Identifying and Treating Personality Disorders

Everyone has unique personality traits, some positive and some negative. Negative personality traits that can be traced back to childhood or adolescence and become rigid and problematic in many areas of an individual’s life may indicate the presence of a personality disorder. Personality disorders may cause considerable chaos, frustration, and disappointment and lead to depression, anxiety, marital discord, low self-esteem, relationship difficulties, and addictive patterns. Therapy involves helping individuals identify distorted patterns of thinking and the accompanying vicious cycles of self-defeating behavior and then relearning new ways of being with self and others. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) have proven to be helpful tools in the change process.