LeyvaAP Psychology
12 December 2013
Histrionic Personality Disorder
One of the many personality disorders in Axis II in the DSM-IV TR is histrionic. Individuals with this disorder display excessive attention-seeking and sexual behaviors. They are charming, seductive, emotional, and manipulative. HPD is classified as a Cluster B personality disorder (dramatic and emotional). Patients diagnosed with Histrionic personality disorder often focus on physical appearance. They may dress proactively in order to gain attention; as well as being overly flirtatious and dramatic. Their emotions and believes also shift rapidly and are never deep. To others, a person with HPD may appear self-centered and impossible to ignore.
People with the disorder focus on their activities and accomplishments and exaggerate in order to gain more attention. They may have strong feelings about something but lack the ability to support their reasoning. A person with this disorder may be highly tuned in to the moods and feelings of ever and could be very sensitive about how others see them. It is difficult for a sufferer of HPD to maintain relationships due to their need for attention and overly-flirtatious manner.
HPD often occurs with other personality disorders, resulting in a difficulty with diagnosis. Therapists must be very cautious in the diagnosis of histrionic personality disorder because it is easy to mistake for something else, or vice versa. The DSM, interviews, personal inventories and projective tests are all ways in which psychologists can diagnose a patient with HPD. Six subtypes of histrionic personality disorder were identified by Theodore Millon in order to separate the pairings of HPD and other personality disorders.
The first is theatrical histrionic personality disorder. People diagnosed with this are especially dramatic, romantic, and attention seeking. Infantile histrionic personality disorder is the next in which the diagnosis