“Do I have a personality disorder?” This question might surface when you notice persistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that are significantly different from what is generally expected. Personality disorders are complex mental health conditions that can interfere with daily life, relationships, and your sense of self.

New Directions Mental Health provides mental health disorder treatment near Pittsburgh that can help you understand the root of your symptoms and gain control over them. Through individual therapy, we work to identify the underlying issues contributing to your personality disorder. We will also create a personalized treatment plan tailored to your needs by exploring potential causes such as environmental factors, biological influences, or learned behaviors.

Don’t hesitate to call us at 724.374.7414 to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced therapists. We’re here to help you get the treatment that best suits your needs and start on a path toward healing.

Some Personality Disorder Questions

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to determine if you might have a personality disorder:

• Do I often feel like my emotions are out of control?
• Do I find it challenging to develop meaningful relationships with others?
• Is it hard for me to accept criticism or feedback from others?
• Am I prone to extreme reactions when faced with stressful situations
• Have you tried multiple psychiatric medications with little benefit or only short-term benefit?
• Are you currently taking more than two psychiatric medications?
• Do you tend to sabotage relationships?
• Have you had different diagnoses by different providers?
• Do you have trouble getting along with others?

Depending on your answers to those questions, you may have also asked yourself, “Do I have a personality disorder?” You may have some other questions that you will need answers.

Here are a few that we help answer:

• What causes personality disorders?
• How is a personality disorder diagnosed?
• What types of treatments are available for personality disorders?
• How can I manage my symptoms and live a more balanced life?

Our team at New Directions Mental Health has the skills and experience to help you find answers to these questions. We offer a safe, supportive environment where we can examine your mental health history and any environmental factors or other contributing sources of distress. We recognize that it’s not easy to ask for help when it comes to managing difficult emotions or behaviors.

Breaking the Myth of All or Nothing

Understanding personality factors can help you to gain traction in therapy. Research suggests most clients who fail to respond to medication or therapy may suffer from underlying personality disorders.

Unfortunately, these factors go vastly underreported or unrecognized. How you think about yourself, others, and the future is strongly influenced by attachments with others in childhood. A secure, supportive relationship with a primary caregiver or parent fosters a healthy belief.

Learning to say and believe, “I’m okay, and others can be trusted,” can be valuable. Conversely, a disrupted, tenuous, conditional, or abusive relationship with a primary caregiver often results in questions of self and others. Lessons learned in childhood directly impact the thoughts of self and others. This, in turn, affects feelings, behavior, and interpersonal relationships in the present.

Some people infer that you either have a personality disorder or you don’t. Many people have personality disorder characteristics that negatively impact their lives. It’s important to first focus on what is not working rather than the label placed upon someone. At New Directions Mental Health, we help clients identify patterns of thinking and behavior contributing to their distress.

Overview of Personality and Mood Disorders

A personality disorder is defined as the chronic use of coping tools in an inappropriate, stereotyped, and maladaptive manner. Personality disorders are enduring and persistent styles of behavior.

The official psychiatric manual, the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, Fifth Edition (DSM-V),” defines a personality disorder as an “enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that differs markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment.” Personality disorders include a long-standing and maladaptive pattern of perceiving and responding to others and stressful circumstances.

Using the DSM-V, Personality disorders are divided into three major categories:

• Cluster A personality disorders – Considered to be marked by odd, eccentric behavior such as paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders
• Cluster B personality disorders – Evidenced by dramatic, erratic behaviors and include histrionic, narcissistic, antisocial, and borderline personality disorders
• Cluster C personality disorders – Distinguished by the anxious, fearful behavior commonly seen in obsessive-compulsive, avoidant, and dependent personality disorders

Clusters B and C directly contribute to depression and anxiety, and cluster B traits are often misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder.

Call New Directions Mental Health to Begin Mental Health Treatment Today

If you still wonder, “Do I have a personality disorder?” Our team of experienced professionals can help you find the answers and get on the path to healing. We offer mental health disorder treatments, including individual therapy and medication guidance if necessary.

New Directions Mental Health is committed to providing quality care in a safe, supportive environment so that our clients can realize their full potential. Contact us today at 724.374.7414 to schedule a consultation and start your journey to a more balanced life.