Characteristic traits, viewpoints, and behavioral patterns make up a person’s personality. Their worldview, emotions, attitudes, and thoughts contribute to their personality. Age makes a person’s personality more constant, but it never fixes itself. However, personality problems seriously affect daily functioning and have a wide range of negative effects.
A subset of mental illnesses known as personality disorders is characterized by persistent, rigid thought and behavior patterns that are inflexible in various contexts. Many people with personality disorders delay seeking treatment, even though alternative therapy is available.
Many diverse personality disorders exist, and symptoms may vary according to each type. Commonly diagnosed personality disorders include; avoidant personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, etc.
Causes of Personality Disorder:
Personality is formed during childhood and shapes through interactions. Here are a few causes of personality disorder (PD).
- Your environment: It includes the circumstances of your upbringing, the things that happened, and your connections with family and other people.
- Genetics: Through inherited genes, you could pick up some personality traits from your parents.
It is considered that a confluence of these hereditary and environmental factors contributes to personality disorders. Your genes may predispose you to develop a personality disorder, and a scenario in your life may cause it.
Risk Factors:
Even though the exact origin of personality disorders is unknown, few circumstances, such as the following, appear to enhance the chance of acquiring or triggering personality disorders:
- Variations of brain chemistry and structure.
- Family history with personality or other mental disorders.
- Abusive, and unstable family life during childhood.
- Diagnosed with a childhood disorder.
Symptoms of Personality Disorder:
Personality disorders have their specific signs and symptoms. Here are a few of the general symptoms of PD.
- Relationships: People with personality disorders have trouble building strong, trusting relationships because of their problematic beliefs and practices. They may lack empathy or respect for others, be emotionally indifferent or too reliant on care and attention, or exhibit all of these traits.
- Identity and a sense of self: In general, people with personality disorders do not have a distinct or consistent sense of who they are, and their perceptions of themselves frequently fluctuate depending on the circumstances or the company they are in. They may have unreasonably high or low self-esteem.
The fact that most people with personality disorders frequently have little to no insight or self-awareness of how their beliefs and behaviors are problematic is another identifying feature of personality disorders.
Treatment for Personality Disorder:
The appropriate course of treatment for you will depend on the type, degree of your personality disorder, and your current circumstances. It is necessary to take a team approach to ensure that your psychiatric, medical, and social needs are fulfilled. Treatment may take months or years due to the long-standing nature of personality disorders.
The personality disorder treatment team may include your primary doctor or other primary care providers such as a pharmacist, social worker, psychiatrist, therapist or another psychologist, and psychiatrist nurse.
If your symptoms are manageable and light, your health care physician, a psychiatrist, or another therapist may be required for treatment. Find a mental health practitioner who has experience with personality problems if at all possible.
Diagnosis of the Personality Disorder:
Here is how a diagnosis is determined for personality disorder:-
- Physical examination: Your health may be the subject of a physical exam and in-depth inquiries from the doctor. Your symptoms could occasionally be indicative of an underlying physical health issue. Lab testing and a drug and alcohol screening test can be a part of your evaluation.
- Mental examination: This involves talking about your thoughts, feelings, and actions, and it could include involving a questionnaire to help determine a diagnosis. With your permission, information from family members or others may be asked.
- Diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by the American Psychiatric Association may be used by your doctor to match your symptoms to its diagnostic criteria.
Methods of Therapies used for Personality Disorder:
Personality traits are generally intrinsic, or something we are born with, they have a reputation for being challenging to cure. Furthermore, there is little research on effective treatments because many people with personality disorders are either not treated or are frequently misdiagnosed. Here are a few evidence-based treatments typically used by personality disorder therapies including:-
- Group therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Psychotherapy
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
- Family Therapy
Prescriptions for Personality Disorder:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved any drugs to treat personality disorders. However, different personality disorder symptoms may be helped by different psychiatric drug classes.
- Mood stabilizers: It assists with mood swings or reduce irritability, aggression, and impulsivity.
- Antidepressants: If you experience personality problems including depression, rage, impulsivity, impatience, or hopelessness, antidepressants may be helpful.
- Antipsychotic medications: These medications, also known as neuroleptics, it is beneficial if you experience psychosis or, in certain situations, anxiety or rage issues.
- Anti-anxiety medications: These could be useful if you suffer from anxiety, agitation, or insomnia. However, they are avoided in some personality disorders since they can occasionally lead to an increase in impulsive conduct.
Personality Disorder Treatment Programs:
A personality problem may be so severe that you require psychiatric hospital admission. It is advisable when you are unable to take care of yourself adequately or when you are in immediate danger of injuring yourself or another person.
The doctor can suggest a day hospital, a residential program, or outpatient therapy once you are stable in the hospital.
Conclusion:
A personality disorder can make life challenging. It can make one feel frustrated, desperate, and overwhelmed. Before enrolling in a residential or outpatient treatment center, it is imperative to have a comprehensive physical examination with a doctor and an experienced general psychiatrist. Some illnesses have overlapping symptoms, which might result in a wrong diagnosis, inadequate treatment, and the wrong drugs.
