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Histrionic Personality Disorder

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Definition

Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is characterized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association 2013) by a pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking, beginning in early adulthood and present across contexts. Criteria include using physical appearance to draw attention to self; discomfort when not the center of attention; inappropriate provocative or seductive behavior; self-dramatization and theatricality; rapidly shifting, shallow, exaggerated expression of emotion; impressionistic speech with paucity of details; suggestibility in relationships; and overestimation of intimacy in relationships.

Categorization

HPD is classified with the cluster B personality disorders in DSM-5.

Current Knowledge

Prevalence

Prevalence rates hover around 1.8% of the population, with HPD most commonly diagnosed in women.

Clinical Correlates

Individuals with HPD struggle to achieve intimacy in both...

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References

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Correspondence to Cynthia Rolston .

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Rolston, C. (2018). Histrionic Personality Disorder. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9203

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