Personality disorder treatment
Living with a personality disorder? Our specialised treatment can help you manage your symptoms and regain control of your life.
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Diagnosing a personality disorder
While being diagnosed with a personality disorder remains controversial, due to the personal nature of the mental health condition, it can help to think of the diagnosis as a tool that helps mental health professionals decide what will be the most effective method of treatment and support to help manage the disorder.
Personality disorders can be treated, helping people to manage their symptoms and limit the impact it has on their lives. For example, with the right treatment, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that over 50% of people diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) no longer meet the criteria 5 to 10 years after diagnosis.
Knowing you have a personality disorder isn't a life sentence. Receiving a diagnosis can give you a reason to get help and learn self-compassion. It's not an excuse for your behaviour, but can act as motivation to help you make better choices and allow yourself the relationships you deserve.
What is personality disorder treatment?
Personality disorder treatment can vary depending on what type of personality disorder someone has. However, the goal of treatment is to help manage the personality disorder and minimise the symptoms as much as possible.
Treatment for personality disorders can be made up of lots of smaller treatments that can tackle different symptoms.
How are personality disorders treated?
Treatment for personality disorders aims to help you develop a more realistic sense of how you experience yourself in relation to others, and thus give you a more secure sense of who you are. You will learn how your thinking ad reactions may cause you difficulties, which can be overcome though learning new ways to communicate and reducing feelings of shame.
Treatment can vary depending on the type of personality disorder you may have. There are currently 10 recognised personality disorders, as well as some sub categories. While certain treatments will be more effective on some personality disorders more than others, fundamental differences in beliefs and ways of managing life situations in comparison to people without a personality disorder remains.
To make the types easier to understand, they are grouped into different clusters. Depending on the cluster and the symptoms you may be experiencing, personality disorder treatment will be tailored to your needs aims to reduce the impact of the condition on your life.
Personality disorder treatment options
Residential treatment
Residential treatment for personality disorders involves 24-hour care and support, alongside psychotherapy sessions, rehabilitative workshops and creative classes. Your physical wellbeing will also be a focus, and you'll benefit from activities such as yoga and meditation.
The highly structured nature of inpatient treatment ensures that you learn the techniques and coping strategies you need to manage the symptoms of your personality disorder in your daily life.
Outpatient and day care
If your personality disorder isn’t diagnosed as severe, or if you've already completed more intensive treatment options, then outpatient and day care mental health treatment provides a flexible and supportive environment where you can take part in therapy sessions with your therapist or consultant. Outpatient and day care treatment offer step-down options from residential treatment, enabling continued support before you fully return to your daily routine.
Mentalisation-based therapy (MBT)
Psychotherapy treatments such as MBT can be effective when it comes to treating personality disorders. This involves a detailed examination of your own thoughts and beliefs, and whether these are realistic or helpful.
This treatment can be effective in personality disorders such as EUPD, where impulsive behaviours such as self-harming can happen without thinking through what's making you so upset. The aim of this treatment, usually provided in a hospital setting, is to improve your ability to assess your thoughts about yourself and others, and what impact they could ultimately have.
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)
Talking therapies such as DBT represent a core part of treatment for personality disorders at Priory, particularly during EUPD treatment. Our DBT programme offers comprehensive treatment, involving both one-to-one and group therapy sessions, where emotional issues associated with personality disorders can be addressed. This will help you to tackle your symptoms and any relational discomfort in a safe space.
The aim of DBT is to help you learn to control distressing and extreme emotions by accepting that how you feel is real and perfectly acceptable, before challenging these thoughts and emotions with alternative and more positive ways of thinking. DBT will also teach you the skills to manage your anger and emotions and to avoid self-harm.
This method can help free you of looking at the world and your relationships within it in a way that can be rigid and self-destructive. It will instead teach you ways of looking at things in a more positive and helpful way. It can help you to develop self-awareness and self-compassion, and teach you to make healthy choices based on your own instincts as opposed to the unhealthy behaviour you've learned.
Medication for personality disorders
While no medication is currently used specifically to treat personality disorders, certain mood stabilisers or anti-psychotic medications may be helpful during treatment if you have a co-existing mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder.
What causes personality differences?
While it isn’t currently clear what causes a personality disorder to develop, it's thought that a combination of genetics and environmental factors during your childhood can play a role in the likelihood of being diagnosed with a type of personality disorder. Childhood trauma is an important factor for many people.
These factors can also have an impact on whether someone with a personality disorder may also have a co-occurring condition.
The unique nature of our personalities and the complexity involved in forming what makes us who we are is the reason why there are so many different types of personality disorder. Because personality is mostly formed during childhood, including the way you observe the world around you and relate to others, the following experiences as a young person may trigger a personality disorder:
- A chaotic family life such as living with family members who struggle with substance abuse or mental health problems
- A poor support network either from your caregiver, peers, or wider community, particularly when you're of school age
- Losing a parent or experiencing a traumatic event such as a car accident
- Verbal, physical or sexual abuse
These circumstances don't always lead to someone developing a personality disorder. The way you react and are supported during these difficult periods of your life, determine how much it affects your mental health and wellbeing as an adult. However, the causes of your personality disorder will be discussed during personality disorder treatment so that your therapists and doctors can understand your disorder better, and provide you with the appropriate treatment and care.
About personality disorders
A personality disorder relates to difficulties with the way you think, feel and behave, and your beliefs and actions may differ from other people around you. This can include extremes of emotions and behaviours, including being more or less impulsive, angry, or obsessive than others. You may feel misunderstood by other people and as though the world disapproves of you. You might have very little trust in other people's ability to understand you, and have a sense of frustration when it comes to communicating with others. Sometimes this may lead to anti-social behaviour in an attempt to get across how you feel and what you need from others.
However, being diagnosed with a personality disorder doesn't mean that there is something 'wrong' with who you are, and it's not your fault. Part of the personality disorder treatment process will help you accept yourself before challenging your current thoughts and feelings. This will support you to form a more positive and helpful mindset which doesn't adversely impact your functioning in everyday life.
