Histrionic personality disorder: what is it?
What are the characteristic traits of histrionic people?
What is histrionic personality?
It is often said that someone has a histrionic personality when their behavior shows patterns of theatricality, dramatization and, in short, of actions and attitudes that seek to attract the attention of others..
What are histrionic people like?
In order to focus the attention of the people around them, it is common for individuals with a tendency to histrionics to use strategies such as seduction, seduction and seduction. strategies such as seduction or victimhood.
Histrionics with seduction tendency
The histrionic personality that tends to use seduction recurrently is usually well valued by others. In fact, they are people with a good ability to relate socially, and they usually have good positions in the companies thanks to their people skills and their loquacity.. However, when they are not able to attract attention, they are susceptible and tend to victimize themselves, saying they do not feel valued or understood.
Histrionic people live in a continuous back-and-forth of emotions and feelings.. They are very unstable emotionally, and therefore their moods fluctuate rapidly; they can go from being happy and cheerful to being sad and melancholic.
Discovering the Histrionic Personality Disorder
When the personality traits we associate with histrionics become chronic, they can result in a condition that mental health experts call Histrionic Personality Disorder..
Histrionic Personality Disorder Traits
The traits, signs and behaviors of Histrionic Personality Disorder are the following:
- Exaggeratedly "seductive" behavior towards others. towards other people. May assume and take to extremes certain traditional sexual roles.
- Influential. They tend to be swayed by the opinions and advice of others.
- Very concerned about their image and aesthetics
- Dramatic. They take emotions to the extreme, both positive and negative.
- Susceptibility. They are excessively vulnerable to criticism from others.
- They tend to perceive as very close and intimate some personal relationships that in reality are superficial.
- They blame others for their own failures or disappointments.
- Constantly seek approval and trust from others (Wendy's Syndrome)
- Very low tolerance to frustration
- Episodes of intense emotionality, losing control
- Recurrently seek to be the center of attention
- Constantly changing moodsNo stability
Causes
The histrionic personality usually begins to take shape during childhood, although it is often noted that it is often noted to become evident during adolescence. There is no single cause of histrionics, but a number of factors can play a role: a parental style that is too absent and inattentive, psychological abuse, having suffered belittling and humiliation, or an educational style without clear guidelines and limits.
Other factors, such as low self-esteem, dissatisfaction with physical appearance and insecurity can promote this type of personality to consolidate and be maintained.
Practical advice
Living with a person with these traits can be complicated.
To try to help them become aware that their behavior is dysfunctional, and also to prevent those close to them from avoid that the people close to him/her end up being psychologically affected as well.We have compiled this list with different points to take into account.
1. Let's accept reality
Sometimes it can be difficult to accept things as they are. Even more so if the person we are close to has behaviors that we do not understand. However, this does not mean that we should not act, this does not mean that we should not act to try to change the situation..
It is important to keep in mind that the histrionic personality is not the result of caprice, but is a dysfunctional and consolidated way of expressing oneself. Of course, we must avoid saying phrases such as: "You shouldn't make these little scenes".. For the affected person, their perception of these expressions is not like that. The histrionic person does not see anything strange in the way he expresses his emotions, because they are behaviors that are very consolidated in his personality..
Therefore, we must take into account that they are people with serious difficulties to control their emotions and that they have a distorted and unreal perception, which probably affects them more than we think. It is not a good idea to treat these people in a charitable and compassionate way, since we would be reinforcing their victimizing behavior. we would be reinforcing their victimizing behavior.. It is necessary to make them see that we all have our quirks and difficulties in life, and that nobody is perfect.
2. Establish clear limits
Accepting their personality does not mean that we do not try to remedy it, nor that we should be soft and submissive to histrionic people. We can be understanding but at the same time establish a clear framework: there is no point in justifying everything..
We should try to act with moderation and objectivity, and point out that we are also worthy of respect. When the histrionic person enters one of his phases of disproportionate expression of his feelings, we must remain firm but polite, we must remain firm, but polite.. For example, we can say: "It seems to me that you are very upset right now, in a while I will come back and we can talk about what happened. I feel bad about the situation and it is important that we can understand each other" or: "I can't allow you to disrespect me. I respect and value you, and that's why I don't understand your attitude. As soon as you are aware of this, we can talk about it again..
3. Don't fall into certain traps.
It is not a good idea to get involved in their manipulations and games.. You should treat this type of person as an adult, even though they may exhibit childish behavior. If you play along and act as if you were her father or put yourself on her level, the relationship will end up in a quagmire and neither you nor she will gain anything.
If you are able to communicate with this person on a one-to-one basis and with responsibility and tact, he will desist in his efforts to make you play his game.
4. Positively reinforce their adult behaviors
When this person behaves in an adult and mature way, he/she should notice that our attention towards him/her is greater.. As soon as his usual histrionic behavior gives way to responsibility and maturity, we should value him and make him notice that we like it.
In fact, it is sometimes easier to discourage dysfunctional behavior by positively reinforcing the opposite behavior. by positively reinforcing the opposite behavior when it occurs.. In short, he should notice that we are dry and curt (but polite) when he behaves histrionically, but that we are nonetheless attentive and positive when he displays adult behaviors.
5. Do not mock or belittle
This point is important: we should not laugh at or make fun of a person with this problem.. Although in many areas of life humor can be a good escape valve and can relativize problems, in the case of histrionic personalities it is not advisable since it could have more negative than positive effects.
If they perceive that you belittle them and that you have no respect for them, you may be causing their emotions to be even more altered. Keep in mind that they are very sensitive people and it will not help them to notice that others mock and treat them with disrespect.
6. Act with prudence
It is important that we maintain criteria of prudence and responsibility.. If we do not, we can go from being angels to demons in a second. Histrionic people tend to go from idealization to hatred towards people close to them.
They follow a logic of extremes. Therefore, we should not feel overly praised when we are flattered.In an extreme case, if we do not take enough distance from their opinions and evaluations, we may become emotionally unstable. In an extreme case, if we do not take enough distance with their opinions and evaluations, we can acquire certain emotional instability. To avoid this, it is necessary that we relativize their opinions about us.
Treatment for histrionic personality
People with histrionic personality traits suffer from a series of situations that cause them discomfort and reinforce their dysfunctional behaviors.
The underlying problem is that they do not perceive their behaviors as negative, and therefore fall into victimhood and do not go to a mental health professional who can offer them a therapy according to their needs. who can offer them therapy according to their needs.
In reality, histrionic people end up coming to therapy when their life circumstances have worsened or they have suffered an emotional setback, for example after a breakup, generalized anxiety or depression.
Psychotherapists usually agree in pointing out that, once the therapy has started, the main stumbling block is usually the inconstancy of the patient, the main stumbling block tends to be inconsistency and lack of commitment to therapy, with relatively high levels of dropout.The main stumbling block is often inconsistency and lack of commitment to therapy, with relatively high levels of dropout within a few weeks.
Bibliographical references:
- López-Ibor Aliño, Juan J. & Valdés Miyar, Manuel (dir.) (2002). DSM-IV-TR. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Revised text. Barcelona: Editorial Masson.
- Luciano, M.C. (1996). Manual of clinical psychology. Childhood and adolescence. Valencia: Promolibro.
- Millon, Theodore & Davis, Roger D. (1998). Personality disorders. Beyond DSM-IV. Barcelona: Editorial Masson.
- Pérez, M., Fernández-Hermida, J.R., Fernández Rodríguez, C. and Amigo, I. (2003). Guía de tratamientos psicológicos eficaces. Madrid: Pirámide.
(Updated at Apr 14 / 2024)