Histrionic personality disorder

Drama masks

According to the Cleveland Clinic, Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a mental health condition marked by unstable emotions, a distorted self-image and an overwhelming desire to be noticed. People with HPD often behave dramatically or inappropriately to get attention.

The 1990 journal article An epidemiological study of histrionic personality disorder published in the journal Psychological Medicine indicates: "The results indicate that this condition can be diagnosed reliably and that it is a valid construct. It has a prevalence of 2.1% in a general population. Males and females are equally affected, suggesting that prior reports of an increased prevalence in females was an expression of ascertainment bias found in hospital-based studies. The diagnosis is associated with clear evidence of disturbance in the emotional, behavioural, and social realms. Individuals with this disorder tend to use health care facilities more frequently than others."

Histrionic personality disorder symptoms

Some of the symptoms of histrionic personality disorder are:

• Feel underappreciated or depressed when they’re not the center of attention.
• Be self-centered and rarely show concern for others
• Be excessively sensitive to criticism or disapproval
• Have difficulty maintaining relationships, often seeming fake or shallow in their interactions with others.
• Think that their relationships with others are closer than they usually are.
• Constantly seek reassurance or approval.
• Have rapidly shifting and shallow emotions.
• Be dramatic and extremely emotionally expressive, even to the point of embarrassing friends and family in public.
• Speak dramatically and express strong opinions but with few facts or details to support their opinions.
• Be gullible and easily influenced by others, especially by the people they admire.
• Not think before acting
• Need instant gratification and become bored or frustrated very easily.
• Make rash decisions
• Have a “larger than life” presence.
• Be persistently charming and flirtatious.
• Be overly concerned with their physical appearance.
• Use their physical appearance to draw attention to themselves by wearing bright-colored clothing or revealing clothing.
• Act inappropriately sexual with most of the people they meet, even when they’re not sexually attracted to them.

Histrionic personality disorder and divorce

See also: Histrionic personality disorder and divorce and Paranoid personality disorder and divorce

The abstract for the journal article Personality Disorder Symptoms Are Differentially Related to Divorce Frequency states:

"Divorce is associated with a multitude of outcomes related to health and well-being. Data from a representative community sample (N = 1,241) of St. Louis residents (ages 55–64) were used to examine associations between personality pathology and divorce in late midlife. Symptoms of the 10 DSM–IV personality disorders were assessed with the Structured Interview for DSM–IV Personality and the Multisource Assessment of Personality Pathology (both self and informant versions). Multiple regression analyses showed Paranoia and Histrionic personality disorder symptoms to be consistently and positively associated with number of divorces across all three sources of personality assessment. Conversely, Avoidant personality disorder symptoms were negatively associated with number of divorces. The present paper provides new information about the relationship between divorce and personality pathology at a developmental stage that is understudied in both domains."

According to Susan Krauss Whitbourne PhD, ABPP:

“

By far, the strongest predictors of divorce likelihood were histrionic personality disorder symptoms... In its present-day iteration, the symptoms of histrionic personality disorder are in some ways very similar to narcissism to the point that some researchers believe the two to be virtually indistinguishable. However, people who would have a high histrionic symptom index would, in addition to being self-centered, be sexually seductive in an indiscriminate manner, overly theatrical, capable only of superficial feelings and relations with others, and unhappy when they are not the center of attention. Thus, it's the people with histrionic personality disorder who are most likely to qualify for the distinction "drama queen." Their additional quality of being overly impressionistic also adds to the mix, meaning that individuals with histrionic symptoms make decisions on the basis of limited evidence. In other words, they jump to conclusions, often basing their decisions on gut instincts rather than careful analysis.

”

External links

• Histrionic Personality Disorder, Cleveland Clinic
• Histrionic Personality Disorder, National Library of Medicine
• Histrionic Personality Disorder, WebMD.com
• An epidemiological study of histrionic personality disorder, Psychological Medicine. 1990 May;20(2):413-22. doi: 10.1017/s0033291700017724.
• All About Histrionic Personality Disorder, PsychCentral.com