend to be carried away by the opinions and advice of others
  • Very concerned about their image and its aesthetics
  • Dramatics. They take emotions, both positive and negative, to the extreme
  • Susceptibility. They are excessively vulnerable to criticism from other people
  • They tend to perceive some personal relationships that are actually superficial as very close and intimate
  • Blame others for their own failures or disappointments
  • They constantly seek the approval and trust of others (Wendy's syndrome)
  • Very little tolerance for frustration
  • Episodes of intense emotion, losing control
  • They repeatedly seek to be the center of attention
  • Constantly changing mood, no stability

Causes

The histrionic personality usually begins to take shape during childhood, although it is often pointed out that is evidenced during adolescence. There is no single cause of histrionics, but rather a series of factors that can influence: a parental style that is too absent and inattentive, psychological abuse, having suffered slights and humiliations, or an educational style without clear guidelines and limits.

Other factors, such as low self-esteem, feeling dissatisfied with physical appearance and unsafety they can promote this type of personality to be consolidated and maintained.

Practical tips

Living with a person with these traits can be difficult.

To try to help you become aware that your way of acting is dysfunctional, and also to prevent close people from being psychologically affected as wellWe have prepared this list with different points to take into account.

1. Let's accept reality

Sometimes it can be difficult to accept things as they are. And more if the person close to us has behaviors that we do not understand. However, this does not mean that we should not act to try to change the situation.

It is important that we bear in mind that the histrionic personality is not the result of whim, but is a dysfunctional and consolidated way of expressing oneself. Of course, we must avoid saying phrases like: "You shouldn't put on these little scenes". For the affected person, his perception of these expressions is not like that. The histrionic person does not see anything strange in how he expresses his emotions, because they are behaviors that are very consolidated in their personality.

Therefore, we must bear in mind that they are people with serious difficulties in controlling their emotions and that they have a distorted and unreal perception, something that surely affects them more than we think. It is not a good idea to treat these people in a charitable and compassionate way, since we would be reinforcing their victimizing behavior. You have to make them see that we all have our quirks and difficulties in life, and that no one is perfect.

2. Let's set clear limits

That we accept their personality does not mean that we do not try to remedy, or that we should be soft and submissive before the histrionic people. We can be understanding but at the same time establish clear frameworks: it is useless to justify everything.

We should try to act with moderation and objectivity, and note that we are also worthy of respect. When the histrionic person enters one of his phases of excessive expression of his feelings, we must stand firm but polite. For example, we can say: “It seems to me that you are very upset right now, I will return in a while and we can talk about what happened. The situation feels bad to me and it is important that we understand each other ”or: “I cannot allow you to disrespect me. I respect you and value you, and that's why I don't understand your attitude. The moment you are aware of this, we can talk about this again ".

3. Let's not fall into certain traps

It is not a good idea to get into their manipulations and games. You should treat these types of people like adults, even though they may display childish behaviors. If you play along with her and act like you are her father or get on her level, the relationship ends up on swampy ground and neither you nor she gains anything.

If you are able to communicate with this person from you to you and with responsibility and tact, he will desist in his effort to make you play her game.

4. Let's positively reinforce their adult behaviors

When this person behaves in an adult and mature way, you should notice that our attention to her is greater. The moment his habitual histrionic behavior gives way to responsibility and maturity, we must value him and make him notice that we like that.

In fact, it is sometimes easier to discourage dysfunctional behavior positively reinforcing the opposite behavior when it occurs. In short, you should note that we are dry and cutting (but polite) when acting histrionically, but nevertheless attentive and positive when displaying adult behaviors.

5. Do not scoff or despise

This point is important: we should not laugh or make fun of a person with this problem. Although in many areas of life humor can be a good escape valve and can make problems relative, in the case of histrionic personalities is not advisable since it could have more negative than positive effects.

If they perceive that you belittle them and that you do not respect them, you may be causing their emotions to be even more altered. Keep in mind that they are very sensitive people and that it will not help them at all to notice that others make fun of them and treat them without respect.

6. Let us act prudently

It is important that we maintain criteria of prudence and responsibility. If we don't, we can go from being angels to demons in a second. The histrionic people tend to go from idealization to hatred towards those close to them.

They follow a logic of extremes. Therefore, we should not feel overly praised when we are complimented, because in a short time it can come to denigrate us and our feelings will be affected. In an extreme case, if we do not take sufficient distance with their opinions and evaluations, we can acquire a certain emotional instability. To avoid this, it is necessary that we relativize your opinions about us.

Treatment for histrionic personality

People who have histrionic personality traits suffer a series of situations that cause them discomfort and reinforce their dysfunctional behaviors.

The underlying problem is that do not perceive their behaviors as negative, and therefore fall into victimhood and do not go to a mental health professional that can offer them a therapy according to their needs.

Actually, histrionic people end up going to therapy when the circumstances of their life have worsened or they have suffered an emotional hit, for example after a sentimental break, by generalized anxiety or by depressive pictures.

Psychotherapists tend to agree that, once therapy has started, the main stumbling block is usually inconstancy and little commitment to it, with relatively high levels of treatment abandonment within a few weeks.

Bibliographic references:

  • López-Ibor Aliño, Juan J. & Valdés Miyar, Manuel (dir.) (2002). DSM-IV-TR. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Revised text. Barcelona: Editorial Masson.
  • Luciano, M.C. (nineteen ninety six). Manual of clinical psychology. Childhood and adolescence. Valencia: Promolibro.
  • Millon, Theodore & Davis, Roger D. (1998). Personality disorders. Beyond DSM-IV. Barcelona: Editorial Masson.
  • Pérez, M., Fernández-Hermida, J.R., Fernández Rodríguez, C. and Friend, I. (2003). Guide to effective psychological treatments. Madrid: Pyramid.
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