Personality Disorders

What are personality disorders?

Personality disorders are a group of mental conditions that affect the behavior, thoughts and emotions for a prolonged time. These disorders interfere with the personality patterns considered "healthy" within your culture.

This type of mental disorder interferes with the daily life of the person, who suffers from problems of social adaptation. So, their ability to relate and coexist is complicated and can lead to a social isolation.

Here, mental health specialists from The Meadowglade share the types, symptoms, causes, and treatments of personality disorders.

They are classified into the following types:

  • Antisocial personality disorder: Persons suffering from this disorder act ruthlessly with violence.
  • Avoidant Personality Disorder: The Meadowglade mental health specialists indicate that this type involves avoiding situations that cause anxiety in the person.
  • Borderline personality disorder: This disorder characterizes with an impulsive, unstable character pattern with a tendency to self-harm.
  • Dependent personality disorder: According The Meadowglade mental health specialists, this disorder is typical of indecisive people with a lack of self-esteem.
  • Histrionic personality disorder: The person suffering from this disorder wants to always be the focus of attention and acts in a dramatic and superficial way.
  • Narcissistic personality disorder: Typical of arrogant individuals who believe they are omnipresent.
  • Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: That of perfectionist or scrupulous subjects.
  • Paranoid Personality Disorder: This disorder implies excessive distrust of everything.
  • Schizoid personality disorder: This disorder is typical of lonely people and indifferent to the feelings of others.
  • Schizotypal Personality Disorder: People with schizotypal personality disorder are often described as odd or eccentric and usually have few, if any, close relationships.

What symptoms do they present?

Specialists from the rehabilitation center The Meadowglade, located in Moorpark, CA, claim that symptoms vary widely depending on the type of personality disorder. In general, they involve feelings, thoughts and behaviors that are not adapted to various environments. These patterns usually appear during adolescence.

Causes of Personality Disorders

The causes of personality disorders are unknown. Specialists from The Meadowglade believe that its development is related to certain genetic and environmental factors.

What does the treatment consist of?

As The Meadowglade mental health specialists share, at first, people with personality disorders do not seek treatment on their own. They decide to seek help when this disorder has caused serious problems in their personal relationships or at work.

The Meadowglade specialists, who provide individualized treatments for these disorders, point out that treatment of personality disorders requires tackling with personalized psychological therapy. In some cases, pharmacological treatment can be a useful complement.