Personality Disorders
Your personality is the combination of characteristics, interests, coping skills, and values that make you unique. A person with a personality disorder has thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that deviate from cultural and societal expectations. These patterns cause distress for the person and those around them and affect their ability to function. Personality disorders are complex and require professional treatment.
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Types of Personality Disorders
Personality disorders are broken down into three clusters with similar symptoms and characteristics.
Cluster A Personality Disorders
These personality disorders feature odd or unusual thoughts and behaviors:
- Paranoid Personality Disorder: Extreme fear and distrust of others and everyday situations. People with paranoid personality disorder often believe others are trying to harm them.
- Schizoid Personality Disorder: Prefer to be alone and have little interest in relationships with others; often have low levels of motivation and pleasure; trouble setting goals.
- Schizotypal Personality Disorder: Eccentric thought patterns and overly paranoid and suspicious of others; trouble connecting to others emotionally; often not in touch with reality.
Cluster B Personality Disorders
Strong emotions and thoughts and dramatic behaviors that change frequently.
- Antisocial Personality Disorder: Low empathy; violent and aggressive tendencies; long-term patterns of manipulating and exploiting others.
- Borderline Personality Disorder: Difficulty managing emotions; impulsive behavior and mood swings; history of unstable relationships.
- Histrionic Personality Disorder: Displays dramatic and attention-seeking behavior; easy to influence; very concerned with their physical appearance.
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Little empathy for others and a strong sense of entitlement; believes they are better than everyone else and deserve special treatment; sensitive to criticism.
Cluster C Personality Disorders
High levels of anxious or fearful thoughts and behaviors.
- Avoidant Personality Disorder: Very shy and reserved; avoids connection with others because of fear of rejection; feelings of inferiority.
- Dependent Personality Disorder: High dependence on others and a need to be taken care of; difficulty saying no; will allow others to treat them poorly out of fear of losing the relationship.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: Need for control and order; tendency to be inflexible; shares similar traits to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) but is not the same.
What Causes Personality Disorders?
Like all mental illnesses, there is no single identified cause of personality disorders. The belief is that a combination of genetics, early life experiences and environment, and exposure to trauma are factors in developing a personality disorder. It’s common for a person with a personality disorder also to have another mental health concern, like anxiety or depression.
Treating Personality Disorders
Talk therapy is the best way to treat personality disorders. Working with a therapist at Mind Matters can help you treat your personality disorder in several ways:
- Changing negative self-concepts
- Improving communication skills and personal relationships
- Controlling behaviors that lead to self-harm
- Understanding that problematic behaviors develop internally and are not caused by other people
Supporting Someone with a Personality Disorder
Personality disorders take a toll on the person with the diagnosis and their friends and family. Therapy and medication are essential for treating these disorders, but you can help a person you care about in other ways, including:
- Be patient with them, even when their emotions seem to be getting the best of them.
- Be calm and consistent in how you respond to and interact with them.
- Set clear boundaries and expectations.
- Validate their emotions (even the negative ones) and remind them of their positive traits and what you like about them.
Self-Care for Personality Disorders
It’s essential to care for yourself between your therapy appointments. These are some easy ways you can help yourself to make your personality disorder less challenging:
- Educate yourself about your personality disorder. Learn how to identify your triggers so you can deal with them healthily.
- Be an active participant in your care. Attend your therapy appointments even if you don’t feel like it and take any prescribed medication.
- Avoid using drugs and alcohol to cope with your personality disorder. Substances can worsen symptoms and interact negatively with medication.
- Stay active. Physical activity is an excellent distraction on difficult days and can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.
The Mind Matters Difference
Our team of therapists knows that your mind matters, and we can help you harness its power so you can live a happier, more balanced life. You’re more than just a client file to us; we don’t have a cookie-cutter approach to treating Personality Disorders. Mental health is vital for everyone, and our goal is to make treatment accessible and welcoming to anyone who needs it.
Personality Disorder Therapy Near Lexington, Kentucky and Columbus, Ohio
You don’t have to struggle with a personality disorder on your own. The experienced therapists at Mind Matters take a compassionate approach to mental health treatment, and we’re always in your corner. Call Mind Matters today at (614) 545-9773 to schedule an appointment. We offer therapy services in Lexington, Kentucky, Columbus, Ohio, and the surrounding area.