Post-traumatic stress disorder and Histrionic personality disorder

This article discusses post-traumatic stress disorder and histrionic personality disorder, their symptoms, causes, and response plans. It also provides insights into the latest research findings on the disorders. The subject is psychology, and the course code is not mentioned. The article is relevant to students and professionals in the field of psychology.

Running head: COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
1
Post-traumatic stress disorder and Histrionic personality disorder
Student’s Name
University

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
2
Post-traumatic stress disorder
This is a mental disorder that develops when one is exposed to traumatic event in their
life. The issues that causes the stress are related to sex, assault, warfare, collision or anything else
that threatens their life (Amoroso & Workman, 2016). This often leads to disturbing thoughts
that the individual experiences that last for different periods of time depending on the effect.
Issue Description
Early descriptions of the concepts are linked to warfare where accounts of stress in
soldiers after the battle are used to describe a range of anxiety symptoms that they experienced
during war. This led to the conceptual frameworks that seek to understand the effects of stress as
a factor of mental illness development (Kilpatrick, et al., 2013). This conceptual framework led
to the understanding that there is a psychiatric syndrome that occurs as a consequence of being
exposed to stress. This led to the development of the field to advances in neuroscience that allow
stress scrutiny through brain neuroimaging. These events are categorized as being outside the
range of usual human experience which is different from human stressors.
The difference between trauma and normal stressors is that the human body system is
biologically designed to deal with stressors that fall within the ordinary category but traumas
present experiences that overwhelm the individual thus making them develop post-traumatic
stress disorders (Maercker & Perkonigg, 2013). This means that people only exhibit PTSD
characteristics when they have met the stressors that make the individual to suffer memory lapses
of what happened.
Latest Research Findings Summary
Researchers have attempted to categorize different levels of PTSD in patients as a way of
determining how they can understand the signs and symptoms that people with the condition

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
3
display (Raskind, et al., 2013). Since people face different traumatic situations and their body
systems react differently the following criterion have been developed by researchers for
understanding people with the condition.
There are different criterion for diagnosing PTSD in patients. The first one is the stressor
criterion that focusses on the exposure of the individual to catastrophic events that threatens or
harms the individual. Once the individual has been exposed to the conditions, the disorder as
seen as a reaction to the experience that they have in the situation.
The intrusive recollection criterion deals with symptoms that are easily distinctive and
identifiable. The events can remain in the life of the individual for a certain period thus evoking
panic or psychological experience of the individual in case they are exposed to the condition
(Bass, et al., 2013). When the individual faces the images of the experience during the day, they
relapse back to trauma at night mostly when they are sleeping. This criterion is used in
reproducing the symptoms for laboratory tests during research by exposing the individual to the
condition.
The avoidance criteria is based on strategies used by PTSD patients to reduce their
exposure through behavioral strategies that reduce their exposure to traumatic stimuli. These
strategies are also used in reacting to situations or dealing with situations that create the rise of
the trauma.
The negative cognition and mood criterion reflects the alteration in beliefs and mood that
people develop after exposure to trauma. This is described as erroneous cognition about the
causes and consequences of the event thus blaming themselves for what they feel about the
situation. This is characterized by dissociative psychogenic amnesia that leads to cutting off the
conspicuous experience that one feels.

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
4
Lastly, there is the alteration in arousal or reactivity criterion which resembles panic and
anxiety disorders (Panagioti, Gooding, Triantafyllou, & Tarrier, 2015). The individual suffers
intense trauma that appears like frank paranoia. This experience leads to unique neurobiological
substrate defined as the most pathognomonic PTSD symptom which makes the individual to
experience angry outbursts, aggressive behavior, recklessness and even self-destructive behavior
that is a result of the inability of the individual to manage the condition.
Signs to watch
Avoidance seen in avoiding people, places or situations that remind the individual.
Hyperarousal
Negative thoughts and beliefs.
Mood swings.
Behavioral changes.
Memory problems.
Lack of concentration on tasks.
Poor relationship with coworkers.
Absenteeism.
Unreasonable reactions to situations that trigger memories.
Response Plan: Remember you are not treating the condition
Haagen, Smid, Knipscheer, & Kleber (2015) suggests that the first approach in managing
people with PTSD at work is maintaining dialogue. By keeping lines of communication open, the
victim can benefit from empathic listening since they feel embarrassed about the experiences and
some blame themselves for what happened. In most cases such people are not easy to open up

