
Suggest Treatment For Personality Disorder

Brief History: From birth to about 4 yrs. old - cried - nothing soothed her. Outbursts through toddler stage -
tantrums, being mean, stealing, just plain ugly behavior. From 4 yrs. on to teenager, tried counseling -- family,
and then me. Doctors stated nothing wrong. Now her 16-year marriage and motherhood (1 son 14; 1 son 11)
falling apart. She thinks everyone else is wrong; sometimes does not remember what she said the night
before. Maybe alcohol involved. I don't know if she's bipolar; manic depressive???? She needs help and
so does our family.
More details about her behavioral pattern willhelp
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
I went through your query and can understand your concern for your daughter. From what you have mentioned, your daughter seems to have a chronic pattern of mal-adjustment and inter personal conflicts. It might be suggestive of some sort of personality disorder.
Feeling that everyone else is wrong, emotional instability can be suggestive of emotionally unstable personality. In such conditions, a person has lability of mood, feels empty from inside and often feels that no one understand her. Such people generally see things as either good or bad rather than shades of grey. They are also prone for frequently trying to harm self. They have frequent relationship issues. They are also know to be highly impulsive.
Regarding being bipolar, I am not too sure. It generally consists of a manic phase and a depressive phase. Manic phase characterized by elated/irritable mood, increased talking and activity, feeling grandiose, etc lasting fro few days to weeks. Depressive phase consists if feeling low, lethargic, etc.
I would be able to help you better if you could provide me more details regarding her behavioral pattern. In any case, a psychiatric consultation is what would be desirable for detailed evaluation.
I do hope that I was able to help in some way. Please feel free to follow up with more details and any more queries that you might have.
Best wishes,
Dr. Sunil Gupta


not seek help. She and her husband are now in the process of a divorce and
she believes he is pitting the two boys against her. How can I approach her -
suggesting anything could be her fault puts a bigger wedge between us. I am
her confidant and have learned what to say and not say so not to set her off.
It is strange that she has held the same job for 17 years but has always has
issues with her family. Thank you for your advice.
Please see details below
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for following up. I am sorry to hear about the divorce. I can understand what you must be going through, understanding everything and still not be able to help out in the situation.
Personality is determined by various factors including genetics, early influences while growing up, family factors, social factors and so on. Every one has his own personality. When this personality type of a person starts causing distress for one self or causes interpersonal relationship issues, it tends to develop into personality disorder. As you pointed out, the most important problem in dealing with this condition is that the person himself or herself doesn't feel that anything is wrong with him or her.
Most of the time the issues crop up with people who are close or with whom you live with. So its not necessary that the problems will crop up in workplace too. In any case, a personality type such as your daughter's can come across as a very sincere and attractive to people in short term and to those who are not close.
Since you are close to her, I would definitely not advise you to confront her over this as this will strain the relationship with you too. For her, what might be good today can be the worst the very next day and the same can happen with you. You seem to have understood her and are dealing accordingly. But you can also start dropping subtle hints in between and see how she reacts. Whenever she talks about an issue, you can just ask her if there can ever be any other side of the story or can things be different if seen from a different angle. You can also ask people close to her to start doing the same. Its tough but definitely not impossible. It will take time, but if we persist, I feel it can be done.
I do hope that the situation in you family does improve. Please let me know if I can be of help at any point of time. I will try my best to guide you if you ever need my help.
Wishing you all the very best,
Dr. Sunil Gupta


else, I will write to you. XXXXXXX
Please feel free o ask any query anytime.
Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXXXXX
Thanks for your feedback. Please don't hesitate to ask any query anytime ahead. I will consider myself privileged if i am able to help you out in any possible way. You can also directly contact me at:
http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/doctors/dr-sunil-gupta/67657
If you decide to close the discussion, please do rate the answer.
Best wishes,
Dr. Sunil Gupta

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