Histrionic Personality Disorder – Do You Know A Drama Queen?

Personality disorders are on the rise. Some put this down to better diagnosis and the availability of talking therapies; others blame a breakdown in society causing fragmentation and lack of suitable role models. It is certainly true in the case of histrionic personality disorder that some correlation can be found with people modelling their lives on soap opera characters and celebrity gossip where constant drama is played out for media consumption and entertainment. Other features of this personality type are egocentrism, self indulgence and the continuous longing for appreciation. Manipulative behaviour is also used to achieve a controlling influence.

Those suffering from histrionic personality disorder often display high social skills and use them to manipulate others, often without obvious detection. This behaviour can be very damaging, especially in family relationships when many family members are unaware of the causes of continuous disharmony and relationship corruption.

People with this disorder lack empathy; however they can become very adept at feigning it.  They tire of relationships easily and become frustrated and easily bored. They often start projects on a high and abandon them. They have an extreme sense of idealisation and when life fails to live up to their sense of idealism they can become easily depressed.

It is important to realise that because those with a histrionic personality disorder crave excitement and novelty, they can place themselves and their family in a state of turmoil. Unfortunately, because of their manipulative social skills, their disorder often remains undetected, leaving other family members to believe that trouble and disruption within the family unit is down to misfortune.