Introduction To My Blog Series: Living Successfully With Borderline Personality Disorder & Histrionic Personality Disorder
I was 27 years old when I entered into the realization that there was something wrong with me and one of the original diagnosis was Borderline Personality Disorder, BPD.
I say something wrong with me because I was just not able to manage my life on my own and somehow knew there was something wrong with my mind.
Back then, not a lot was known about this horribly stigmatized disorder because BPD patients were considered impossible to treat or wrongly diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.
Along with BPD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (DDNOS) were also added to my diagnostic mix.
ADHD was quickly debunked and over the past two decades most professionals leaned towards my having PTSD or a Dissociative Disorder – but something about these disorders never seemed to fit.
Add menopause to the mix and the confusion became even more confusing.
Anxiety
Here are past blogs I’ve written about my struggles with anxiety and what felt like PTSD or DDNOS:
- Managing Anxiety -The Space of No Mind
- Managing Anxiety and the Mind of Choice
- Anxiety – The Antithesis of Personal Connection
- Anxiety & Cannabidiol (CBD) & Exercise
- Trauma, Flashbacks and Dissociative Disorders
- AM I: In a Panic Attack or Trauma Response or Dissociation or Menopause? How Do I Tell The Difference?
My Struggles With Alcoholism
2018
- Mystic Order – Reiki Level 3A – 21 Day Cleanse – My Alcoholism Is Gone
- Spiritual Discipline – My Alcohol Addiction – My Story Now
- Personal Development – Still Alcohol Free
2019
- Is Too Much a Choice or Addiction?
- Personal Development – After 10 Months – This Wild Woman Is Drinking Again
- Personal Development – This Wild Woman Still Struggles With Alcohol
- Reiki Principle For Today – I Will Not Worry
2020
- One Year No Beer – 28-Day Alcohol Free Challenge
- Personal Development – A Wild Woman Redefined? Absolutely!
- Personal Development – Living Alcohol Free – Day 78
2021
2023
2024
2025
- Overthinking & The Joys Of Living My Twenty-Four Hour AA Program
- From Anxiety To Sobriety: My Life Journey From 52 – 56
- Am I Willing To Trust In God?
- The Distinct Languages of AA, DBT & CPT
Present Day
On February 9th, 2022, I had a thorough psychological assessment by a seasoned psychiatrist. At long last, at 52 years old, I was finally properly diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and Histrionic Personality Disorder.
This blog series called Owning and Unraveling Borderline Personality Disorder & Histrionic Personality Disorder is my way of processing and understanding these complex personality disorders and how they manifest, interfere with and enhance my life.
Perhaps, as it has been said to me from friends who have family members with Borderline Personality Disorder, I can help dispel misconceptions and stigmas associated with these mental illnesses.
And hopefully I can shed some light and more personal information on what living with Histrionic Personality Disorder is like as I review each symptom and diagnostic criteria and how they show up (past or present) in my life.
With hope,
Stephanie, 🩵🌻
DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria For Histrionic Personality Disorder
According to Theravive :
DSM-5 Category: Personality Disorder
Diagnosis Criteria For: Histrionic Personality Disorder Symptoms:
Symptoms of Histrionic Personality Disorder include the following:
- Shallow, changeable emotions
- Assumed intimacy with others
- Hypersensitivity to criticism
- Manipulative behavior
- Disproportionate emotional reactions
- Sexually provocative behavior
- A compulsive desire for attention
- Preoccupation with appearance
- Suggestible and easily influenced
Diagnosis Criteria For: Histrionic Personality Disorder:
In order to make a diagnosis of histrionic personality disorder, a psychological examination is necessary, along with a general evaluation of the patient’s behavior and overall appearance.
There is no set test to determine whether someone has histrionic personality disorder. Previously, a number of pointers were specified in an earlier edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in order to help clinicians make a diagnosis3).
At least five of the following traits needed to be recorded for a diagnosis to be indicated:
- A compulsion to be the center of attention that results in discomfort if unmet
- Inappropriate sexual, seductive or provocative behavior when interacting with others
- Shallow, rapidly shifting emotions
- The use of physical appearance to draw others’ attention
- Dramatic, impressionistic speech that lacks detail
- Exaggerated, theatrical emotional expression
- Easily influenced by others or situations
- Assumes relationships are more intimate than they are
Disproportionate Emotional Reactions
This HPD symptom is more challenging to unpack as a result of BPD’s strong emotional responses.
