PERSONALITY DISORDER TREATMENT IN TENNESSEE

Call Time Wellness today at 423-413-6195 to begin mental health treatment in Tennessee.

What Is a Personality Disorder?

Personality disorders are a class of mental health conditions that are characterized by unhealthy thinking and behavior patterns, as well as unhealthy patterns of relating to others. These conditions alter a person’s ability to think and act normally, affecting their overall well-being and relationships with others. Proper care and treatment can help a person to begin living a normal life with healthy thinking and relationships.

9.1% of U.S. Adults 18+ Have a Personality Disorder

According to the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH), “The prevalence of any personality disorder was 9.1% [in the past year].”

Personality disorders hinder daily functionality and interpersonal relationships. Borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder are examples of different personality disorders. Personality disorder treatment in Tennessee often involves therapy and support in order to help the individual begin healing.

Causes + Risk Factors of Developing a Personality Disorder

Personality disorders generally develop in adolescence or early adulthood and can be caused by a combination of genetic, environmental, and developmental factors. Personality disorders skew a person’s self-perception, as well as their perception of others. They also affect emotional regulation, impulse control, and the ability to build and maintain healthy relationships.

Personality disorder treatment in Tennessee consists of a combination of therapies as well as medications in order to be able to teach the individual new and healthy ways of coping and acting. These new skills can help them learn to build healthy relationships and help make their perceptions less skewed.

What Are the 3 Types of Personality Disorders?

Personality disorders are classified by types. The disorders classified in each type (called a “cluster”) share similar characteristics and symptoms.

Personality disorder clusters are as follows:

Cluster A Personality Disorders

These personality disorders share the primary characteristic of unusual or odd behavioral patterns. This can include social withdrawal, paranoia, and distorted perceptions of reality.

Examples of Cluster A personality disorders includes:

• Paranoid Personality Disorder: This disorder includes distrust and suspicion of others. The person thinks that others are out to harm or sabotage them.
• Schizoid Personality Disorder: People with this personality disorder have no desire for nor seek enjoyment from relationships with others. They also appear to have a lack of emotions.
• Schizotypal Personality Disorder: This disorder causes a person to have unusual thoughts, behaviors, or ways of speaking. People with schizotypal personality disorders struggle to form close relationships.

Cluster B Personality Disorders

Personality disorders in this cluster include difficulty regulating emotions as well as significant mood changes. A person with a cluster B personality disorder may appear to others as dramatic, unstable, impulsive, or overly emotional.

Cluster B personality disorders include the following:

• Antisocial Personality Disorder: A person with this disorder will have a history of manipulating or harming others. They often take advantage of others for personal gain.
• Borderline Personality Disorder: Someone with borderline personality disorder (BPD) struggles to regulate their emotions. This can lead to problems in relationships, impulsivity, and self-harming behaviors.
• Histrionic Personality Disorder: This disorder causes the person to engage in attention-seeking behaviors and exaggerated emotions. They also have unstable emotions and distorted perceptions of relationships.
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder: People with narcissistic personality disorder feel entitled to special treatment. They believe that they are better than other people, lack empathy, and have a strong desire to be admired.

Recommended:

• The Difference Between Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder
• What is Quiet BPD?
• 4 Types of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

Cluster C Personality Disorders

Cluster C personality disorders include symptoms of excessive worry and fear. People with cluster C personality disorders often behave in anxious or avoidant ways.

Examples of Cluster C personality disorders include the following:

• Avoidant Personality Disorder: This disorder causes a person to have a strong fear of rejection. Therefore, they avoid forming close relationships and feel like they are not as worthy as other people.
• Dependent Personality Disorder: A person with this disorder depends significantly on others to care for their needs. Oftentimes, this leads to the person struggling to let go of unhealthy relationships.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: Not to be confused with a type of anxiety disorder called obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), people with this personality disorder feel the need to control others, are inflexible, and are perfectionists.

Signs and Symptoms of Personality Disorder

Varying by each type of personality disorder, the signs and symptoms of personality disorders that are generally seen across the different types can include:

• Difficulty building and maintaining relationships: Those with personality disorders often have struggled with building and maintaining healthy relationships. They may have very unstable relationships that result in extreme idealization, fear of abandonment or avoidance of intimacy.
• Self-control issues: Individuals struggling with personality disorders often engage in risky behaviors, have difficulty controlling their impulses, and engage in substance abuse, and self-harm. They often also struggle with suicidal ideations.
• Emotional instability: Characterized by frequent and extreme mood swings, impulsivity, and angry outbursts, a personality disorder can lead to problems managing emotions, and conflict within interpersonal relationships.
• Difficulties with boundaries: May struggle with personal boundaries, disregarding the boundaries of others, and may struggle with a sense of entitlement.
• Feelings of emptiness: A person struggling with personality disorders may often feel empty or useless. Feelings of lack of purpose are common signs of a personality disorder.

It is important to note that these signs and symptoms of personality disorders can vary from person to person in exhibition and intensity. This can be due to the person, or the disorder. A thorough mental health assessment can help to identify a specific disorder or disorder someone may be struggling with.

Personality disorder treatment in Tennessee can help with completing an assessment and being able to identify the disorder as well as coming up with a course of action for treatment.

Recommended: How to Recognize Split Personality Disorder Symptoms and Find Treatment in Tennessee

Effects of Personality Disorder

Personality disorders have significant impacts on a person’s life. If left untreated, personality disorders can lead to trouble performing at work and school, trouble establishing an independent lifestyle, loss of jobs or academic successes, and ongoing financial stress. 

