Guest Author - Lisa Angelettie
Histrionic Personality Disorder
n psychiatry, histrionic personality disorder (HPD), or hysterical personality disorder, is a personality disorder which involves a pattern of excessive emotional expression and attention-seeking, including an excessive need for approval and inappropriate seductiveness, that usually begins in early adulthood.
The essential feature of the histrionic personality disorder is a pervasive and excessive pattern of emotionality and attention-seeking behavior. These individuals are lively, dramatic, enthusiastic, and flirtatious. They may be inappropriately sexually provocative, express strong emotions with an impressionistic style, and be easily influenced by others.
The cause of this disorder is unknown, but childhood events and genetics may both be involved. It occurs more frequently in women than in men, although some feel it is simply more often diagnosed in women because attention-seeking and sexual forwardness is less socially acceptable for women.
People with this disorder are usually able to function at a high level and can be successful socially and at work. However, histrionic personality disorder may affect a person's social or romantic relationships or their ability to cope with losses or failures. People with this disorder may seek treatment for depression when romantic relationships end. They often fail to see their own situation realistically, instead tending to dramatize and exaggerate. Responsibility for failure or disappointment is usually blamed on others. They may go through frequent job changes, as they become easily bored and have trouble dealing with frustration. Because they tend to crave novelty and excitement, they may place themselves in risky situations. All of these factors may lead to greater risk of developing depression.
Hysteria
Hysteria is a diagnostic label applied to a state of mind, one of unmanageable fear or emotional excesses. The fear is often centered on a body part, most often on an imagined problem with that body part (disease is a common complaint). People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to the overwhelming fear.
Munchausen Syndrome
Munchausen syndrome is a form of psychological disorder known as a factitious disorder (the term "Munchausen syndrome" is sometimes used, incorrectly, to refer to any form of factitious disorder). Sufferers mimic real diseases, presenting a great problem to themselves and their healthcare professionals. The disorder is named after a literary figure, Baron Munchausen, a real person who was portrayed in fiction as a famous teller of tall tales.
In Munchausen syndrome, the sufferer feigns, exaggerates, or creates symptoms of illnesses in himself or herself in order to gain attention, sympathy, and comfort from medical personnel. The role of "patient" is a familiar and comforting one, and it fills a psychological need in the man or woman with Munchausen's.
There is some controversy on the exact causes of the syndrome, but an increased occurrence has been reported in healthcare professionals and close family members of people with a chronic illness.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder that is characterized by extreme feelings of self-importance, a high need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. NPD can be considered as a pathological form of narcissism. It is estimated that 0.7-1% of the general population are afflicted with NPD. Most people with NPD (50-75%, according to the DSM) are men.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a brain disorder, and more specifically, an anxiety disorder. OCD is manifested in a variety of forms, but is most commonly characterized by a subject's obsessive drive to perform a particular task or set of tasks, compulsions commonly termed rituals.
OCD should also be distinguished from the similarly named but notably different obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, which psychiatric guidelines define as a personality characteristic rather than an anxiety disorder.
The phrase "obsessive-compulsive" has worked its way into the wider English lexicon, and is often used in an offhand sense to describe someone who is meticulous or absorbed in a cause. Such casual references should not be confused with obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is also important to distinguish OCD from other types of anxiety, including the routine tension and stress that appear throughout life. A person who shows signs of infatuation or fixation with a subject, or displays traits such as perfectionism, is not necessarily stricken with OCD, a specific and well-defined disorder.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD), or anankastic personality disorder, is a personality disorder that is characterized by a general psychological inflexibility, rigid conformity to rules and procedures, perfectionism, and excessive orderliness.
Obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is often confused with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). While the names sound similar, these are actually two quite different disorders. Those who are suffering from OCPD do not generally feel the need to repeatedly perform ritualistic actions (such as excessive hand-washing), while this is a common symptom of OCD. Instead, people with OCPD tend to stress perfectionism above all else, and feel anxious when they perceive that things aren't "right".
People with OCPD may hoard money, keep their home perfectly organized, or be anxious about delegating tasks for fear that they won't be completed correctly. There are few moral grey areas for a person with OCPD; actions and beliefs are either completely right, or absolutely wrong. As might be expected, interpersonal relationships are difficult because of the excessive demands placed on friends, romantic partners, and children.
