Personality disorders: why do they occur and when is it time to ask for help?

The famous German psychiatrist very accurately described patients with personality disorders.
He said that these are people who, due to their mental characteristics, suffer themselves and make others suffer. The first manifestations of the disease (formerly called psychopathy) appear at a fairly early age, and symptoms persist throughout life. At the same time, they are not perceived by the patient himself as pathological, much less requiring professional help.

The disturbances observed in psychopathy hinder full social adaptation, and therefore require appropriate diagnosis and timely therapy. The Kordia clinic uses modern treatment protocols that make it possible to achieve remission and behavior correction in the shortest possible time.

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How to understand that something is going wrong?

Ask yourself a question: what every time prevents us from doing what we want most?

“Specialists prefer to diagnose when the patient is about 25 years old,” says the psychotherapist. “At this age, a person’s brain is fully formed, as is his behavior. But there are also studies of adolescent behavior that reveal characteristics that can develop into a personality disorder.”

Experts prefer to diagnose when the patient is about 25 years old

If we are talking about a teenager, the task of recognizing the problem and taking action falls on the shoulders of parents and teachers. An adult can detect a “breakdown” on his own.

“It is something that prevents a person from doing what he wants. For example, he wants to get a job, but he can’t, he wants to spend time with friends, but he doesn’t have them, he wants to create relationships, but over and over again they collapse, Snigur gives an example. — A person may ask himself the question: what’s wrong? Perhaps he automatically creates obstacles for himself.”

Causes

It is believed that this is a polyetiological disease. Genetic predisposition plays a major role. This theory is supported by clinical studies conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. When studying the anamnesis of patients with a similar mental disorder, it was found that the incidence of symptoms of the disease is 5 times higher in children whose parents suffered from a similar pathology.

Considerable importance is also attached to exogenous organic lesions of the brain during intrauterine development, during childbirth or infancy. These injuries are not severe enough to cause significant symptoms of neurological disease, but are sufficient to impair mental functioning.

General prevention

Unfortunately, there is no specific standard for the prevention of various personality disorders, since each person is individual. However, it is still possible to prevent the development of mental disorders in a child. For this purpose, many mental health programs have been developed today to help parents and children solve family problems.

These types of programs are mainly educational in nature - they involve lectures and discussions aimed at understanding developmental psychology.

Adults suffering from a personality disorder should not neglect the services of a psychiatrist. If you are unable to control your emotions and reactions, it is advisable to consult with a competent specialist who will prescribe appropriate therapy.

Despite the fact that this kind of personality disorder is not a mental illness, during the period of decompensation a person is not able to independently overcome painful symptoms. Therefore, to avoid undesirable consequences, you should definitely seek medical help.

Personality disorder: symptoms and signs

Manifestations of the disease affect all areas of the personality: primarily emotional and volitional, in addition, thinking, style of behavior and communication in society. There is no ability to flexibly adjust and adapt to changes in everyday life. Such people are unable to realistically perceive themselves and others and establish friendly relations with them. But these are only general symptoms; more specific clinical manifestations depend on the form of the disease.

Paranoid (paranoid) form

Characterized by constant suspicion, mistrust, and a tendency to shift responsibility for actions and decisions made. People with this type of disease often feel constantly offended, relegated to the background, and betrayed.

They are full of prejudices, but at the same time they are 100% convinced of their own objectivity and rationality. From the outside, their behavior seems devoid of emotion and lacks a sense of humor. All aspects related to power are highly valued, the rest is only contemptible.

Important! Sometimes this type of illness is a harbinger of the manifestation of schizophrenia, therefore, special attention is paid to the diagnostic examination and treatment of such patients at the Cordia clinic.

Schizoid type

The main feature of people with this type of illness is withdrawal and inability to establish long-term and emotional interpersonal relationships. They prefer work that is not associated with close communication or social interaction, while they are little concerned about the prestige or financial component of the profession, and easily tolerate monotonous activities. The ability to experience pleasure and experience both physical and emotional pain is often reduced. Paradoxically, coldness in communication is often combined with a reverent attitude towards animals and admiration for some inanimate objects (architectural structures, objects of art).

