Personality disorders

Personality disorders

Personality is a unique combination of characteristics, traits, and behaviours that shape our actions in the world and in mankind. It helps to define who we are and what influences how we perceive, think, and feel. Certain personality traits become so rigid and extreme that they disrupt daily life and relationships, make a bad name, and can lead to personality disorder.

Understanding personality disorders can be challenging and difficult because they often manifest in ways that feel natural to the person experiencing them, but make self-recognition difficult. These disorders frequently exist alongside out of mental health conditions, which adds layers to their diagnosis and treatment. Know the science and psychology behind personality disorders and gain insights into their various types, from borderline to narcissistic to obsessive-compulsive personality disorders, and many more.

With all-around increased awareness, society can better support individuals facing these challenges, helping them build healthier relationships, improve self-awareness, and find effective pathways to management and recovery.

Personality disorders are mental health conditions that involve long-term, disruptive patterns of thinking, behaviour, mood, and relating to others. People with personality disorders often don't realize their thoughts and behaviours are problematic. 

Suffers experience stigma, discrimination and violations of human rights… anxiety disorders. ...Depression. ...Bipolar Disorder. ...Stress Disorder...Schizophrenia. ...Disruptive behaviour and dissocial disorders. ...

Can personality disorders be cured? Psychological or medical treatment is often helpful, but support is sometimes all that's needed. There's no single approach that suits everyone – treatment should be tailored to the individual.

People have unique personalities made up of a complex combination of different traits. Personality traits affect how people understand and relate to the world around them, as well as how they see themselves.

Ideally, people's personality traits allow them to flexibly adapt to their changing environment in ways that lead to healthier relationships with others and better coping strategies. When people have less adaptive personality traits, this leads to inflexibility and unhealthy coping. For example, they may manage stress by drinking or misusing drugs, have a hard time managing their anger, and find it hard to trust and connect with others.

A personality disorder is a mental health condition where people have a lifelong pattern of seeing themselves and reacting to others in ways that cause problems. People with personality disorders often have a hard time understanding emotions and tolerating distress. And they act impulsively. This makes it hard for them to relate to others, causing serious issues, and affecting their family life, social activities, work and school performance, and overall quality of life.

In some cases, may not know that you have a personality disorder. That's because thinking and behaving seem natural to you. They think others are responsible for your challenges.

There are many types of personality disorders, each with important differences. These disorders are organized into three groups, or clusters, with shared features and symptoms:

Paranoid personality disorder

• ·      Lacks trust and is suspicious of others and the reasons for their actions.
• ·      Believes that others are trying to do harm with no reason to feel this way.
• ·      Doubts the loyalty of others.

·      Is not willing to trust others.

• ·      Takes innocent remarks or situations that are not threatening as personal insults or attacks.
• ·      Becomes angry or hostile to what are believed to be slights or insults.
• ·      Has a habit of holding grudges.
• ·      Often suspects that a spouse or sexual partner is unfaithful, with no reason to feel this way.

Borderline personality disorder

• ·      Has a strong fear of being alone or abandoned.
• ·      Has ongoing feelings of emptiness.
• ·      Sees self as being unstable or weak.
• ·      Has up and down moods, often due to stress when interacting with others.
• ·      Threatens self-harm or behaves in ways that could lead to suicide.
• ·      Is often very angry.
• ·      Shows impulsive and risky behavior, such as having unsafe sex, gambling or binge eating.
• ·      Has stress-related paranoia that comes and goes.

Dependent personality disorder

• ·      Relies on others too much and feels the need to be taken care of.
• ·      Is submissive or clingy toward others.
• ·      Lacks confidence in abilities.
• ·      Needs a lot of advice and comforting from others to make even small decisions.
• ·      Finds it hard to start or do projects due to a lack of self-confidence.
• ·      Finds it hard to disagree with others, fearing they will not approve.
• ·      Endures poor treatment or abuse, even when other options are available.
• ·      Has an urgent need to start a new relationship when a close one ends. 

When personality disorders are not treated, they can cause serious issues in relationships and mood. Also, the ability to function and pursue personal goals may get worse without treatment.

Personality disorders can seriously disrupt life and the lives of those who care. They may cause issues in relationships, work or school. And they can lead to social isolation, other mental health issues with addictions, as well as occupational and legal issues.