Everyone wants to develop a likable personality, but what if they have a personality disorder and cannot control how they act or perceive others? This complex mental health disorder makes life difficult and often causes fractured relationships because of the disconnect that happens when someone has a personality disorder.
Time Wellness Arkansas created a highly effective program for personality disorder treatment that helps people learn to manage many of their symptoms and feel a greater sense of calmness and control. Our inpatient/residential and outpatient programs provide multi-disciplinary therapies and prescription medications that provide the best options for healing.
Time Wellness Center provides mental health treatment programs in Arkansas. Call us today at 479-336-6895 to begin treatment.
About Personality Disorders
Personality disorders are mental disorders that manifest through a variety of symptoms, generally characterized by enduring patterns of behavior, cognition, and inner experiences that deviate significantly from the expectations of an individual’s culture. These patterns are inflexible and pervasive across many situations and lead to distress or impairment—often with an onset in adolescence or early adulthood.
9.1% of U.S. Adults Have a Personality Disorder
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), “The prevalence of any [type of] personality disorder was 9.1% [among U.S. adults age 18+].”
Someone with a personality disorder finds that the way they feel, act, and think is different than others. They have difficulty regulating their emotions and often become moody and suspicious of other people. As a result, they act in ways that frustrate others and cause discord in their relationships.
Someone with a personality disorder often feels at odds with others and stuck in the ways they think, even if they aren’t always based in reality. While personality disorders are not curable, their symptoms can be managed with proper treatment.
Types of Personality Disorders
Several types of personality disorders exist, making it imperative that a person receives an exact diagnosis of the type they have. The diagnosis should come from a mental health professional and will allow them to provide a recommended treatment plan. The types of personality disorders are divided into three categories: Types A, B, and C.
Type A:
- Paranoid Personality Disorder: The individual lacks trust and is suspicious of people even without just cause.
- Schizoid Personality Disorder: The person often prefers to be alone and is not interested in other people or social activities.
- Schizotypal Personality Disorder: This causes a person to have “magical thinking” and perceive things that are not there. They are suspicious of most people and unable to form close bonds.
Type B:
- Borderline Personality Disorder: The individual has uncontrollable mood swings, fears abandonment, and often feels paranoid
- Histrionic Personality Disorder: This causes a person to constantly seek attention, feel misunderstood, and miscalculate their relationships.
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder: The person has an insatiable ego and believes themselves to be superior to others.
- Antisocial Personality Disorder: The individual behaves recklessly and without regard for fairness or other people’s feelings.
For more: The 8 Types of Narcissism (Understanding the Different Patterns)
Type C:
- Avoidant Personality Disorder: This causes a person to have low self-esteem and be sensitive to perceived criticism. They are extremely shy and unlikely to participate in social activities.
- Dependent Personality Disorder: The person feels ill-equipped to take care of themselves and relies heavily on others. They lack self-confidence and may put up with poor treatment or abuse from others.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: (note: this is not the same as OCD) The individual is hyper-focused on details and organization. They need to feel in control and will not budge on their viewpoints.
More On Types of Personality Disorders:
Tour Our Personality Disorder Treatment Programs
Signs and Symptoms Someone May Need Personality Disorder Treatment
Because there are so many different types of personality disorders, one set of symptoms won’t apply to all of them.
Common signs and symptoms that someone needs to seek personality disorder treatment include:
- Behavior that is unpredictable or not appropriate for a situation
- Difficulty with interpersonal relationships
- Mood swings
- Distrustful of others
- Trouble performing well at work or in school
- Difficulty in social situations or an avoidance of them
- Reluctance to form bonds or they become clingy in relationships
- Risky behavior
- Abuse of drugs or alcohol
What Do Personality Disorders Look Like?
The symptoms of personality disorders can cause some of the following behavioral and cognitive issues:
Difficulty in forming or maintaining relationships: Struggles with social interactions, might appear aloof or overly involved.
- Distorted self-image: Unstable sense of self, fluctuating self-esteem, and identity.
- Emotional instability: Rapid and intense emotional shifts, inappropriate anger, or difficulty controlling emotions.
- Impulsive behaviors: Acting on a whim without considering consequences, which might include substance abuse, binge eating, or risky activities.
- Fear of abandonment: Extreme reactions to real or perceived separation or rejection from others.
- Suspicion and mistrust of others: Believing that others are deceiving, exploiting, or harming them without sufficient basis.
- Difficulty with empathy: Challenges in recognizing or identifying with the feelings and needs of others.
- Need for control: Overwhelming need for order or control, often leading to rigidity and inflexibility in routines or behaviors.