Panic Attack
A panic attack is a period of intense fear or discomfort, typically with an abrupt onset and usually lasting no more than thirty minutes. Symptoms include trembling, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, sweating, nausea, dizziness, hyperventilation, paresthesias (tingling sensations), and sensations of choking or smothering. The disorder is strikingly different from other types of anxiety, in that panic attacks are very sudden, appear to be unprovoked, and are often disabling.
Most who have one attack will have others. People who have repeated attacks, or feel severe anxiety about having another attack are said to have panic disorder.
Most sufferers of panic attacks report a fear of dying, "going crazy", or losing control of emotions or behavior. The experiences generally provoke a strong urge to escape or flee the place where the attack begins ("fight or flight" reaction) and, when associated with chest pain or shortness of breath, a feeling of impending doom and/or tunnel vision, frequently resulting in seeking aid from a hospital emergency room or other type of urgent assistance.
The panic attack is distinguished from other forms of anxiety by its intensity and its sudden, episodic nature. Panic attacks are often experienced by sufferers of anxiety disorders, agoraphobia, and other psychological conditions involving anxiety, though panic attacks are not always indicative of a mental disorder. Up to 10 percent of otherwise healthy people experience an isolated panic attack per year.
A person with a phobia will often experience a panic attack as a direct result of exposure to their trigger. These panic attacks are usually short-lived and rapidly relieved once the trigger is escaped. In conditions of chronic anxiety one panic attack can often roll into another one, leading to nervous exhaustion over a period of days.
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Paranoid personality disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that denotes a personality disorder with paranoid features. The use of the term paranoia in this context is not meant to refer to the presence of frank delusions or psychosis, but implies the presence of ongoing, unbased suspiciousness and distrust of people.
Pathological gambling
Pathological gambling, as defined by American Psychiatric Association is an impulse control disorder associated with gambling. It is a chronic and progresive mental illness. It is estimated that 4-6% of gamblers are subject to the disease and that adolescents are three times more succeptible than adults
Pedophilia
Pedophilia (American English), pædophilia/paedophilia (Commonwealth English), or pedosexuality is the condition of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to prepubescent children. The ICD-10 (F65.4) alternately defines it as "a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age." The word comes from the Greek paidophilia (??????????)—pais (????, "boy, child") and philia (?????, "friendship").
The term pedophile is sometimes used informally — and incorrectly — to describe child pornographers or people who have commited sexual crimes against children.
In the United States and some other countries, the term is also sometimes erroneously used to describe people attracted to adolescents, and usually reflects the age at which a minor becomes an adult legally—especially in regards to sexual activies. In cultures or countries where love relationships or dates between adults and adolescents are socially or legally accepted (at least with parental consent) or are viewed with tolerance, such as France or Brazil, the word pedophilia is almost never used in this sense, neither formally or informally.
In most countries of the world, adolescents above a certain age can be legally emancipated through marriage, economic self-sufficiency, pregnancy or by other means. The marriageable age is generally below the age of majority and in some cases below the legal age of consent. Having sexual relations with emancipated minors is not considered pedophilia.
Phobia
The term phobia, which comes from the Greek word for fear ( fobos), denotes a number of psychological and physiological conditions that can range from serious disabilities to common fears to minor quirks.
In addition, a number of neologisms have appeared with the suffix -phobia, which are not phobias in clinical sense, but rather describe a negative attitude towards something, see section Non-clinical uses of the term below.
Phobias (in the clinical meaning of the term) are the most common form of anxiety disorder. An American study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that between 5.1% and 21.5% of Americans suffer from phobias. Broken down by age and gender, the study found that phobias were the most common mental illness among women in all age groups and the second most common illness among men older than 25.
The opposite of the suffix -phobia is a -philia or -philie (meaning "love of").
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a term for the psychological consequences of exposure to or confrontation with stressful experiences, which involve actual or threatened death, serious physical injury or a threat to physical integrity and which the person found highly traumatic. Symptoms can include reexperiencing phenomena such as nightmares and flashbacks, avoidance of reminders and emotional detachment, and hyperarousal with sleep abnormalities, extreme distress resulting from personal "triggers", irritability and excessive startle.
