Adult Psychological Disorder

Doing a paper in my psychology class on an adult psychological disorder. I chose four, and eventually will narrow it down to one. So far I picked out Dysthymia, Social Phobia, Historonic Personality Disorder, and Agoraphobia. Reading about them all I like Historonic Personality Disorder, and Agoraphobia. I'm in a debate between those two, and going to go with the more interesting one off of what information I find on Google.

Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by anxiety symptoms in reaction to situations where the sufferer perceives the environment to be dangerous, uncomfortable, or unsafe.

Histrionic personality disorder is characterized by a long-standing pattern of attention seeking behavior and extreme emotionality. Someone with histrionic personality disorder wants to be the center of attention in any group of people, and feel uncomfortable when they are not.

Dysthymia is a chronic disorder, sufferers may experience symptoms for many years before it is diagnosed, if diagnosis occurs at all. As a result, they may believe that depression is a part of their character, so they may not even discuss their symptoms with doctors, family members, or friends.

Social anxiety disorder, also called social phobia, is an anxiety disorder in which a person has an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations. Anxiety (intense nervousness) and self-consciousness arise from a fear of being closely watched, judged, and criticized by others.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

The disorder I chose for my paper in psychology is "Histrionic Personality Disorder".

Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD) - The DSM Criteria. Is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the center of attention. Interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior. Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions.

A few celebrities with this are Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Richard Simmons, Marilyn Monroe.

Perfect example of this personality disorder is Regina George from the movie "Mean Girls".

Might sound like the Narcissistic Personality Disorder, but the two are different. Key Difference: Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a medical disorder in which people exhibit unstable and intensive emotions. The patient experiences an inflated sense of self-importance and superiority compared to others. Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD) is a mental disorder in which people are more emotionally vulnerable and require constant approval from their peers. They are also associated with inappropriately seductive, dramatic, flirtatious, exaggeration, manipulative and self-indulgence behavior.

The Psychological Defense Mechanisms by Thomas Gouard

Ways of dealing with anxiety through unconsciously distorting one's perception of reality.