Mental Health Resources:

Personality Disorders

Persistent chronic psychological disorders

Characterised by long-lasting rigid patterns of thoughts and behaviour.
Mild to more severe in terms of how persistent and to what extent a person exhibits the features of a particular personality disorder.
During times of increased stress or external pressures, the symptoms of the personality disorder will gain strength and begin to seriously interfere with their emotional and psychological functioning.
Conflicts with other people and vice-versa.
To be diagnosed as a personality disorder, a behaviour pattern must cause significant distress or impairment in personal, social, and/or occupational situations.

Characterised by extreme social anxiety.
Often feel inadequate, avoid social situation, and seek out jobs with little contact with others.
Fearful of being rejected and worry about embarrassing themselves in front of the others.
Often they will create fantasy worlds to substitute for the real one.
They are frequently depressed and have low self-confidence.

Characterised by mood instability and poor self-image.
Constant mood swings and bouts of anger.
Often they will take their anger out on themselves, causing injury to their own body.
Impulsivity in at least 2 areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g. spending, sex, drug/alcohol misuse, reckless driving, binge eating).
Think in very black and white terms, and often form intense, conflict-ridden relationships.
Treatment involves therapy in which the patient learns to talk through his/her feelings rather than unleashing them in destructive and self-defeating ways.

Characterised by a need to be taken care of.
Tend to cling to people and fear losing them.
May become suicidal when a break-up is imminent.
Tend to let others make important decisions for them and often jump from relationship to another.
Often remain in abusive relationship.
Over-sensitivity to disapproval is common.
Often feel helpless and depressed.
Psychotherapy is the best option for treatment.

Constant attention seekers.
Need to be the centre of attention all the time, often interrupting others in order to dominate the conversation.
May dress provocatively or exaggerate illnesses in order to gain attention.
Manipulative.
Tend to exaggerate friendships and relationships, believing that everyone loves them.
Treatment most often focuses on increasing coping skills and interpersonal relationships skills through psychotherapy.

Characterised by self-centeredness.
Seek attention and praise.
Exaggerate their achievements, expecting others to recognise them as being superior.
Tend to be choosy about picking friends, since they believe that not just anyone is worthy of being their friend.
Tend to make good first impressions, yet have difficulty maintaining long-lasting relationships.
Generally uninterested in the feeling of others and may take advantage of them.
Grandiose sense of self-importance.
Lack of empathy.
Obsessed with fantasies of fame, power or beauty

Treatment is available at: