Personality disorders are mental illnesses that affect patterns of thoughts and behaviors. These thoughts and behaviors are unhealthy, inflexible, and different from normal. Based in Copperas Cove, Texas, Rachel Smith-Bowery, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, is a psychiatric mental health specialist who diagnoses and treats personality and mood disorders through telehealth. Rachel provides telehealth mental health care for people living in Texas and Florida. Call today or schedule a consultation using the online booking tool.
Your personality is how you feel, think, and behave. It includes the traits that make you unique. Your experiences, life situations, and genetics influence your personality.
People with a personality disorder think, feel, and behave in a way that differs from what’s considered normal. Though it’s acceptable to have differing points of view, for people with personality disorders, their extremely unusual thoughts, feelings, and actions cause distress or make it hard to function.
Only a psychiatric mental health specialist like Rachel can diagnose personality disorders. She can’t diagnose a personality disorder in people under 18 because their personality is still developing.
To reach a diagnosis, she looks for ongoing patterns of behavior and personal experiences that affect how you:
The 10 personality disorders are grouped into three categories — called clusters — based on their symptoms and characteristics.
Cluster A personality disorder involves patterns of unusual thoughts and behaviors: for example, extreme distrust of others, complete disinterest in spending time with other people, or speaking in unusual ways.
People with cluster B personality disorders have thoughts and behaviors that are dramatic, emotional, and constantly changing. Borderline personality disorder is in cluster B. These personality disorders are marked by difficulty regulating emotions.
Cluster C personality disorders are marked by patterns of anxious thoughts and behaviors. For example, people with avoidant personality disorder are timid, avoiding people due to an extreme fear of rejection.
Personality disorders and mood disorders are two distinct groups of mental illnesses. Mood disorders affect your emotional state, causing you to feel so low (sad) or so up (elated) you can’t function normally.
Depression and bipolar disorder are mood disorders.
Rachel also treats mood disorders.
Psychotherapy is the primary treatment for personality disorders. After completing a psychiatric consultation to determine your diagnosis, Rachel creates a plan that best addresses your needs. She can also prescribe psychiatric medication to ease symptoms like anxiety or depression.
Rachel uses a combination of psychotherapy and medication management to treat mood disorders.
Call Rachel Smith-Bowery, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, today or schedule a telehealth consultation online to learn more about personality disorders.