These disorders can also affect a person’s interpersonal relationships, making it difficult to build and maintain healthy relationships due to some of the symptoms associated with personality disorders. They can also lead to poor emotional well-being.

Those with personality disorders often experience extreme emotional distress, mood swings, and a sense of emptiness or dissatisfaction. Personality disorder treatment in Tennessee can help to change these negative thought processes making the overall well-being of an individual better and healthier.

Benefits of Treatment for Personality Disorders

The first step for an individual is to accept that they need help. Left untreated, personality disorders can wreak havoc in the life of the individual who is struggling. Proper personality disorder treatment can help to begin the healing process. 

It may feel overwhelming at first, but the best thing a person can do in order to begin living a better life is to receive proper care as they begin to work through the things leading to these personality disorders. Improving personal relationships, improving self-image, enhancing emotional regulation, and better coping skills are all benefits of receiving personality disorder treatment.

How Are Personality Disorders Treated?

Everyone in treatment has unique needs and responds differently to a variety of therapeutic interventions. At our personality disorder treatment in Tennessee, we offer several types of therapies to help our clients build a personalized treatment program. That way, clients can engage in the therapies that they find helpful to meet their needs.

We offer the following types of therapies to treat personality disorders:

• Medication Management: Psychiatric medications can help to address symptoms of personality disorders like mood swings, depression, and anxiety.
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): One of the most common types of therapies, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) helps clients identify and improve problematic ways of thinking.
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): A type of CBT, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) was developed to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD). It is effective in treating a variety of disorders by improving four skills: (1) emotion regulation, (2) distress tolerance, (3) interpersonal effectiveness, and (4) mindfulness.
• EMDR Therapy: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is an innovative way to help clients process traumatic events. Trauma is a common underlying cause of several personality and mental health disorders.
• Biofeedback Therapy: Biofeedback gives clients real-time physiological feedback on stress levels in order to help them understand triggers and manage stressors.
• Red Light Therapy: Red light therapy involves using low levels of red lights to increase feelings of wellness throughout the body and mind.
• Alternative Therapy: There are several ways to treat personality disorders beyond traditional techniques. Alternative therapy includes activities like art therapy, music therapy, and outdoor recreation.
• Life Skills: People with personality disorders often struggle with skills essential to daily living. Our life skills training helps clients learn things like how to maintain a healthy home, how to obtain and keep employment, and how to live a healthy lifestyle.
• Yoga and Mindfulness Therapy: Yoga and mindfulness activities can be therapeutic for managing stress and increasing feelings of well-being.
• Art Therapy: Sometimes, it’s difficult to find the words to describe challenging emotions during traditional talk therapy. Art therapy can help clients express their emotions when they can’t put them into words.
• Music Therapy: Music therapy involves performing, listening to, or writing music. Clients gain benefits such as increasing social skills, building self-confidence, and developing healthy coping skills.
• Trauma Therapy: Trauma is a common underlying risk factor of developing a personality disorder. Trauma therapy allows clients the opportunity to process their trauma.
• FLOAT Tank Therapy: FLOAT tanks help clients relax within a sensory-deprivation tank. Spending time in a FLOAT tank can improve sleep, reduce stress, enhance creativity, and relieve pain.
• Biosound Therapy: During biosound therapy, clients relax on a vibrating bed while listening to binaural beats. This can help clients reduce stress and improve their overall mood.
• Family Program: Personality disorders impact the entire family and not just the individual with the disorder. Our family program helps families improve communication and conflict-resolution skills.
• Alpha-Stim: Alpha-stim involves using a medical device that employs cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) to alleviate symptoms of anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
• Experiential Therapy: Experiential therapy is a hands-on approach that involves the five senses to treat personality disorders. For example, experiential therapy can include expressive arts, animal-assisted therapy, and outdoor therapy.
• BrainTap: BrainTap uses a combination of light and sound to help clients relax. It helps the brain mimic the patterns that correlate with deep meditation.

Our Personality Disorder Treatment Programs in Tennessee

We offer treatment for personality disorders across several levels of care so that our clients get the support they need.

The following are our levels of care:

Residential Treatment Programs

Time Wellness Tennessee offers a specialized residential treatment program designed to support individuals with personality disorders. Our program provides a structured and supportive environment where individuals can focus on their recovery with the help of experienced mental health professionals available 24/7.

Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)

Our partial hospitalization program (PHP) is the next step after residential treatment. During our PHP, clients attend a mix of group therapy, one-on-one counseling, and psychoeducational sessions for several hours each day. A typical PHP occurs Monday through Friday for 6-8 hours each day.

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

Our intensive outpatient program (IOP) offers a high level of care with a flexible treatment schedule. IOP programs occur for about 3-4 hours each session, typically during the evening. Clients attend IOP sessions three to four days each week.

Outpatient Program

Outpatient treatment means that clients don’t live within a treatment facility during their program. Most people move on to outpatient programming after residential care. Some clients live at home whereas others choose to live in supportive housing.

Supportive Housing

After residential treatment, some clients aren’t ready to return home or they may have unstable housing. Supportive mental health housing provides a safe and secure option for those who cannot return home while they attend outpatient treatment.

Virtual Treatment

If access to in-person treatment is a barrier for you, then our virtual rehab program can help. We offer our outpatient programming virtually for those who can’t make it in-person due to scheduling, transportation, or mobility issues.