Within the mental health community, histrionic personality disorder or HPD is considered to be a condition in which sufferers behave in an intensely emotional and dramatic manner – that is considered by some to be dangerously irrational and impulsive. Like many other personality disorders, the precise causes of the condition are unknown, but genetic s and traumatic childhood experiences are thought to play a part. Interestingly, diagnosis is more prevalent amongst women than men, although this may be the consequence of reductive stereotyping which suggests it is unacceptable for women to be assertive in public – particularly within a sexual context.
Patients with HPD may appear to be overly assertive and predatory – and the disorder is often characterised as a means of asserting personality and a need to be the centre of attention. For those that suffer from it, relationships are maintained in a manner that is beneficial to the sufferer, with the world very much revolving around them. Predatory behaviour is often used as a means of validating existence, and most people who suffer from HPD display little aspects of empathy or sympathy towards others.
For those who suffer from HPD – intimate and sexual relationships are constructed in an artificial manner in order to replicate the dynamics of what they perceive to be normative romantic interplay – which can often be unsettling for those subjected to these behaviours.