What Are Personality Disorders?

Your personality is yours, and it makes you who you are. A blend of traits, emotions, values, and habits, your personality essentially guides how you see the world and how others see you move through it. Part of it comes from the temperament you’re born with, and part of it grows from your family, culture, and life experiences.

When a personality disorder develops, aspects of your personality, referred to as traits, may start to feel overwhelming. You might notice yourself struggling in friendships, at work, in family life, or internally. Even though these struggles can feel discouraging and never-ending, treatment at one of our facilities could help you find steadier ground and a more hopeful path forward, especially when you opt for behavioral therapy.

This blog will walk you through what personality disorders are, why they may happen, some of the most common ones, and how you can find care in Wisconsin with Miramont Behavioral.

What Is a Personality Disorder?

A personality disorder is a mental health condition, and it affects your thoughts, feelings, and actions over time. It’s never one factor that creates a personality disorder. Some of the most common influences include genetics and family history, culture, brain chemistry, and trauma. 

There are 10 main personality disorders, each creating unique challenges that may leave you feeling worn down, creating distress, or making daily life harder to manage: 

• Personality disorders may cause problematic issues to manifest continuously, like relationship tension, an intolerance to stress, or feeling stuck in certain patterns. 
• They may cause you to feel emotions more intensely than others, become suspicious of people’s intentions, or develop rigid habits that seem impossible to break. 
• Anyone can have a personality disorder, though some are more common in women, like borderline personality disorder and dependent personality disorder, and others are more common in men, like antisocial personality disorder. 
• Personality disorders typically start to surface in the teen years or during adulthood and fall into categorical clusters that range from A to C. 

Cluster A includes personality disorders that may feel off-beat or eccentric, and they can make it harder to feel comfortable or safe in relationships. You might notice patterns of mistrust with paranoid personality disorder, emotional distance with schizoid personality disorder, or distorted views of reality with schizotypal personality disorder. 

Cluster B personality disorders often intensify emotional and dramatic behavioral patterns. For example, antisocial personality disorder may look like ignoring rules or others’ feelings, while borderline personality disorder can cause mood swings and fears of abandonment. Histrionic and narcissistic personality disorders may lead to seeking attention or admiration to quiet deep pain or combat feelings of low self-worth.

Cluster C personality disorders often generate immense fear and sensitivity. Avoidant personality disorder may leave you totally allergic to rejection, while dependent personality disorder may make you feel unable to do anything alone. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), on the other hand, can ignite rigid perfectionism and an exhausting need for control.

What Are the Most Common Personality Disorders?

Almost 10% of adults in the United States live with a personality disorder. You might know someone who struggles with one, or you may have noticed traits in yourself that feel familiar. 

Two of the most common are borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). If you live with BPD, you might feel emotions so strongly that they seem to take over. If you live with ASPD, you might find yourself clashing with rules, overlooking the needs of others, or feeling detached from consequences. 

Other personality disorder symptoms might look like: 

• Avoiding new relationships because you’re sure you’ll be rejected.
• Being unable to make decisions without someone else’s reassurance. 
• Craving attention or approval, or leaning so much on routines that flexibility feels impossible.
• Feeling misunderstood, even when others see your actions differently.
• Swinging between moods, experiencing intense abandonment phobia, or struggling to trust your own sense of worth. 
• No matter which traits you recognize, one thing is true: personality disorders can disrupt daily life, but with support and care, you can learn to better manage symptoms and strengthen your relationships.

Find Mental Health Support in Wisconsin

Contacting us might feel like a big step, but it can also be the start of finding relief and stability. At Miramont Behavioral Health in Middleton and Waukesha, patients find care that’s compassionate, respectful, and focused on healing. Our team offers inpatient treatment and other levels of support to meet you where you are.

We also specialize in helping patients find support for personality disorders, which can often show up alongside substance use disorder.