Personality disorder is a special disorder of higher nervous activity that is very difficult to treat. Brain Clinic specialists have extensive experience in treating various personality disorders and know how to correctly and safely restore the functioning of the nervous system without any negative side effects on the body. The causes of personality disorder can be neurological, mental and even somatic disorders. You need to treat not the symptoms, but the disease, then the treatment will help.
Brain Clinic doctors will be able to help you in any, even the most difficult situations! We use the most advanced methods in the world for the treatment of various types of personality disorders, which allow therapy to be carried out on an outpatient basis, visiting a day hospital with transition to home treatment.
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We help in the most severe cases, even if previous treatment did not help.
What is a personality disorder?
Weirdos, originals or psychopaths? They surround us everywhere, we see them every day. In the modern international classification of diseases, these conditions are defined as personality disorders. Among ordinary people, the term “severe character” is common, which partially corresponds to the concept of psychopathy. We doctors are not interested in the Greek and Latin terminology of medical protocols. We are interested in what we can do about this in order, if necessary, to smooth out the extremes, teach the patient to manage emotions and actions and remain in society without harming himself and others.
Personality disorders are a group of mental illnesses. They involve long-term, persistent changes in thought processes and behavior that are unhealthy and inflexible. The behavior of such people can usually cause serious problems in interpersonal relationships in the family, on the street and at work. People with personality disorders have trouble coping with everyday stresses and problems. They often conflict with other people.
Personality disorders are special mental conditions in which a person differs significantly from the average person in terms of how they think, perceive, feel and relate to others. The main changes are visible in the way a person perceives, feels and experiences interaction with the environment, distorted ideas about other people. All this leads to “strange” behavioral reactions, which can be expressed as mild and perceived by others as a characterological feature, or can have a more severe course, which can lead to antisocial behavior and pose a danger to others.
Main symptoms of personality disorder
- Having negative feelings such as distress, anxiety, worthlessness, or anger;
- Avoiding other people and feeling empty (emotionally disconnected);
- Difficulty or inability to manage negative feelings;
- Frequent conflicts with other people, or insults and threats of violence (often escalating in conflicts to assault);
- Difficulties in maintaining stable relationships with loved ones, especially spouses and children;
- Periods of loss of contact with reality.
Symptoms usually worsen with stress (stress, anxiety, menstruation, etc.).
The symptoms of each individual personality disorder are different. They can occur in mild, moderate or severe form. People with personality disorders often have problems in large part due to a lack of awareness that they have problems. For them, their thoughts are normal and they often blame others for their problems. However, such people can receive quite effective help. Treatment for personality disorders usually includes complex therapy, which should be selected strictly individually.
People with personality disorders often have other mental health problems, especially mental health symptoms such as depression and substance abuse (alcoholism, drug addiction, substance abuse, etc.).
Diagnosis of sociopathy
Only after a thorough history can a person be diagnosed with dissocial disorder. The specialist records a stable lack of unity in most activities, emotional instability, attacks of aggression and poor control of actions. Symptoms of sociopathy include:
- lack of assessment of one's behavioral manners;
- disrespectful attitude towards people;
- refusal to accept generally accepted norms and laws.
This illness differs from the following mental illnesses:
- bipolar affective disorder;
- schizophrenia;
- neurosis;
- various manias.
Types of Personality Disorders
Personality disorder is a group of mental disorders. They involve long-term, persistent changes in thought processes and behavior that are unhealthy and inflexible. There are several different types of personality disorders. The disorders can be grouped into one of three groups - A, B or C - which are listed below.
Cluster A personality disorders
A person with Cluster A personality disorder tends to have difficulty interacting with other people and would normally be considered strange and eccentric by most people. They can be described as living in a fantasy world of their own illusions.
An example is paranoid personality disorder, when a person, against the background of “exemplary behavior,” becomes extremely distrustful and suspicious.
Cluster B personality disorder
A person with Cluster B personality disorder struggles to regulate their feelings and often fluctuates between the positive and negative opinions of others. This can lead to patterns of behavior that can be described as dramatic, unpredictable and disturbing.
A prime example is borderline personality disorder, where a person is emotionally unstable, has impulses to harm himself, and has intense, unstable relationships with others.