- Social isolation or withdrawal: Preferring to be alone due to discomfort or lack of interest in social interactions.
- Perfectionism: An overwhelming need for things to be perfect or done in a very specific way that can interfere with task completion.
It’s important to note that these symptoms can overlap with many other mental health issues, and a professional assessment is crucial for an accurate diagnosis.
Our Personality Disorder Treatment Programs
Not everyone we treat has the exact same needs when it comes to what kind of personality disorder treatment they need. Some people have severe symptoms and need 24/7 care, while others make progress with an outpatient program.
The types of personality disorder treatment programs we offer include:
- Inpatient/Residential: People new to treatment or who have severe symptoms often require round-the-clock care. They temporarily live in our comfortable and homelike facility while having their treatment needs met around the clock.
- Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP): Our highest level of outpatient care takes place during several hours of therapy sessions per day over several days per week.
- Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP): Therapy sessions take place for three hours per day from three to five days per week.
- Outpatient Program (OP): The lowest level of outpatient care includes one or two therapy sessions per week.
- Virtual Treatment: For those who qualify, therapy can be done over a person’s device from their home or other private location.
Causes of Personality Disorders
A person with a family history of personality disorders has an elevated risk of developing one. These disorders can also occur as a result of childhood abuse or neglect, or the loss of a caregiver or other loved one. Even if one cannot pinpoint the cause of a personality disorder, they still need to seek professional treatment to learn how to manage their symptoms.
How We Treat Personality Disorders
Some treatment programs only offer one or two types of therapy and miss the point that it takes participating in several types of therapy to give people the best ability to improve their symptoms. Our personality disorder treatment in Arkansas includes the following therapies:
- Medication-Management: Using both prescription medications and traditional talk therapies provides a powerful treatment combination.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Learn how a person’s thoughts and feelings are connected to and influence their behaviors.
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy: Focusing on the four tenets of this therapy, which include mindfulness, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance.
- Biofeedback Therapy: This therapy involves the use of non-invasive treatment to determine things like brain waves that influence how a person feels.
- Red Light Therapy: The use of low levels of red light can help reduce symptoms of personality disorders.
- Life Skills Training and Education: Personality disorders can cause a person to have a diminished ability to perform daily life chores like housekeeping and personal hygiene.
- Yoga and Mindfulness Therapy: Engaging in these two therapies allows people to self-soothe and feel calmer.
- Art Therapy: Creating art during therapy sessions enables people to express their emotions in a new way.
- Music Therapy: Both listening to and creating music help people express and understand their emotions.
- Trauma Therapy: Many people with personality disorders have suffered from traumatic events earlier in life. Trauma therapy helps them discuss and process what’s happened to them.
- Family Program: A therapist meets with family members to teach them how personality disorders impact their loved ones and how to help them.
- Experiential Therapies: Participating in outdoor activities, both individually and as part of a group, adds a new way to help promote less stress and anxiety.
- Brain Mapping: Using non-invasive brain imaging to help predict which types of treatment will work best for a person.
- Alternative: Using alternative therapies offers people a way to improve their mental health.
Treatment for Co-Occurring Mental Health Disorders
When you address your personality disorder, you may also be addressing a co-occurring mental health condition like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The symptoms of personality disorder and PTSD can sometimes overlap, prompting mental health professionals to treat both conditions at the same time.
Here are some commonalities between PTSD and personality disorders:
- Emotional dysregulation: You could suffer from intense emotions such as sudden mood swings, feelings of emptiness, emotional numbness, or heightened emotional reactions.
- Impulsivity: You could experience impulsive behaviors.
- Interpersonal difficulties: You may face challenges in forming and maintaining healthy relationships.
- Anxiety and depression: You may experience persistent feelings of hopelessness, sadness, or worry.
- Hypervigilance and paranoia: You may exhibit heightened alertness to potential threats.
Besides PTSD treatment in Arkansas, at Time Wellness, you can get treatment for other co-occurring mental health issues, such as:
Recommended: Mood Disorder and Personality Disorder—What Are the Key Differences?
Why Time Wellness?
Each person who arrives for our personality disorder treatment in Arkansas is treated as the unique individual they are. We get to know them so we understand how they experience their specific mental illness. This allows us to help them set treatment goals and meet them. People aren’t just another case of someone with a personality disorder at Time Wellness Arkansas. They are someone we get to know so we can provide the kind of treatment they need.
Contact Us Today
If you or a loved one need mental health treatment in Arkansas, Time Wellness is here to help. Contact us today to get started.