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
5
and may die silently if they have a work problem. To help them manage work PTSD, it is
important to allow communication so that they can be free to seek assistance.
Another way to assist PTSD victims at work is meeting their needs by asking them the
changes that they believe need to be put in place. Sometimes the work place can be a reminder or
the source of the disorders that they are undergoing thus the need to ensure that the workplace
addresses the challenges that they face like difficulty concentrating, poor memory, stress and
even anxiety (Skogstad, 2013). On the other hand, some behaviors like absenteeism and stress
from colleagues can be addressed through instituting mechanisms that accommodate the needs of
the victim.
Dealing with problems promptly within the workplace ensures that the issues are not left
to escalate and at the same time ensures that the victims gets the required help (Alisic, et al.,
2014). For example, when employees are having a hard time at work, there is need to speak to
them directly to understand the challenges they are facing and using constructive feedback to
understand what needs to be done to improve the condition.
Lastly, there is need to train employees on how to deal with PTSD issues when they arise
at work. The team needs to understand how to approach the issue in case one of them starts
experiencing the issue instead of mounting more pressure on them (Shalev, Liberzon, & Marmar,
2017). Early diagnosis ensures that preventive strategies are put in place to meet the needs of
such employees.

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
6
Histrionic personality disorder
Histrionic personality disorder is a disorder characterized by constant attention-seeking,
emotional overreaction and suggestibility. Such types of people are always uncomfortable and
feel unappreciated which pushes them to seek attention from others every time (Novais, Araujo,
& Godinho, 2015). This behavior becomes excessive to the point that it becomes too
uncomfortable for those around them, the reason why it is seen as a disorder.
Issue Description
People with this condition are said to have different causes that make them to behave that
way. One of the causes is the neurochemical composition of their system which is related to
cluster B personality disorders (Blaney, Krueger, & Millon, 2015). Individuals that have been
prescribed with HPD have noradrenergic systems that are high thus leading to anxiety proneness,
dependency and high sociability.
On the other hand, psychoanalytic theorists have suggested that biological drives
combine with individual experiences to form certain behavior tendencies that children have when
they grow up. When children are not socialized well or are exposed to certain traumatic
conditions they develop certain disorders like the Histrionic personality as a reaction to the
environment that they have been exposed to. This explains why children develop certain
tendencies when they grow.
Further, Crocq (2013) the condition is related to individuals with antisocial personality
disorder as the criteria for developing histrionic personality. For example, the media highlights
that women can get attention through exploiting themselves and when seductiveness does not
work, they prefer to use theatricals to achieve attention. Therefore, people with the disorder use it
to solve the unmet need of acquiring attention from others.

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
7
Latest Research Findings Summary
Despite the relationship with genetics and other disorders, histrionic personality disorder
lies in the childhood experiences and is portrayed in its relationship with experience and appears
mostly in men and women with average appearance. Researchers argue that this disorder is
unique since it is connected with the physical appearance of people which makes it easy for them
to hide in the condition. However, the connection is greater in women than men since women use
appearance to draw attention more than men. Individuals displaying this behavior use it as a
defense against inferiority, feelings of inadequacy, personality malformation and absence of
mother bond when growing up. However, in the later lives of individuals, traumas like divorce or
death can affect people’s inability to form intimate relationships thus making them to resort to
attention seeking. Cognitive style is the approach that people use to solve tasks through learning,
reasoning, thinking and decision making. Since this people have a personality weakness, their
cognitive approach is superficial and lacks detail which makes them to rely on dramatization to
impress others.
The disorder can only be diagnosed by a trained mental health professional who analyses
the individual and draws conclusion based on the signs that people have. Research has shown
that most people with this condition never seek treatment until the behavior has accumulated to a
point where it interferes with their life and that of others. This is mostly seen when the coping
resources that the individual has been using get exhausted making it difficult for them to cope
with the stress. According to research about 1% of the population suffers from this disorder but
is more common in women than men. Individuals who suffer from this condition are known to
carry out a series of schemes to seek attention from others. The most common ways of seeking

