Personality Disorders
Personality Disorders
Personality Disorders affect how people think and behave, and can make it difficult in day to day life.
Everyone has a personality, made up of thoughts, feelings and behaviours. While these vary in different situations, the way people act tends to follow patterns.
People with Personality Disorders can find that their emotions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours are different to most people. This makes it more difficult for them to cope with everyday life.
People with Personality Disorders experience these difficulties in all aspects of their life and can find their beliefs and attitudes different to people around them. There is a common misconception that people with Personality Disorders are dangerous, but this is not true. They are more likely to harm themselves.
Common Experiences
There are many different types of personality disorder, although none are the same. some include:
- Being overwhelmed with negative feelings.
- Avoiding people.
- Feeling emotionally disconnected.
- Difficulty in managing negative feelings.
- Difficulty forming and keeping stable close relationships.
- Each personality disorder has its own set of diagnostic criteria.
Personal Story
“Personality Disorders are very misunderstood."
“I have Borderline Personality Disorder and I feel the stigma of this disorder comes from the misleading name, people hear the name and make the wrong assumption.
“I also think the stigma comes partly from the misleading character portrayals in movies. If you Google BPD in movies, you will get a list of films with the role of BPD in the main character, all of these characters are violent, manipulative and most are serial killers, it does nothing for the stigma.
“With the condition being focussed around emotional issues, discrimination can deeply affect sufferers of BPD by affecting them more emotionally than normal.”
- Danny
Read Danny's story here.
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