Cluster C personality disorder
A person with Cluster C personality disorder struggles with persistent and overwhelming feelings of anxiety and fear. Such people can rarely show patterns of behavior; most people with this class will have antisocial and withdrawn behavior.
An example is avoidant personality disorder, where a person is painfully shy, feels socially inhibited, inadequate, and is extremely sensitive. A person may and often wants to be a good family man, but lacks the confidence to form close relationships.
What to do if a sociopath doesn’t want to change anything, but his family suffers?
A typical situation today: the mother of a young man calls and asks him to “cure him.”
During the conversation, it turns out that several specialists and different methods have already been “tested”, and all in vain. As a rule, the leading symptom is alcoholism or drug addiction. In such situations, we recommend that the mother herself come to an appointment first and start working on herself, her experiences, her reactions. After all, the behavior of a sociopath that he shows is inextricably linked with the reactions of family members (so-called codependency). Both mother and other relatives in this case are codependent. They are subconsciously manipulated by a sociopath, participate in his “performance”, pathological life system, scenario (they can be called differently, the meaning will not change). Therefore, by changing the attitude and behavior of relatives and mothers, we will influence the behavior of the sociopath, and perhaps motivate him to seek face-to-face correction from a specialist. You can also contact us through popular messengers:
Causes of Personality Disorder
Personality disorders most often begin to appear during adolescence and continue into adulthood.
The cause of the development of personality disorders can be various factors that damage the brain, for example, alcohol, drugs, various toxins (spice, etc.), brain injuries, etc., as well as various disorders of brain development during intrauterine development, birth injuries , or is determined genetically. However, childhood experiences may also play a role in the development of these disorders.
The most common causes of personality disorder in adults are the use of various psychoactive substances, such as drugs, chemicals (spice), and alcohol.
In childhood, the causes are often disturbances in intrauterine development and genetic characteristics, as well as birth injuries.
There are other reasons that are less common in practice.
Personality disorders can be mild, moderate or severe, and may have periods of “remission” where they may decline significantly or not appear at all.
Diagnostics
Psychiatrists and psychotherapists also note that the priority is to identify the internal experiences of a person that torment him. They will need to be eliminated. But first, identify the reasons behind them. Doctors specializing in the cognitive-behavioral field usually point out to patients their mistakes in life, teach them to see prospects for the future, especially with regard to inappropriate behavior, point out to patients the futility of life's realities and try to instill in them a more suitable behavioral option.
Patients with behavior prone to dramatic behavior (it can be described as borderline, asocial, staged, narcissistic behavior) need an active, sometimes involuntary, harsh, prohibitive attitude of a psychotherapist. Sometimes people with antisocial personality disorder cannot receive outpatient treatment; they must be forcibly placed in specialized hospitals.
There are two groups of psychotherapists who treat borderline patients receiving treatment for personality disorders. Some are confident in the effectiveness of occupational therapy treatment, while others are inclined to believe that the patient must be treated now. In both cases, treatment of patients is often stopped for a long time because the patient feels anger towards his doctor, when he is suicidal or has a psychotic decompensation and needs to be urgently hospitalized.
But such aggressive, in some way, cruel tactics towards the patient can be replaced with a more gentle, bright one, treat the patient with understanding, that is, find a friendly approach.
Story
Early descriptions of addicted people were often derogatory. In the writings of 19th-century psychiatrists, the passivity, ineffectiveness, and excessive obedience that characterized these patients were seen as failures of moral development, and terms such as "helpless," "weak-willed," and "degenerates" were used to describe these individuals. Although the overly dependent personality type was noted quite often, such a diagnosis was not included in the earliest classification systems.
The early theorists of psychoanalysis took a completely different point of view. Both Freud and Abraham described the "oral-receptive" character as the result of either overindulgence or deprivation during the oral, or infantile, stage of development. Abraham (1924/1948) stated: “The dominant belief among some people is that there will always be some kind person—a mother substitute, of course—to care for them and give them everything they need. This optimistic belief condemns them to inaction... They make no effort and in some cases even consider it beneath their dignity to earn their bread.”
