Case materials of unhealthy personality

An unhealthy personality is usually manifested as long-term abnormal emotional, cognitive, or behavioral patterns, which may affect an individual's social functioning and mental health. Common examples include excessive suspicion in paranoid personality disorder, emotional instability in borderline personality disorder, and excessive compliance in dependent personality disorder.

1. Paranoid Personality

Patients with paranoid personality disorder often exhibit unfounded suspicion of others' motives and interpret neutral behavior as malicious. These types of people may collect long-term evidence of their partner's infidelity without any real evidence, or firmly believe that their colleagues intentionally undermine their work results. They refuse to accept reasonable explanations, have tense interpersonal relationships, and are prone to hostile emotions, but usually do not reach the level of delusions. Cognitive behavioral therapy is commonly used in clinical practice to adjust irrational beliefs, and drugs are only used to alleviate accompanying anxiety symptoms.

2. Borderline Personality

Borderline personality disorder is characterized by intense emotional fluctuations, which may result in extreme transitions from idealization to belittling others within hours. Typical manifestations include self harm threatening to maintain relationships, impulsive consumption, or drug abuse. Patients often describe feelings of emptiness and confusion in their identity, and their behavior patterns can easily lead to the breakdown of interpersonal relationships. Dialectical behavior therapy has been proven to effectively improve emotional regulation ability, and requires long-term psychological and social support.

3. Dependent Personality

Dependent personality individuals exhibit an excessive need for care, require confirmation from others for daily decisions, and even tolerate abusive relationships to avoid being alone. They often shift responsibility to others and feel a strong sense of helplessness when faced with criticism. Clinical interventions need to gradually cultivate autonomy, establish confidence in independently completing tasks through behavioral experiments, and address potential childhood overprotection experiences.

4. Performance oriented personality disorder

Performance oriented personality disorder is characterized by exaggerated emotional expression and seeking attention, which may manifest as inappropriate provocative behavior or dramatic complaints. Patients often find it difficult to maintain deep relationships due to their shallow emotional experiences, and their words and actions are easily misunderstood as insincere. The focus of treatment is on improving empathy skills, learning moderate social feedback through group therapy, and reducing the pathological need for attention from others.

5. Compulsive personality

Compulsive personality individuals are obsessed with order control and perfectionism, which makes it difficult to complete tasks. They may redo the entire report due to minor file format discrepancies, or their quality of life may be affected by excessive frugality. Cognitive restructuring can help distinguish between reasonable standards and pathological demands, and relaxation training can alleviate accompanying anxiety symptoms, but changes often take a long time. For individuals with unhealthy personality traits, it is recommended to develop intervention plans based on professional psychological assessments. Daily mindfulness practice can enhance emotional awareness, establish a stable social support network, and avoid excessive self labeling. Early intervention can significantly improve social adaptability, but personality remodeling is a long-term process that requires the cooperation of psychotherapists and patients. If there is self harm or harm to others, seek immediate psychiatric assistance.