Characterized by an obsession with a healthy lifestyle (passion for specific and extraordinary diets, sports). But at the same time, the risk of developing alcoholism or drug addiction in attempts to have fun is quite high. Patients are indifferent to the opinions of others, incapable of empathy, there is no impulsiveness - only cold calculation.

Dissocial form of pathology

Typically, the desire to obtain pleasure and enjoyment, while avoiding any work and stress.

From an early age, they are characterized by deceit, running away from home, a specific, asocial circle of friends, theft, fights, drugs, and alcohol. Patients constantly manipulate others, resorting to blackmail, threats of suicide, and complaints of poor health.

They are not at all concerned about the consequences of their actions; their explanations look naive and infantile. Thinking disorders are usually absent; rather, on the contrary, the intellect is well developed.

Emotionally unstable type

• Impulsive (aggressive) personality disorder. Characterized by episodes of loss of self-control with attacks on others, damage to furniture, breaking dishes, etc. The level of aggression clearly does not correspond to the situation. The attack begins abruptly, ends very quickly, after which the person regrets what happened.
• Borderline (mixed) personality disorder. Symptoms combine manifestations of neurosis, psychosis, and schizophrenia. Typically there is a violation of the perception of one’s own identity, which provokes demonstrative attempts at suicide, a feverish search for communication with a demand for devotion and support.

Hysterical variant of the course of the disease

The main feature is attracting attention to oneself through defiant behavior, exaggerated display of emotions, manipulation (tears, reproaches, attacks of anger and irritability). Sexual attractiveness is emphasized separately, but impotence is typical for men with a similar illness, and anorgasmia is typical for women. They note self-centeredness, the desire to satisfy their own needs, and neglect of the needs of others.

Anankastny (obsessive-compulsive) form

The person is focused on correctness, ordering, regulation, neatness. He lacks a sense of humor, spontaneity in actions, initiative, and is indecisive. In interpersonal relationships, incapable of compromise, intolerant.

Anxious subtype

Patients have extremely low self-esteem, but they are constantly in search of new social contacts. However, they always need guarantees of a positive attitude and lack of criticism. Any deviation from the “ideal” they represent causes fear and is perceived as betrayal. Behavior is characterized by stiffness, unnaturalness, and excessive modesty.

Other types of personality disorders

• Dependent. The desire to find a person who could solve the patient’s problems and help him get out of difficult life situations is clearly expressed.
• Narcissistic, characterized by an exaggeration of one's own importance. Patients cannot tolerate criticism, responding to it with open aggression.
• Passive-aggressive, characterized by constant internal resistance to leadership and loved ones. Feeling internal tension and rage, patients are constantly irritated and dissatisfied, as they cannot fight back or express their dissatisfaction or desires.
• Association disorder. Against the background of acceleration of associative processes, a rapid change of thoughts of the patient and inhibition of the speech apparatus are observed. This leads to difficulties communicating with other people. It is difficult for a person to concentrate on one thing, it is difficult to express his own opinion on this or that issue, in a conversation he constantly jumps from topic to topic.

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Obsessive-compulsive disorder

This type of disorder is characterized by increased caution, a tendency to doubt, a desire to keep everything under control, and obsessive thinking. People suffering from this type of personality disorder strive for perfection in everything, which greatly interferes with the completion of the task itself. They are overly conscientious, scrupulous, too pedantic and demanding of themselves and others.

Such patients are convinced that only their lifestyle and concepts are correct, and therefore demand that others conform to their ideas. Often, these individuals develop obsessive thoughts and peculiar rituals, expressed in the constant need to count objects, repeatedly check whether household appliances are turned off, whether the entrance doors are closed.

The financial side of life plays a special role for such people. They are overly frugal in spending, which they also demand from others; money is perceived as something that needs to be put aside in case of a global catastrophe.