The precursor to the diagnostic categories of passive-aggressive and dependent personality types was the World War II concept of “immature response,” defined as “a neurotic-type reaction to the normal stress of war, manifested by helplessness or inappropriate reactions, passivity, obstructionism, or outbursts of aggression” (Anderson , 1966, p. 756). Dependent personality was mentioned only briefly in the DSM-I (APA, 1952) as a passive-dependent subtype of passive-aggressive disorder characterized by inappropriate attachment due to environmental frustration. The concept of “dependent personality” was completely absent from the DSM-II (APA, 1968), and the closest category was the maladaptive personality, characterized by “ineffective responses to emotional, social, intellectual, and physical stimuli. Although the patient does not appear physically or mentally ill, he is maladjusted, slow-witted, lacks judgment, is socially unstable, and lacks physical and emotional stamina.”
Treatment for Personality Disorder
Personality disorders are almost always associated with some organic changes in the central nervous system, so examination and observation by a neurologist is always necessary in such cases, and if it is not only a neurologist, but also a doctor of rehabilitation medicine, it will be much better!
The treatment process for a personality disorder is individual and often very lengthy.
Usually they take as a basis the typology of the disease, its diagnosis, the possibilities of introspection, habits, behavior, and response to a particular situation.
The additional clinical picture, personal psychology, and the patient’s desire to contact the doctor are also important. The latter is usually difficult with patients with dissatisfied personalities.
The results show that psychotherapy is very helpful for patients with personality disorder. The patient must be shown to a teacher (psychologist) and influenced by the social-environmental method. Thanks to such influences, it is possible to achieve harmony in the patient’s behavior and stabilize his behavior.
Recently, a new method has been used to correct the treatment of personality disorders with the help of psychopharmacological drugs. However, they will not solve the problem completely, since the task only introduces limitations with a corrective effect on psychopathological formations and phenomena. Therefore, treatment in a hospital is only “starting”, supporting in nature.
If treatment is started on time and correctly, the patient can be brought to a normal standard of living and practically cured.
Drug treatment for personality disorder
To dull feelings of anxiety, depression, and many other symptoms, you can use drug therapy. Patients use drugs such as SSRIs for depression and agitation. And anticonvulsant medications reduce excitability and anger. Some drugs like risperidone are prescribed to patients suffering from depression, an early stage of personality disorder.
Psychotherapy for personality disorder
People receiving treatment for personality disorders are generally unaware that they do have problems in their lives. They find it in other people, in society. Therefore, close people feel completely uncomfortable. Only a quarter percent of such patients intend to be treated, that is, they are aware of what is happening and turn to psychiatrists.
Treatment for personality disorder includes various forms of psychotherapy. Sometimes you have to resort to the use of pharmacological drugs.
A psychotherapeutic technique that is used both in individual and group sessions is successful in this regard. If necessary, this form of treatment can take place in couples and family settings. Taking into account all kinds of techniques and the set goal desired to be achieved during psychotherapeutic influences, the majority of psychotherapists note that the most difficult, but also very responsible aspect of treatment is to bring the patient into trusting contact. This is necessary in order to understand human problems and their internal sources.
Etiology of sociopathy
There is no consensus among doctors and scientists about why sociopathy occurs. Experts name the following causes of the disorder:
- heredity;
- mistakes in education;
- problems in society;
- copying the behavior of a person suffering from this illness: imitation of an individual who is in a close environment - family or friends.
As a rule, the reasons act in combination, “layering” on each other, so it is extremely difficult to single out one factor.
Duration of therapy
Psychotherapeutic treatment for personality disorder usually lasts a very long time, for several years.
But, despite such a difficult, long path to improving the patient’s condition, improvements are still observed, and a lot, but there is almost no control over the data. Therefore, problems still remain unresolved in terms of the effectiveness of diagnosis and basic psychotherapeutic approaches to treatment and identification of the sources of the disease.
Current recommendations for the treatment of personality disorder include comprehensive neurometabolic therapy. For example, patients with borderline disorders with frequently changing moods and lack of control often find relief from taking tricyclic antidepressants and MAO inhibitors. For patients with disorders of the cognitive process and adaptation, components of aggression and obsessions, antipsychotics are recommended in small dosages.
How many people have a personality disorder?
Personality disorders are common mental health problems around the world.
It is estimated that approximately one in 20 people have a personality disorder. However, many people have only minor changes, which often only become apparent during times of stress (such as bereavement). Other people, with more serious problems, will need specialist help for a long time.
