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Histrionic PD
gratitude28:
Hi All! I haven't been on here in ages. My (N)M is no less crazy, but at least others in my life realize her as being abnormal. I have a question for you - have you read about Histrionic Personality Disorder? This seems much like what we describe here and I am not sure of the differences. I am thinking it may apply to my M in many ways. Here is a link.
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/personality_disorders/hic_histrionic_personality_disorder.aspx
Would love to hear your opinions/insights.
Beth
Meh:
Hum, I'm not certain how experts tell the difference. Robin Williams I think is an example of histrionic behavior....it's like over the top and flamboyant lots of physical gesticulation. I sort of think about NPD as being conniving without all of the exaggerations.
There is cross over you know. People don't fit neatly into a category sometimes.
Also the "experts" get together and rewrite this stuff from time to time and even they can't always agree on how to organize these things or if they should even exist.
I would say there is a difference though. My mother seems more Narcissistic without a lot of Histrionic traits. There would be some Narcissistic people though who would have histrionic type traits possibly. There could also be Histrionic people who had Narcissistic traits. That's why people get PhD's in this stuff.
You know the Narcissists think they are better than other people.
Histrionics want to show you that..... they have something to show you. Hey look!! Hey I'm crying!!! Now I'm laughing!!! Now I'm jumping. Wait no go away...no I was just kidding...no really go away....but I'm going to stand right in front of you while you are walking away....because I'm walking away faster than you...what you are going home?....okay, not before I cry first.
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ICD-10
F60.4 Histrionic Personality Disorder
Personality disorder characterized by at least 3 of the following:
(a) self-dramatization, theatricality, exaggerated expression of emotions;
(b) suggestibility, easily influenced by others or by circumstances;
(c) shallow and labile affectivity;
(d) continual seeking for excitement, appreciation by others, and activities in which the patient is the centre of attention;
(e) inappropriate seductiveness in appearance or behaviour;
(f) over-concern with physical attractiveness.
Associated features may include egocentricity, self-indulgence, continuous longing for appreciation, feelings that are easily hurt, and persistent manipulative behaviour to achieve own needs.
Includes:
* hysterical and psychoinfantile personality (disorder)
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Miss Piggy might be a histrionic. She might be antisocial also. Maybe a Narcissist
Kermit might be normal.
Animal would definitely be antisocial.
So Narcissism defined by Hotchkiss:
1) Bad boundaries
2) Exploitation
3) Entitlement
4) Envy
5) Arrogance
6) Magical thinking
7) Shamelessness
JustKathy:
Interesting that you should bring this up. I was watching a talk show last night, and a reference was made to a celebrity having Histrionic Personality Disorder (might have been Dr. Drew who said it, though I don't remember).
I agree that disturbed people don't all fit neatly into perfect packages, and that many show traits of several disorders. My N-mother doesn't give a rat's hooey about her appearance (if anything, it's the opposite), but will act out and behave inappropriately when she's not the center of attention, so I would have to say that she has some Histrionic traits on top of the NPD. I have also had more than one psych tell me that she has sociopathic tendencies because of her racism and general hatred towards anyone who isn't deemed to be a member of the same perceived social class as her (and she perceives herself as royalty, so anyone below Queen Elizabeth is a waste of oxygen in her book).
I think that all of us with N mothers can find that they have a combination of at least 2 or more disorders in various degrees. After all, they ARE mentally ill. Their brains do not function normally, so most likely have many issues beyond one textbook disorder. That's my take, anyway.
gratitude28:
That makes a lot of sense that the two (or more) diorders could add to one sick person. Especially since the roots of both disorders seem to be the same - overattenion or a lack of attention.... Looking at the list of NPD traits again, she definitely has the overinflation of self, magical thinking (that one always amazes me) - honestly, everything on the NPD list plus a lot of the histrionic tendencies. I'd be curious to see how docs mix the two or separate them. Will do some digging today out of sheer interest.
gratitude28:
Here is an article I found on histrionic vs narcissistic personality DOs.
http://suite101.com/article/histrionic--narcissistic-personality-disorder-a214475
Also - and a bit more descriptive...
http://www.disorders.org/narcissistic-histrionic/
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