Support for anyone witha mental disorder
Support for anyone withPersonality consists of general, stable traits of behavior, emotion, and thought. When these traits are maladaptive, inflexible, and distressing, the person is said to have a personality disorder. Although they may have many different symptoms, most individuals with personality disorders have the following features in common:
These disturbances come together to create a pervasive pattern of behavior and inner experience that is quite different from the norms of the individual's culture and that often tends to be expressed in behaviors that appear more dramatic than what society considers usual. Therefore, those with a personality disorder often experience conflicts with other people and vice-versa.
There are 14 types of personality disorders
BPD is marked by instability in mood, self-image, and relationships and by impulsive, self-defeating behavior. BPD alternate between extremes of emotion, especially depression, anxiety, and anger. Borderlines are born with an innate biological tendency to react more intensely to lower levels of stress than others and to take longer to recover. Their lack of impulse control frequently leads to self-damagaging behavior like drug use, self-mutilation, sexual promiscuity, and suicide attempts. BPD feel uncertain about their personal identities and self concepts. They sometimes escape from anxiety by splitting into different identities. The BPD person switches between extreme intimacy and distancing in relationships. Although BPD is often associated with neurotic and psychotic symptoms it more strongly associated with depressive disorders. Over 50% of BPD people suffer depression.
As it's name suggest, the antisocial personality disorder is defined by a history of antisocial behavior, including fighting, lying, stealing, cruelty, and delinquency. They have very little regard for the rights, feelings, and property of others. They have very little remorse for anything the have done. The are sometimes called psychopaths. Most of the serial killers have a antisocial personality disorder.
The narcissistic personality disorder is expressed by extreme self-love, self-admiration, and attitudes of superiority. They assume they are entitled to special attention and consideration from others, but they are often exploitative and unsympathetic in return. The narcissist usually has serious difficulties with self-esteem and related emotions. Despite a surface attitude of competence and self-satisfaction, narcissist individuals are inclined to feel inner emptiness, and they commonly complain of depression, boredom, interpersonal difficulties, and jealousy (Kernberg, 1986).
Histrionic personality disorder is a pattern involving excessive emotionality and dramatic attention-seeking behavior. The histrionic individual craves approval, praise, and recognition from others and is self-centered and demanding. Extreme and exaggerated displays of emotion are distinctive features of this disorder.
Traits of distrust, suspiciousness, fear, and jealousy are central features of the paranoid personality disorder. People with this disorder perceive others as threatening or demeaning and often expect to be misused or maltreated. The person with this disorder is guarded in relating to others, suspecting that people have hidden motives for their actions. Despite some similarities to more severe conditions, paranoid PD is not necessarily related to paranoid schizophrenia or delusional disorder. In general, the person with paranoid PD retains good reality contact and does not exhibit the psychotic features of those other disorders, but paranoid PD is considered part of the schizophrenic spectrum.
This disorder is characterized by restricted emotional reactions and a pattern of social indifference. The schizoid person is all of and disconnected from others. This interpersonal detachment is motivated not by fear but by basic disinterest in other people and their lives. The person with schizoid PD is emotionally restricted and unexpressive, exhibiting few positive or negative feelings toward events or people (Siever & Kendler, 1986).
Interpersonal deficits and peculiarities in thinking are the main signs of the schizomycetes disorder. This disorder sometimes resembles schizophrenia, but the individual has no psychotic hallucinations or delusions. People with schizotypal PD often exhibit superstitious or magical thoughts that are not as bizarre as delusions but are usually perceived as idiosyncratic, odd, or irrational. The emotional life of the schizotypal individual is dominated by social anxiety, feelings of alienation, and suspiciousness. Like paranoid PD schizotypal PD is considered part of the schizophrenic spectrum.
Extreme shyness, social anxiety, fear of criticism, and inhibited social behavior are the key features of avoidant personality disorder. Individuals with avoidant PD usually have no close friends, and over time they grow increasingly isolated from other people. Avoidant PD in adults is regularly preceded by avoidant PD in childhood. Avoidant PD is easily confused with social phobia, but research shows that the avoidant person feels more emotional distress, is more socially sensitive, and is less socially competent than the phobic person. In social phobia the fears are more situation-specific, such as speaking in public, whereas in avoidant PD there is more generalized interpersonal anxiety (Millon, 1986).
This disorder is defined by excessive dependency on others and extreme difficulty in making decisions or taking initiative for oneself. The dependent person relies on others to take charge and is frequently submissive and compliant to demands by others, also, they are passive, sensitive to criticism, and lack self-confidence. Dependent PD is sometimes preceded by separation anxiety disorder of childhood or adolescence. As might be expected, children who find independent action difficult are more inclined to develop this personality disorder. In adults with dependent PD, symptoms of agoraphobia and depression are not uncommon, although it is not clear whether the dependent personality is a cause or a consequence of these emotional problems (Esman, 1986)
Individuals with passive-aggressive personality disorder are resentful of demands placed on them by others, and they resist those demands by passive means, such as forgetting their obligations, procrastinating, being stubborn, and dawdling. A passive-aggressive strategy for shirking responsibility is to work so slowly or ineffectively that someone else finishes the job. The passive-aggressive person seems to use these strategies as an indirect way to express aggressive or hostile feelings. These individuals seem to be unable to vent anger in a straightforward manner, yet they deny any hostile intent behind their behavior. Some passive-aggressive adults have a history of defiant or oppositional behavior in childhood (Esman, 1986)
This disorder is characterized by cruel, aggressive, manipulative, and demeaning behavior directed towards others. Abusiveness and violence are common in the sadist's social relationships, because the sadist lacks concern for people and derives pleasure from harming or humiliating others. There are similarities between sadistic PD and the more aggressive antisocial PD, however, the antisocial person does not generally hurt others just for pleasure. There may also be an association between sadistic PD and sexual sadism, in which the person derives sexual arousal and satisfaction from sadistic acts like beating and humiliating someone.
People with self-defeating personalities are drawn to situations and relationships in which they are subject to failure, humiliation, suffering, and distress. Although sexual masochism may be present, it has no necessary connection with this disorder.
People with multiple personality disorder, also known as dissociative identity disorder, have several personalities living in the one body. Everyone has what is termed sometimes, as mini minds in their brain that controls different functions. With MPD these mini minds become independent or personalities of their own. This disorder almost always develops from some kind of abuse when they are young, usually before age 12 but mostly between 4 and 6. The different personalities show up as a defense mechanism to protect themselves from painful memories or anxiety or post tramantic stress. The personalities compete for access to the consciousness. Usually one of the personalities knows of and retains the memories of all the other personalities, this personalitiy is often capable fo sending anyone of the other personalities out when it thinks its in the best interest of the whole. At present there is no medication to treat MPD only some of the side disorders like anxiety and depression. The only real treatment is a lot of counseling, preferably at least twice a week.
MPD is now DID, dissociative identity disorder although most don't consider it a disorder but a defensive reaction. Please go to Dissoviative-DID/MPD for a more up to date explanation.
OCPD involves inflexible attitudes, perfectionism, a rigid sense of morality, and a preoccupation with rules and details. People with this illness are perceived as exceptionally moralistic and conscientious. Their perfectionism produces emotional distress because they rarely feel they are good enough. In dealing with others they tend to be emotionally restricted.