There is also the possibility of simultaneous suffering of other psychiatric disorders. Experiences likely to induce the condition include rape, combat exposure, natural catastrophes, violent attacks, childbirth and perhaps its accompanying exhaustion, and childhood physical/emotional abuse. PTSD often becomes a chronic condition but can improve with treatment or even spontaneously.
PTSD is primarily an anxiety disorder and should not be confused with normal grief and adjustment after traumatic events. For most people, the emotional effects of traumatic events will tend to subside after several months. If they last longer than that then consideration should be given to diagnosing a psychiatric disorder.
Most people who experience traumatic events will not develop PTSD. PTSD may have a delayed onset of years or even decades and may be triggered by a life event such as the death of someone close or the diagnosis of a serious medical condition. Once PTSD reaches the criteria for diagnosis the untreated course is generally for some worsening and then stability of the level of symptomatology over many years.
Schizoaffective Disorder
Schizoaffective disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis describing a situation where both the symptoms of mood disorder and psychosis are present. The disorder usually begins in early adulthood, and is more common in women.
There are two sub-types of schizoaffective disorder: the bipolar type type and the depressive type. The bipolar type has a better prognosis than the depressive type, which can have a residual defect with the passing of time. Bipolar schizoaffective disorder is more similar to bipolar disorder than schizophrenia. People with bipolar disorder may also suffer from isolated episodes of schizoaffective disorders.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder characterised by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, and emotional coldness. SPD is reasonably rare compared with other personality disorders. Its prevalence is estimated at less than 1% of the general population1.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder denoting a persistent, often chronic, major mental illness primarily affecting thinking, with attendant difficulties in perception of reality, which in turn can affect behavior and emotion. The term schizophrenia comes from the Greek words (schizo, split or divide) and can be translated as "shattered mind."
The primary sign of schizophrenia is considered to be fragmentation of basic thought structure and cognition. This disorganization is thought to result in formal thought disorder, and the inability to distinguish between internal and external experience. People with schizophrenia may report hallucinations or be observed responding to them and may express clearly delusional beliefs. Social or occupational dysfunction, a number of secondary signs, and the lack of organic brain disorder may be used to confirm the diagnosis.
Mainstream research has suggested that both biological and sociocultural influences are important contributing factors, with current research often focusing on the influences of biochemical and genetic factors on the neurobiology of the brain. The status of schizophrenia is considered controversial by some, who point to the lack of objectivity in the stated diagnostic criteria. There is no objective biological test for schizophrenia, diagnosis is made on the basis of the self-reported experiences of the patient and third-person observations by a psychiatrist or other responsible clinician.
In spite of its name, schizophrenia does not involve a 'split personality', and should not be confused with disassociative identity disorder as it often is in literature, film and other forms of popular culture. There is also no association of schizophrenia with a predisposition toward aggressive behavior. And, not all people with schizophrenia are psychotic, although it is such a state which usually brings a person with schizophrenia to the mental health community.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Schizotypal personality disorder, or simply schizotypal disorder, is a personality disorder that is characterized by a need for social isolation, odd behaviour and thinking, and often unconventional beliefs such as being convinced of having extra sensory abilities. Some people believe that schizotypal personality disorder is a mild form of schizophrenia.
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is an affective, or mood disorder. Most SAD sufferers experience normal mental health throughout most of the year, but experience depressive symptoms in the winter. SAD is rare, if existent at all, in the tropics, but is measurably present at latitudes of 30°N (or S) and higher.
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Separation anxiety disorder (or simply separation anxiety) is a psychological condition in which an individual has excessive anxiety regarding separation from home, or from those with whom the individual has a strong attachment. Separation anxiety is often characterized by some of the following symptoms:
• Recurring distress when separation from home or subject of attachment occurs or is anticipated
• Persistent, excessive worry about losing subject of attachment
• Persistent, excessive worry that some event will lead to separation from a major attachment figure
• Continuing reluctance or refusal to go to school (known as school phobia) or elsewhere because of fear of separation
• Excessive fear about being alone without subject of attachment
• Persistent reluctance or refusal to go to sleep without being near a major attachment figure or to sleep away from home
• Recurrent nightmares about separation
• Repeated complaints of physical symptoms when separation is imminent.