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
8
attention are causing of drama, flirting around, dressing seductively, interrupting conversations
and sometimes becoming the victim to seek sympathy.
Signs to watch
Self-centeredness
Constant seeking if attention or reapprove.
Inappropriate seductive behavior or appearance.
Shifting of emotional states.
Mostly over concerned with their physical appearance and sometimes using it to draw attention.
Exaggerated displays of emotion.
Highly suggestible.
Tend to getting bored with their normal routine.
Impaired relationships with same-sex friends.
Response Plan
Psychologists have stated that the first step in dealing people of this disorder is
understanding the symptoms of the disorder to determine the factors that you need to look for
when handling them. This implies understanding the things that the individual does so that
strategies can be put in place to manage the individual with the condition. Since people with
histrionic personality seek to manipulate people to get their way, the best way to handle them is
understanding their manners and not giving in (Blagov, Fowler, & Lilienfeld, 2017). They will
use different mechanisms and threats to walk over others and ensure that they convince them
with their craving behavior. Therefore, employees should develop ways of dealing with such
individuals and ensuring that they understand the tactics used and working around them.

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
9
Another way of dealing with such employees with the disorder is placing them in jobs
that suit them. Since they mostly see the problem as emanating from the other person rather than
them, they utilize their social skills to manipulate others to become the center of attraction. By
putting them in jobs that make them the center of attraction, it becomes difficult for them to
manipulate others since they get the attention that they always want (Novais, Araujo, &
Godinho, 2015). Management can reinforce this and ensure that the job placement is used to
shape the individual and ensure that they conform to setting limits, boundaries and policies of the
organization.
Another way to deal with histrionic disorder at work is practicing acceptance and
handling them in a way that does not attract attention. These people believe there is nothing
wrong with them and have learned to face the world using the behaviors that display. Since they
do not feel ashamed when they face situations with people, then it is important to learn to
reinforce desirable behaviors in them by speaking without drama and paying attention to what
they say. This makes them cool down and reduce attention seeking.

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
10
References
Alisic, E., Zalta, A. K., van Wesel, F., Larsen, S. E., Hafstad, G. S., Hassanpour, K., & Smid, G.
E. (2014). Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed children and
adolescents: meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 204(5), 335–340.
Amoroso, T., & Workman, M. (2016). Treating posttraumatic stress disorder with MDMA-
assisted psychotherapy: A preliminary meta-analysis and comparison to prolonged
exposure therapy. Journal of psychopharmacology, 30(7), 595–600.
Bass, J. K., Annan, J., McIvor Murray, S., Kaysen, D., Griffiths, S., Cetinoglu, T., . . . Bolton, P.
A. (2013). Controlled trial of psychotherapy for Congolese survivors of sexual violence.
New England Journal of Medicine, 368, 2182-219.
Blagov, P. S., Fowler, K. A., & Lilienfeld, S. (2017). Personality disorders. Los Angeles: Sage
Publications.
Blaney, P., Krueger, R., & Millon, T. (2015). Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Crocq, M. (2013). Milestones in the history of personality disorders. Dialogues Clinical
Neuroscience, 15, 147–153.
Haagen, J., Smid, G., Knipscheer, J., & Kleber, R. (2015). The efficacy of recommended
treatments for veterans with PTSD: A metaregression analysis. Clinical Psychology
Review, 40, 184-194.
Kilpatrick, D. G., Resnick, H. S., Milanak, M. E., Miller, M. W., Keyes, K. M., & Friedman, M.
J. (2013). National estimates of exposure to traumatic events and PTSD prevalence using
DSM-IV and DSM-5 criteria. Journal of Traumatic Stress,, 26, 537-547.

COGNITION IN THE DERMAL WORK PLACE
11
Maercker, A., & Perkonigg, A. (2013). Applying an international perspective in defining PTSD
and related disorders. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 560-562.
Novais, F., Araujo, A. M., & Godinho, P. (2015). Historical Roots of Histrionic Personality
Disorder. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(1453).
Novais, F., Araujo, A., & Godinho, P. (2015). Historical roots of histrionic personality disorder.
Frontiers in Psychology, 6.
Panagioti, M., Gooding, P. A., Triantafyllou, K., & Tarrier, N. (2015). Suicidality and
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-
analysis. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 50(4), 525–537.
Raskind, M. A., Peterson, K., Williams, T., Hoff, D. J., Hart, K., Holmes, H., . . . Freed, M. C.
(2013). A trail of prazosin for combat trauma PTSD with nightmares in active-duty
soldiers returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1-10.
Shalev, A., Liberzon, I., & Marmar, C. (2017). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The New
England Journal of Medicine, 376(25), 2459–2469.
Skogstad, M. (2013). Work-related post-traumatic stress disorder. Occupational Medicine, 63(3),
175-182.