Both seem to be similar in that disproportionate emotional responses were cultivated in early childhood as attention seeking behaviours – somebody please notice me and my feelings.
However, if I dig a little deeper – HPD’s disproportionate emotional responses are theatrical, dramatic – surface level – an overreaction that can silence a room, but then leave others scratching their head in confusion as that dramatic, emotional overreaction rapidly shifts, and disappears.
BPD’s disproportionate emotional responses flood and highjack my nervous system with powerful feelings of fear or rage. These disproportionate emotional responses can take hours, even days to fully recover from. There is absolutely nothing shallow about them. These emotions permeate my entire body.
So, in my experience and after this reflection on it, HPD and BPD’s disproportionate emotional responses are very different.
I am more aware of manifesting BPD’s disproportionate emotional responses, because of its intensity.
I imagine HPD’s disproportionate emotional responses occurred more in my teens, early twenties, as a result of my inability to understand my emotions, let alone express them.
In hindsight, I believe I slowly transitioned from HPD’s disproportionate emotional responses to BPD’s disproportionate emotional responses as a result of finally starting to express emotions.
Basically, the more freedom I felt to understand and express authentic emotions, the more I moved away from shallow ones.
Makes sense to me.
S, 🌻
Quick Links To The Blogs In This Series Living Successfully With BPD & HPD:
Borderline Personality Disorder
Forget Everything I’ve Said – I’ve Borderline Personality Disorder & Histrionic Personality Disorder
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Introduction to Symptoms & Causes
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Strong Opinions & Identity Crisis
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Not PTSD – It’s Emotions – Borderline Style
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Empathic Abilities & Intentional Interventions
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Overlapping Symptoms & What Type Of & How BPD Am I?
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Starting EMDR – Creating New Pathways To Calm
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – The Pros and Cons of Medical THC & CBD
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Gratitude For A Wild & Crazy Life
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Behind My Mona Lisa Smile – What BPD Feels Like For Me
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – The Hulk Uses Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Coping With The Inner Critic
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Unstable & Fragile Identities
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Highlights Of DBT’s Emotional Regulation Skills
Living With Borderline Personality Disorder – Highlights Of DBT’s Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills
Living With Borderline Personally Disorder – DBT – Skills Thermometer – A DBT Skills Anchor Chart
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Living With Histrionic Personality Disorder – Introduction & Symptoms & Diagnostic Criteria
Living With Histrionic Personality Disorder – Shallow, Changeable Emotions
Living With Histrionic Personality Disorder – Assumed Intimacy With Others
Living With Histrionic Personality Disorder – Hypersensitivity To Criticism
Living With Histrionic Personality Disorder – Manipulative Behaviour
Living With Histrionic Personality Disorder – Sexually Provocative Behaviour
Living With Histrionic Personality Disorder – A Compulsive Desire For Attention
Living With Histrionic Personality Disorder – Preoccupation With Appearance
Living With Histrionic Personality Disorder – Suggestible & Easily Influenced
© Stephanie Wells – Joyful Stephanie – Living an Authentic Life – 2014-2026. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
I’m glad you finally got a correct diagnoses of each disorder.
Thank you Valerie. It helped so much to understanding myself and how to be skillful instead of maladaptive. 🌻💛☀️
I can’t thank you enough for sharing your diagnoses and the background information on them, with us. I’m proud of you.. as weird as that might sound. You are not sitting idly by and letting them control your life. You are in charge! I look forward to reading more from you. Again, thank you for sharing your journey. Eryn
Thank you Eryn. I appreciate your support, very much. It’s very difficult to dive into my diagnoses, especially Histrionic Personality Disorder’s symptoms of the need to be the centre of attention and sexually provocative behaviours. That said, the more I own my diagnoses, the more I know myself, understand myself and accept myself. Perhaps, even de-stigmatize the profoundly misunderstood personality disorders the DSM-5 has alongside with Narcissistic and Anti-Social Personality Disorders. ~ Stephanie 🌻💛☀️