During the period of compensation, individuals with this diagnosis are distinguished by reliability, pedantry, and correctness in communication. During decompensation, they are bothered by a growing feeling of anxiety, due to which the patient becomes irritable, remains in a gloomy state, and has hypochondriacal tendencies.

Principles of Personality Disorder Treatment

Usually they practice an integrated approach: a combination of psychotherapy and medication. The exact tactics to cure the disease largely depend on the specific variant of the disease. Typically, preference is given to individual or group sessions with a psychologist. At the same time, our specialists have sufficient qualifications and many years of experience to establish close, friendly contact with the patient. In some cases, family therapy provides good results.

Drug treatment

The role of drug use is controversial. For example, with the paranoid subtype of the disease, any attempts to prescribe medications are viewed with great suspicion and sabotage the prescribed treatment. Therefore, medications are used when there are pronounced signs of a personality disorder.

Prescribed:

• antidepressants;
• neuroleptics (outpatient or inpatient, for borderline form);
• sedatives;
• anxiolytics.

Based on their own practice, medical doctors are convinced that personality disorders are treatable in most cases. Our doctors know very well what to do to improve the quality of life not only of the patient, but also of his loved ones. Call us by phone +7 (495) 268-09-02!

How the solution to a problem becomes the problem itself

A person with a personality disorder tries to cope with the same situations year after year in the same ways, learned in childhood. And although they have not worked for a long time, he cannot get out of the vicious circle.

Personality disorder, one might say, becomes a “universal” method of solving problems similar to the one that a person faced at the beginning of his journey. As a rule, such methods are quite crude and do not take into account the subtleties of what is happening. But they are perfectly remembered, becoming part of our internal “firmware”.

“These mechanisms continue to operate in adulthood, when they are no longer needed. The man begins to walk in a circle. For example, as a child he learned that being an excellent student is a guarantee of respect and recognition. This is how you can come to perfectionism. But at 40, it is more likely to become a problem than a help in solving life problems, warns the psychotherapist. “A perfectionist may experience difficulties not only in relationships with people who find it difficult to withstand the level of his demands, but also with physical health.”

Complications without treatment

Timely contact with a specialist in a psychiatric department improves the prognosis of recovery. Ignoring the clinical manifestations of the disease leads to its aggravation and acquisition of a chronic form.

Among the negative consequences are:

• lack of opportunity to build personal and business relationships with partners;
• constant thoughts of suicide, which will sooner or later be realized;
• chronic depression, lack of interest in the outside world;
• social isolation, secluded lifestyle;
• lack of desire to leave the house.

Borderline personality disorder develops in childhood. It is very important to take some preventive measures to prevent the manifestation of the disease. Among them are:

• visiting a specialist in critical situations (divorce of parents or death of a loved one);
• allowing the child to express his own emotions, even if they are negative;
• exclusion of physical, emotional, sexual violence;
• providing conditions for full communication with significant adults;
• creating an atmosphere in which it is comfortable to live and study;
• building a trusting relationship in which the child can freely share his problems.

The duration of therapy is determined by several factors:

• features of relationships with loved ones;
• age;
• the primary source of the disease;
• willingness to undergo long-term therapy;
• level of personal, professional, social development.

Diagnosis of BPD

Diagnostics is the first and main stage before prescribing a course of therapy. The specialist takes the following steps step by step:

• a detailed survey of relatives, work colleagues and friends, which helps to establish the exact time when signs of borderline personality disorder first appeared;
• studying family history - it is important to make sure that close relatives do not have similar diseases;
• collecting maximum information about the patient’s life;
• conversation with the patient and observation of him from the outside in order to identify characteristic symptoms of mental pathology;
• conducting psychological testing to obtain a complete picture of the internal state of a mentally ill person.

Questions and answers

Can borderline disorder be treated at home?

No. Such mental disorders are treated in a hospital setting. The patient can cause physical harm to the life and health of others, as well as to himself. Therefore, he needs hospitalization.

Is it possible to get rid of BPD using folk remedies?

No, using questionable drugs will only worsen the situation. Any medications are used after prior consultation with a doctor.