Psychologists use the DSM to diagnose and classify mental illnesses. The DSM-5 is the most recent version of this manual, which was released by the American Psychiatric Association in 2013. Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a condition that causes people to act in exaggerated ways, often for attention. HPD sufferers may be overly dramatic or emotional, seductive or sexually provocative, and even dishonest and insincere in order to get what they want from others.
People with a histrionic personality disorder might crave attention so much that they would do anything just for some recognition from other people. They may also become depressed easily when there is a lack of support from their peers or family members.
A histrionic personality disorder is a mental disorder that the personality pattern of the patients is generally unknown to the public. Histrionic people have the belief that they should be in the limelight or gain the appreciation of others. Therefore, they exhibit behavior towards attracting attention. Although these people make intense efforts to establish intimacy, human relations are generally superficial. Their sense of identity is weak and they behave according to the expectations of the environment in order to adapt to their environment.
Is histrionic personality disorder dangerous?
Histrionic personality disorder is one of the more dangerous mental health problems. It also impacts relationships and can lead to abusive behaviors.
Histrionic people are people with high energy and they over-express their emotions. They start something with great enthusiasm, but they get bored quickly. They care about their appearance. Also, they can spend a lot of time and large sums of money to look impressive. In addition to their seductive appearances, they also manifest themselves in their behavior.
Symptoms
According to the DSM-5, for a diagnosis of histrionic personality disorder to be given, five or more of the following symptoms must be present:
- Self-centeredness, feeling uncomfortable when not the center of attention.
- Constantly seeking reassurance or approval.
- Inappropriately seductive appearance or behavior.
- Rapidly shifting emotional states that appear shallow to others.
- Overly concerned with physical appearance, and using physical appearance to draw attention to self.
- Opinions are easily influenced by other people, but difficult to back up with details.
- Excessive dramatics with exaggerated displays of emotion.
- Tendency to believe that relationships are more intimate than they actually are.
- Is highly suggestible (easily influenced by others).
Types of Histrionic Person
Teatral Histrionic: They behave according to the norms and expectations of the community in which they live and attach great importance to their appearance. Clothing, accessories, going to a gym are some of the areas they are obsessed with.
Childlike Histrionic: Their tone and gaze are childish. They feel an intense sense of addiction to others and therefore use sexuality to keep people around. They complain that they are not loved enough.
Cheerful Histrionic: They are people who have high energy and radiate joy. Their thoughts are superficial and their behaviors are impulsive. They do not take into account the consequences of their behavior in the future. While being alive and cheerful provides advantages in some professions such as salespersons, their impulsiveness is a great handicap for finishing a job.
Soothing Histrionic: It has the characteristics of conciliatory behaviors and goodwill. They can easily give up their own wishes to get along with others. They gain appreciation from others by means of harmonious behavior and thus prevent the feeling of dislike and disability.
Turbulent Histrionic: Their emotions change quickly, they are depressive, their tolerance to criticism is low, and they get angry quickly. They cannot tolerate deprivation. In order to gain interest, they may have health-related complaints.
Intimate Histrionic: They can get in touch with people quickly. They aim to get rid of the duties and responsibilities with the intimacy they established. Those with a high level of psychopathy investigate the weaknesses of people with whom they have intimacy. Even though they seem well-intentioned and helpful, they are contrived and manipulative.
Last Updated on December 11, 2022 by Lucas Berg