In children
The first signs of a predisposition to psychopathy in school-age children are the development of asthenic traits:
- sudden fatigue at the end of lessons;
- excessive timidity, indecision and shyness;
- expressed feelings of inferiority.
Attention! To avoid problems in the future, it is recommended to show a child with similar problems to a psychologist who will help to understand the root causes of dependent orientation.
Prognosis of the course of personality disorder
Most people who receive treatment recover from their personality disorder over time.
Psychotherapeutic or medical treatments provide significant relief and can often be recommended even for people with mild personality disorders as a form of support. This depends on the severity of the disease, and on the presence of other ongoing problems. Some people with mild to moderate personality disorder benefit from specific psychotherapy, which is very helpful.
However, there is no single approach or any unified psychotherapeutic techniques that could suit everyone, so treatment must be selected taking into account the individual characteristics of personality development. It is very important that therapy for personality disorders is carried out by a qualified psychotherapist.
Prevention
Since the etiology of dissocial personality disorder has not been fully studied, there are no preventive measures for this disorder. It can only be noted that sociopaths need a favorable environment. The child should feel the attention, care, affection, kindness and tender attitude of his parents. It is important that the child’s mother and father set a positive example of relationships - respect for all family members, no power or aggression. The child must understand what role people play in relationships.
Stages of alcoholism
The immediate human desire to drink more and more with everyone, and the resulting inability to control one’s own behavior, can be conditionally divided into several stages
At the first stage, a person drinks more and more each time, which leads to a certain loss of self-control.
The following condition appears:
- swagger in behavior;
- inability to remember some events;
- bad feeling;
- sleep problems.
At the same time, he himself zealously condemns alcoholics, believing that he is just a hobby, which he is ready to end at any moment.
This stage is already chronic, in which there is a persistent desire to drink, since alcohol is now the only hobby, and the morning hangover now becomes obligatory, which, of course, leads to binge drinking. Here the need to drink is already manifested at the physiological level, and a sober person already becomes angry and depressed.
The second stage is called the late stage, during which disturbances in the functioning of the body occur. Degradation in this case already occurs at the physiological level, as brain cells are destroyed. Problems with speech, coordination and thinking are pronounced here.
Already literally at the second stage, a person begins to form a so-called alcoholic character, which manifests itself as:
- lack of critical perception of one's own life;
- decreased intelligence;
- increased emotionality;
- tearfulness;
- deceit;
- inability to communicate and behave adequately in society.
Judging by all the symptoms of personality changes listed above in alcoholism, the degradation of a drinking person is noticeable, which is obvious.
In addition, over time, in order to return to his favorite state of intoxication, he begins to consume much cheaper alcoholic products that are surrogates, such as colognes, medicinal tinctures, pharmaceutical alcohol, and so on. Of course, this further aggravates the state of poor health.
Alcoholic dementia
The pathology develops over a long period of time (over fifteen to twenty years) and occurs due to constant exposure to alcohol, a toxic substance for tissues. Alcohol-containing drinks have an effect both independently and indirectly by reducing the performance of the liver and cardiovascular system.
Many alcoholics, during life or after death, have atrophic foci in the cerebral hemispheres, which indicates the last stages of a sluggish inflammatory process, in which there is an active proliferation of connective tissue.
The symptoms are almost the same as those of other types of dementia: deterioration of memory, attention, speech, motor activity, and perception of the outside world.
When diagnosing alcoholic dementia in the early stages, the reverse process is possible with complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. However, due to indifference to one’s own health and unwillingness to have patients themselves examined, such cases are quite rare.
The prognosis depends on the duration of the disease and the individual characteristics of the body. The disease usually ends in complete personality degradation and death.
Fighting methods
A person with degradation must realize his problem and try to change something in his life, change his attitude towards himself, change his priorities, attitudes, and worldview.
Therapy should be aimed at eliminating the consequences caused by personality degradation. Psychological assistance is mandatory, and the support of relatives is also important.
In addition to working on yourself, psychotherapy can be represented by:
- hypnosis sessions;
- group therapy;
- cognitive behavioral therapy.
If this condition is a consequence of mental disorders affecting the brain, in particular the development of senile insanity, then the patient may be prescribed special drugs that maintain degradation at a certain level; atrophy is an irreversible process.
