Personality problems

Some people feel anxious, inhibited or insecure. Others are gloomy, unhappy or doubt everything. Things can go wrong in relationships and/or work, without you having much control over it. Or you have lost an important person and after a while you are unable to pick up life again. When do you ask the NPI for help?

• You suffer from recurring gloom or anxiety. You have been treated for this before, with insufficient results.
• You suffer from the same kind of problems over and over again in relationships with other people or with yourself.

Are you unable to do your daily things as well because of these complaints or problems? Then treatment at the NPI can help. We treat people with personality problems and personality disorders. These problems often go hand in hand with, for example, depression, anxiety or continuing to suffer from unpleasant events from the past.

If you have a personality disorder, you can't do things the way you would like to. For example, you suffer from negative thoughts about yourself, you quickly feel anxious in contacts with others or you react much too impulsively: suddenly, without thinking. A personality disorder often causes problems in how you interact with others. It is also possible that you feel everything way too strongly. Or feels too little, while others expect it.

Many people with a personality problem don't realize they have a problem. They often think that's how it's supposed to be. It's often about things that everyone has, they're just way too strong. For example, jealousy, fear of commitment, being impulsive, being dependent, perfectionism, often arguing, constantly receiving criticism from others, and so on. Someone with a healthy personality can adapt to different situations. This is often very difficult for people with personality problems. That makes it difficult to do daily things and interact with other people.

Do you want to know if you have a personality problem? Answer these questions:

1. Have you found it difficult to start and maintain relationships for a long time?
2. Do you usually find it difficult to deal with your feelings or to keep pace with your feelings?
3. Do you usually have a negative feeling about yourself or others?
4. Do you usually feel like you get stuck in different areas in your life?
5. Have you had several treatments for your symptoms in the past and did they have insufficient or no lasting results?
6. Have you been suffering from anxiety and/or mood complaints for a long time that keep recurring?
7. Do you suffer from recurring arguments and tensions at home and at work?

If your answer to several questions is yes, then treatment at the NPI may be wise. Discuss this with your doctor or your current practitioner first. You can refer them to the NPI. With a referral letter from your GP or practitioner, you can make an appointment for an introductory meeting.

The basis for personality problems arises at a young age. Your personality develops through a combination of your aptitude and your environment. A secure attachment, the bond that develops between parent and child in the first year of life, helps enormously with everything you experience later on. For example, when enjoying your work, relationships and free time. A secure attachment also helps to easily recover from things that happen. A good start in childhood is therefore important for a healthy basis of your personality.

Good start: safe, well-groomed and loved

A good start means that you already feel safe, cared for and loved as a small child. This builds confidence in yourself and in others. A good start helps you learn to deal with your emotions and to be able to think about them. And to understand what feelings other people have. This allows you to deal well with yourself and with others.

Problems due to insecurity

Unfortunately, it is unsafe in some families. For example, due to intense events such as mistreatment or abuse. Or because important caregivers (such as your parents) are unpredictable or absent for a long time. This can contribute to the development of personality problems.

Children and young people who are not securely attached often have recurring anxiety and mood complaints and permanent behavioural problems. Things often don't go well in various areas: school and education, at home, in your free time, in contact with peers. After the age of twenty, when you start living your own life, you often unintentionally fall back into patterns that you learned as a child.

At the NPI, we help adults with personality problems, and also children with personality problems. Children and young people can still change quite easily. By treating children already, we can prevent bigger problems later on. Treatment is also important for others. Because attachment problems (and therefore the risk of personality problems) are often passed on from generation to generation.

When can a child go to the NPI?

Children and young people can have different emotional problems. Some feel anxious, inhibited or insecure. Others are more gloomy, unhappy, angry and overwhelmed by feelings, or feel numb. A combination of these complaints is also common. You can notice these problems in different ways. For example, due to arguments at home, problems at school, problems in relationships with peers or friends and problems in behavior.

Does your child have an emotional problem? Or are you between 12 and 23 years old and do you suffer from an emotional problem? The NPI has a special NPI Youth department. Here we examine and treat children and young people from 12 to 23 years old.

How do we determine if you have a personality disorder?

We work very carefully to investigate whether your symptoms fit the diagnosis of personality problems and what treatment is needed. Sometimes there are complaints, but a personality diagnosis and intensive treatment are not necessary. Then we think along about other appropriate treatment.

The official features

To be able to say whether you have a personality disorder, you must meet the characteristics from the DSM5 manual. This contains all the mental disorders they know in most countries, and how to recognize them: the type of experiences, perceptions, behaviors and/or characteristics. We therefore first look at whether we can diagnose a personality disorder from the DSM5 in you. This is necessary to determine which treatment you need. Your health insurer also needs that information.

Main bottlenecks

It is also very important for the practitioner to know much more precisely what is going on. We therefore always discuss with you what the most important bottlenecks are in, for example, your relationships, how you think about yourself, what you feel and experience when stressed, and so on. This way you can work on improvement together.

The different personality disorders are divided into three groups: cluster A, cluster B and cluster C. There are also people with personality disorders who cannot be classified in one of these three groups.

For example, they have characteristics of two or more personality disorders, but do not quite meet all the characteristics of one of the disorders.

This is called cluster NAO in DSM5 (not otherwise described). In practice, this is the most common.

Cluster A personality disorders

People with a personality disorder in cluster A often come across as strange or strange. They have little contact with others, often live alone and are reluctant to seek psychological help.

Cluster A consists of three personality disorders:

• Paranoid personality disorder (distrustful, which makes you think others have bad intentions).
• Schizoid personality disorder (distant in relationships with others and few ways to show your emotions).
• Schizotypal personality disorder (you immediately feel uncomfortable in intimate relationships, with strange behavior and distortions in your thinking or how you experience something).

Cluster B personality disorders

People with cluster B personality disorder are dramatic, emotional, impulsive, and often find it difficult to control the thoughts and emotions that arise in them. They often do things suddenly and without thinking, try to get their will done quickly and are bad at maintaining relationships. They take little or no account of their own safety and that of others. As a result, others may react negatively to them.

Cluster B consists of 4 personality disorders:

• Borderline personality disorder (difficult relationships with others, thinking negatively about yourself and your feelings and impulsive).
• Antisocial personality disorder (lack of respect for the boundaries and rights of others).
• Narcissistic personality disorder (finding yourself great, wanting admiration and not being able to empathize with someone else).
• Histrionic personality disorder (being extremely emotional and demanding attention).

Cluster C personality disorders

People with cluster C personality disorder are anxious. They are afraid of entering into relationships or losing people and therefore avoid social contacts and struggles. They suffer from compulsions and cannot live independently. People with cluster C personality disorder are often better able to adapt to daily life than people with cluster A and B personality disorders.

Cluster C consists of three personality disorders:

• Dependent personality disorder (submissive and highly affectionate behavior due to an exaggerated desire to be groomed).
• Avoidant personality disorder (inhibited and shy in social contact, feeling that is not doing enough and hypersensitive to negative judgment).
• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (always thinking that everything has to be exactly in order and perfect and wanting to have everything under control).

Would you like to view our treatment offer? Then click here. We also offer online treatment with NPI Online.