People with HPD have a high desire for attention, make loud and inappropriate appearances, exaggerate their behaviors and emotions, and crave stimulation.
[1] They very often exhibit pervasive and persistent sexually provocative behavior, express strong emotions with an impressionistic style, and can be easily influenced by others.
Associated features can include egocentrism, self-indulgence, continuous longing for appreciation, and persistent manipulative behavior to achieve their own wants.People diagnosed with HPD may be dramatic.
[6] People with this disorder may wear flamboyant clothing, try body modifications,[13] and fake medical conditions in an attempt to draw others' attention.
[20] Some people with histrionic traits or personality disorder change their seduction technique into a more parental style as they age.
Although direct causes are inconclusive, various theories and studies suggest multiple possible causes, of a neurochemical, genetic, psychoanalytic, or environmental nature.
[37] HPD symptoms typically do not fully develop until late teens or early 20s,[38][39] while the onset of treatment only occurs, on average, at approximately 40 years of age.
[42] [43] Psychoanalytic theories incriminate authoritarian or distant attitudes by one (mainly the mother) or both parents, along with conditional love based on expectations the child can never fully meet.
[44] He believed the reason for being unable to love could have resulted from a traumatic experience, such as the death of a close relative during childhood or divorce of one's parents, which gave the wrong impression of committed relationships.
Exposure to one or multiple traumatic occurrences of a close friend or family member's leaving (via abandonment or mortality) could make the person unable to form true and affectionate attachments towards other people.
A twin study conducted by the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo attempted to establish a correlation between genetics and Cluster B personality disorders.
Any individual histrionic may exhibit one or more of the following:[54] narcissistic features) Treatment is often prompted by depression associated with dissolved relationships.
[55] Unstructured interviews, despite their popularity, tend to have problems with unreliability and are susceptible to errors leading to false assumptions of the patient.
[55] A disadvantage to the self-report inventory method is that, with histrionic personality disorder, there is a distortion in character, self-presentation, and self-image.
[56] Initial goals of functional analytic psychotherapy are set by the therapist and include behaviors that fit the client's needs for improvement.
[56] The in-session behaviors of the patient or client are considered to be examples of their patterns of poor interpersonal communication and to adjust their neurotic defenses.
[56] This allows the therapist to assist in problems and improvements outside of session and to verbally support the client and condition optimal patterns of behavior".
[56] In these sessions there is a certain set of dialogue or script that can be forced by the therapist for the client to give insight on their behaviors and reasoning".
In a peer and self-review study, it showed that femininity was correlated with histrionic, dependent and narcissistic personality disorders.
[36] Those with HPD are more likely to look for multiple people for attention, which leads to marital problems due to jealousy and lack of trust from the other party.