Dealing with Emotional Dramas: 5 Things You Need to Know

Personality Disorders are more common than previously thought by mental health professionals. The prevalence of disturbed personalities (e,g., Narcissistic, Borderline, Antisocial/Psychopathy, etc) ranges from 39% to 100% in mental health settings. Further, it is as high as 15-19% of the general population (Lester & Godwin, 2021). Given this information, it is no surprise that researchers report that most people meet at least one psychopath per day in everyday life (Babiak, O’Hare). Therefore, it is more than likely that you have been affected by a person with a pathological or disturbed personality. Unfortunately, due to their inherent deficits in personality and maladaptive ways of interacting,  they wreak havoc on those around them. Aside from mental health symptoms that occur in patients as a result of these toxic interactions, other detrimental results may include defamation of character, turning people against you through chronic lying, loss of job, and/ or financial loss due to possible negligent exploitations.

Pathological personalities cause most of the problems in society, across cultures (Lester, 2021). This is largely due to biological deficits in their personality. Thus, their subsequent ways of engaging with others cause relational harm. They repeatedly cause upset, confusion, and conflict, also known as “dramas” (Lester, 2021) in the systems and with whom they interact. They cause problems whether at the workplace, within families, parents, governments, or someone with whom you may have dated/have a current relationship. For example, Sandra Brown, MA of the Institute found that victims of “Pathological Love Relationships” (those with antisocial personality, psychopathy, etc.) may have long effects such as PTSD, cognitive dissonance, decreased ability to focus, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem as a result of close and chronic exposure to a disturbed personality. The impact of having close relations can be devastating to mental health, psychological health, physical health, self-esteem, etc).

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Copyright 2022; Tracy Hutchinson, Ph.D.

 

References

Gibson, P., & Gavin, M. (2016). Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents. Tantor Media, Inc.

Godwin, A. & Lester, G. (2021). Demystifying personality disorders. Clinical Skills for working with drama and manipulation. (PESI).

Lester, G.W. (2018) Advanced Diagnosis, Treatment, and Management of DSM-5 Personality Disorders. Ashcroft Press.

Livesley, W.J., Dimaggio, G., & Clarkin, J.F. (2016). Integrated treatment for personality disorder: a modular approach. New York: The Guilford Press.

Perez, D. L,, Vago, D.R., Pan, H., Root, J., Tuescher, O., Fuchs, B.H., Leung, L., Epstein, J., Cain, N.M., Clarkin, J.F., Lenzenweger, M.F., , Kernberg, O.F., Levy, K.N., Silberszweig, M.F., & Stern, E. (2016). Front limbic neural circuit changes in emotional processing and inhibitory control associated with clinical improvement following transference-focused psychotherapy in borderline personality disorder. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 70; 51-61.

Pinheiro da Costa, H., Vrabel, J.K., Zeigler-Hill, V., & Vonk, J. (2018). DSM-5 pathological personality traits are associated with the ability to understand the emotional states of others. Journal of Research in Personality, 75; 1-11.