Sexual Fetishism
Sexual fetishism, first described as such by Sigmund Freud though the concept and certainly the activity is quite ancient, is a form of paraphilia where the object of affection is a specific inanimate object or part of a person's body. The term arose from fetishism, the general concept of an object having supernatural powers, or an object created by humans that has power over other humans. Marx also used the term in a quite separate way.
Sleep Disorder
A sleep disorder (somnipathy) is a disorder in the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders can interfere with mental and emotional function, due to their interference with REM sleep.
Social Anxiety or (social phobia)
Social anxiety, sometimes known as social phobia, social trauma, or social anxiety disorder (SAD), is a common form of anxiety disorder that causes sufferers to experience intense anxiety in some or all of the social interactions and public events of everyday life. For instance, some sufferers have difficulty attending parties or meetings, making a phone call, walking into a shop to purchase goods, or asking for help from authority figures.
Tourette's Disorder
Tourette syndrome — also called Tourette's syndrome, Tourette Spectrum (TS), Tourette's disorder, or Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is a neurological or neurochemical disorder characterized by tics: involuntary, rapid, sudden movements or vocalizations that occur repeatedly in the same way.
Symptoms include multiple motor and one or more vocal tics present at some time during the disorder although not necessarily simultaneously; the occurrence of tics many times a day (usually in bouts) nearly every day or intermittently throughout a span of more than one year; the periodic change in the number, frequency, type and location of the tics, and in the waxing and waning of their severity; symptoms disappearing for weeks or months at a time; and onset before the age of 18. Vocal tics may fall into various categories, including echolalia (the urge to repeat words spoken by someone else after being heard by the person with the disorder), palilalia (the urge to repeat one's own previously spoken words), lexilalia (the urge to repeat words after reading them) and, most controversially, coprolalia (the spontaneous utterance of socially objectionable words, such as obscenities and racial or ethnic slurs).
There are many other vocal tics besides those categorized by word repetition - in fact, a TS tic can be almost any possible short vocal sound, with the most common tics resembling throat clearing, short coughs, grunts, or moans. Motor tics can be of endless variety and may include hand-clapping, banging the knuckles together, and contorted facial grimacing.
Trichotillomania (TTM)
Trichotillomania (TTM) is an impulse control disorder characterised by the repeated urge to pull out scalp hair, eyelashes, nose hair, ear hair, eyebrows or other body hair. It is believed to be related to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Most TTM sufferers live relatively normal lives, except for having bald spots on their head. Many clinicians classify TTM as a mental disorder, though the classification is debatable. Some clinicians classify TTM as a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some classify TTM as a form of self-mutilation, although the psychological mechanism behind TTM differs from the one that causes self-injurious behavior. Others say that TTM is no more a mental disorder than is any other habitual behavior, such as nail biting. Many TTM sufferers have relatively normal work and social lives; and TTM sufferers are not any more likely to have significant personality disorders than anyone else.
There have been recent clinical trials of drug treatment for trichotillomania, for example using anafranil, prozac, and lithium. One should use care in choosing a therapist who has specific experience and insight into the condition, lest one be overdiagnosed or overmedicated. Prozac and other similar drugs, which some professionals prescribe on a one-size-fits-all basis, tend to have limited usefulness in treating TTM, and can often have significant side effects.
A practice related to TTM is trichophagia, in which hairs are sucked and/or eaten. In extreme cases, this can lead to the development of a hairball (trichobezoar) in the abdomen, a serious condition in humans; see Rapunzel syndrome.
Mental Health Terms Glossary A-G
Lisa Angelettie is an author, counselor, & coach on mental health, relationship, and other life issues for women. You can also visit her at www.GirlShrink.com for some Free Advice. Please visit us for more discussion on this topic in the mental health forum to talk about it further. Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for topics in the news, new articles, website & book reviews, and other useful mental health resources. Subscribe below.
