The New Elephant in the Room: Personality Disorders

Personality disorders are mystifying to those unfamiliar with them, and even to some in the mental health profession, although with copious amounts of information online about them these days, everyone acts like an expert and the terminology is bandied about with authority. 

It’s sticky and fascinating information. Unexplainable behaviors can quickly be explained away as narcissistic personality disorder or other personality disorder types. Once that thought happens, it’s easy to develop confirmation bias, which we talked about in the last episode. But it can be dangerous information, information that must be treated with respect and caution. 

In this episode, Bill and Megan discuss:

• Are personality disorders a type of mental illness? What is different about them? How common are they?
• How do they appear in everyday life? Would I know if someone had one? Examples?
• What questions should be asked in relation to personality disorder and criminal behavior, including the current tragic case of the Idaho murders?
• Are all people with personality disorders high conflict people?
• If I think someone has a personality disorder should I tell them?
• If I want to explain to a friend or family member what a personality disorder is, what should I say?

Links & Other Notes

• ARTICLE
  • The New Elephant in the Room: Why All Professionals Need to Learn About Personality Disorders
• BOOKS
  • It’s All Your Fault
  • It’s All Your Fault at Work: Managing Narcissists and Other High Conflict People
  • The Big Book on Borderline Personality Disorder
  • High Conflict People in Legal Disputes
• ARTICLES
  • Full list of articles on personality disordershttps://www.highconflictinstitute.com/hci-articles?category=Personality%20Disorders

Our website: https://www.highconflictinstitute.com/

Submit a Question for Bill and Megan

All of our books can be found in our online store or anywhere books are sold, including as e-books.

You can also find these show notes at our site as well.

Note: We are not diagnosing anyone in our discussions, merely discussing patterns of behavior.

• (00:00) – Welcome to It’s All Your Fault
• (00:34) – How to Understand Personality Disorders
• (02:00) – Are Personality Disorders a Type of Mental Illness?
• (05:30) – Higher Percentage?
• (07:36) – A Different Way to Find the Solution
• (10:59) – Careful Labelling
• (11:47) – How Would I Know?
• (14:00) – Idaho Murder Case Example
• (18:24) – Personality Disorder Does Not Equal HCP
• (20:41) – Blame and Charm
• (22:34) – Always There
• (23:22) – Lack of Self-Awareness
• (24:53) – Explaining Personality Disorders
• (28:55) – Last Thoughts
• (29:43) – Reminders & Coming Next Week: Getting It Backwards in Family Court