What is a Personality Disorder and is it true it can't be treated by drugs a!
Question: Personality Disorders are not genetic or chemical disorders of any sort. They are an acquired, learned disorder. They are conditioned behavior. It's when a person has learned to act in ways that are clearly harmful to themselves and/or others. Personality disorders are quite often identifiable by the patient because they're so disruptive to their own lives and it's quite frustrating.
Personality disorders can be helped a little by medication if they are a result of or cause other mental illnesses such as depression but really all the meds do is take away the secondary problem. They won't deal with the core issue.
Personality disorders can really only be treated by counseling and counseling is extremely effective. Many say it's hard to treat, but they lose perspective. Personality disorders are pretty much the only thing that can be cured. The rest of mental illness is pretty much incurable, and especially incurable without the use of medication. Personality disorders are different. You can eventually make them go away and the earlier you are in the disorder the easier it is. I consider counseling treatment for personality disorders extremely effective because if you've ever tried to work with someone who has severe autism or schizophrenia it's like beating your head against a brick wall. They will always have that problem no matter what. You may make some improvements but they will always have that problem. People also think of it being easier to treat people with depression of bipolar disorder for example because those people are also taking medication. The counselor then takes credit for improvement that was 80-90% medication.
You see, the problem you run into is that personality disorders effect the basic way in which people understand and interact with the world around them. This includes their dealing with the psychologist. Trying to convince a person with Histrionic Personality Disorder that sleeping with someone is not the best way to make them like you is challenging because that's how they've been making people like them for years and years. But it is possible to convince them that there are ways of associating with someone without demanding their utmost love and attention. It's not possible to convince someone with depression that they should just cheer up or to convince someone with Tourette's Disorder that they should stop having uncontrollable tics.
BTW, Susas is completely wrong about what a personality disorder is. She's confusing clinical disorders(Axis 1) and personality disorders(Axis 2). Please check my source links below.
Answers: Personality Disorders are not genetic or chemical disorders of any sort. They are an acquired, learned disorder. They are conditioned behavior. It's when a person has learned to act in ways that are clearly harmful to themselves and/or others. Personality disorders are quite often identifiable by the patient because they're so disruptive to their own lives and it's quite frustrating.
Personality disorders can be helped a little by medication if they are a result of or cause other mental illnesses such as depression but really all the meds do is take away the secondary problem. They won't deal with the core issue.
Personality disorders can really only be treated by counseling and counseling is extremely effective. Many say it's hard to treat, but they lose perspective. Personality disorders are pretty much the only thing that can be cured. The rest of mental illness is pretty much incurable, and especially incurable without the use of medication. Personality disorders are different. You can eventually make them go away and the earlier you are in the disorder the easier it is. I consider counseling treatment for personality disorders extremely effective because if you've ever tried to work with someone who has severe autism or schizophrenia it's like beating your head against a brick wall. They will always have that problem no matter what. You may make some improvements but they will always have that problem. People also think of it being easier to treat people with depression of bipolar disorder for example because those people are also taking medication. The counselor then takes credit for improvement that was 80-90% medication.
You see, the problem you run into is that personality disorders effect the basic way in which people understand and interact with the world around them. This includes their dealing with the psychologist. Trying to convince a person with Histrionic Personality Disorder that sleeping with someone is not the best way to make them like you is challenging because that's how they've been making people like them for years and years. But it is possible to convince them that there are ways of associating with someone without demanding their utmost love and attention. It's not possible to convince someone with depression that they should just cheer up or to convince someone with Tourette's Disorder that they should stop having uncontrollable tics.
BTW, Susas is completely wrong about what a personality disorder is. She's confusing clinical disorders(Axis 1) and personality disorders(Axis 2). Please check my source links below.
A personality disorder is a psychiatrist's/psychologist's way to say that there is something wrong with a person's personality, that there is something specific about the way a person interacts with others and the environment that are problematic for them and others.
Drugs don't solve the problem, because personality disorders affect a part of the person that is considered difficult to change. A person's personality is basically who they are and who they will be all their life. That does not mean that psychology has nothing to offer. Anyone can grow and mature as a person, and while traits can persist, with counseling a person can gain insight into their disorder and can choose to change their behavior.
I'm guessing that you're talking about Borderline Personality Disorder. It is a tricky disorder that can in fact benefit from counselling but the majority of work will fall to the person who has the disorder. It isn't really very well understood by the medical community but research is being done and new therapies are being tried. Counseling is essential to overcome the behavior cause by the disorder.
Personality Disorder is a very vague term incorporating schizophrenia, OCD, ADHD, Affective disorders, autism, ect. Basically anyone who behaves in a unusual way has a Personality Disorder. It used to be believed that all personality was almost completely permanant and drugs could not affect personality. An interesting thing happened in the 1960s which disproved the theory. Prozac started to be used for clinical depression and very soon was used for other "Personality Disorders" and it did really seem, according to some, like the patients personalities were changed drastically. Psychiatry had discovered a very affective tool. So the answer to your question is that drugs can sometimes treat Personality Disorders. For more information read Listening to Prozac.