Cluster B: Histrionic Personality Disorder Characteristics (Nursing)

00:00 So let's take histrionic personality disorder first.

00:04 What kind of characteristics are we going to be seeing in the person with this kind of disorder? Well, they're going to be emotional.

00:13 And they're going to use their emotions to get attention.

00:16 So it might be the person who, when you say to them, "I'm sorry, but you can't read that book right now, because everyone is in group therapy.

00:25 And I'd like to take the book away." They might jump up and say, "You can't have, you take the book, I need out this book.

00:34 Why? Why are you gonna take my book away from me? And they might start crying.

00:39 What they've just done is they've taken all of the attention away from the fact that the group is together to talk.

00:47 And they brought all the attention on them.

00:50 And poor child, why is everyone picking on you? This is very typical, in all the B group, the B clusters.

01:01 Where the attention goes from the group, or from the person who needs it, and suddenly lands to put enormous empathy and sometimes pity and sympathy on the person who is crying.

01:18 A person who is having histrionic personality disorder, usually only has comfort when they are in the center of everyone's attention.

01:28 And so they're very uncomfortable when they're in a group setting where everyone is being able to exchange things.

01:36 They might use their own physical appearance or their speech, to make sure that other people watch them.

01:44 They might be talking much louder.

01:46 Or they might end up wearing bright lipstick, or earrings that attract a lot of attention, to make sure that everyone is watching them, and only them.

02:00 Everything they do is extremely dramatic.

02:05 This doesn't mean that they don't hold important jobs.

02:09 In fact, in some cases, they can hold extremely important jobs, because they've learned how to manipulate an environment to have everything be about them.

02:20 What kind of occupation do you think a histrionic personality disorder might actually be really good in? And I'm going to leave that up to you to start thinking about that.

02:35 They usually have very bold behaviors.

02:40 There's nothing small and reticent about a person with the histrionic personality disorder.

02:47 They want to make sure the world sees them.

02:49 And they don't care if it's negative attention.

02:52 Attention is the thing that's important, not negative or positive.

02:58 Because it always has to be about them, because it always is so dramatic.

03:05 It's very hard for these people to actually get and develop a meaning relationship with another person.

03:13 Because this kind of over emotional behaviors, this kind of demand constant attention can be very smothering. It can just exhaust a person who is trying to be part of their life.

03:30 Now, here's the other interesting aspect.

03:34 And this is something that goes with all the personality disorders, and usually with any psychiatric disorder.

03:41 It's one of the first things that we think of.

03:43 Does this person have insight into the role that their disorder is playing in their relationships with others and in their life? And usually the person does not have any insight.

03:57 So when you say to a person who is suffering with histrionic personality disorder, it seems that every single time that you get into a relationship, within three months, you're having this terrible breakup.

04:11 Do you think that there's anything in there that we might be able to see that you have control over? They will tell you? Absolutely not.

04:20 It's not my fault. I don't know what happens.

04:24 I'm perfect. Everything is okay with me.

04:26 I don't know why this is happening.