Histrionic Personality Disorder

Reviewed/Revised Aug 2024
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Your personality is your unique way of thinking, understanding, reacting, and relating to people.

A personality disorder is not just an unusual personality. It's when your personality traits cause significant problems in your life or keep you from relating normally to others.

What is histrionic personality disorder?

Histrionic personality disorder is:

  • A pattern of wanting to be the center of attention and acting in dramatic, inappropriate ways to get attention

Histrionic personality disorder is more common in women. People often:

  • Are lively, enthusiastic, flirty, and charming

  • Need attention and are depressed when not getting it

  • Wear inappropriately sexy or over-the-top clothing to work or school to get attention

  • Have rapidly changing emotions which they express dramatically

  • Are easily influenced by others

  • Have trouble being intimate

  • Want novelty and excitement and are easily bored so they may switch jobs a lot and change their friends

Lots of people are charming and flirty and like to be paid attention to. But this kind of behavior can become a disorder if people have to be the center of attention and become depressed when they're not. It's also a problem if people can't maintain relationships or jobs because of their need for constant change and drama.

People with histrionic personality disorder may also have other personality disorders or depression.

What causes histrionic personality disorder?

Histrionic personality disorder is probably caused by both:

  • Your genes (the genetic information passed to you from your parents)

  • Your experiences and upbringing, such as the way your parents treated you

How do doctors treat histrionic personality disorder?

Doctors treat histrionic personality disorder with:

  • Therapy

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