Personality disorders
Personality disorders are hurtful ways to perceive and interpret reality. Can personality be treated ? Our answer is YES !
What is personality ?
Our personality consolidates in adolescence and is a relatively stable structure over time.
Personality includes the emotional life of a person, as well as the perception and interpretation of reality, our way of thinking and the way we relate to others.
Personality is subject to change through psychotherapy
Despite being a relatively solid structure, it is subject to modifiable processes during a person’s life, is subject to changes and might change.
You can talk about a personality disorder when certain personality traits deviatefrom the “norm”, there are problems to interact with other people, there is sufferingor the ability to adapt is limited. Normally, through experience, the human being learns to modify patterns of thought and behavior. In a personality disorder, however, there are schemes or patterns of rigid and repetitive reactions, even if they have negative consequences.
Different types of personality
There are many different personality disorders and it is often difficult to distinguish them from each other. However, different groups or clusters that describe common personality traits are divided as follows:
One group presents behaviors that may seem “strange” or difficult to understandfor the people dealing with this type of personality. Among them are paranoid or delusional forms as well as schizoid and withdrawn types of personalities.
Another group of personalities is characterized by emotional instability, as in narcissistic and egocentric, histrionic or attention seeking, limits and emotionally aggressive structures towards themselves as well as antisocial types with an aggression more directed towards their exterior.
A third group are obsessive-compulsive personalitiy disorders, which are characterized by rigid behaviorsaccompanied by high levels of internal anxiety. This type includes dependent, obsessive-compulsive and repetitive in their doing and thinking and avoidant personality structures
Dealing separately with each type of personality would break the framework of this article. In case of doubt, we invite you to contact us with your inquiry.
Posible origins
Personality disorders usually arise from the interaction of several factors. Possible factors can be traumatic eventsin childhood, a lack of social support, non-functional parenting styles, as well as genetic and vulnerability factors.
In general, it can be said that the interaction of unfavorable environmental conditions and a certain vulnerability of the person favors the development of a personality disorder.
The importance of treatments
For the treatment of personality disorders, psychotherapeutic methods and procedures are of utmost importance. There is the possibility of several formats such as individual, group and family therapy.
The treatment itself differs according to the type of personality disorder, but certain demands for therapy are usually common as:
- Reduce mental and emotional stress and suffering of the person.
- Understand that the problems are internal and do not depend on other people or situations and with that, put the person in a position from which we can change something in our life.
- Increase adaptability in life and reducing unwanted and dysfunctional behaviors.
People with personality disorders often do not even seek help, because they believe that their thinking, feeling and behavior, even if they suffer, are normal, since they have always been this way.
We encourage you to seek professional help with any type of discomfort, since it is possible and viable to work with the personality and achieve changes towards greater stability and joy in life.