QUESTION:
Dear Dr. Heller,
I have a daughter who is very ill. What exactly is Histrionic Personality Disorder?
Thanks.
ANSWER:
The Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD) is characterized by severe attention seeking and inappropriately excessive emotions. They usually need to be the center of attention, can be sexually inappropriate – particularly about appearance, have rapidly shifting and shallow emotions, and are easily influenced by others. They tend to be very dramatic, and their speech lacks details. They tend to consider relationships to be more intimate than they actually are. The literature in Medline has shown no neurological abnormalities nor any good medical treatment for the HPD. The HPD rarely exists by itself, and when other medically treatable diagnoses are successfully treated their histrionic nature tends to improve. The screening test I use for my patients may be of assistance in this regard. The HPD is part of the “dramatic” cluster of personality disorders, also referred to as “Cluster B Personality Disorders”. Some symptoms can be dramatically improved by SSRI medications like Prozac.