Resources and Information on Histrionic Personality Disorder

[honestlyhistrionic]

information

hi there! you can call me whatever you like. i have histrionic personality disorder (HPD) and this blog will serve as my place to talk about it, educate others, and maybe even help some people.

this blog is self dx friendly and welcoming to people with all personality disorders.

HPD is one of the lesser known personality disorders, and the least known of cluster B. many people mistake this lack of information and research for HPD being an illegitimate disorder, but our struggles are real and distinct.

asks are almost always open, if you have a question on the disorder feel free to send it in.

claimed sign offs under the cut!

-⚰️ -🎭🐾

[hpdcultureis]

Thank you for answering! I have just a few more questions if that’s ok haha

- I have NPD/BPD, and ‘HPD traits’, but I’m wondering if I might have the full thing, too. Is it possible to have all three? Lmfao

- are there subtypes to HPD?

- what are some good resources? Compared to BPD and NPD, there’s like… nothing out there on HPD other than ‘lol crazy sexy dramatic woman disorder’ / misogyny. Idk I’m trying to find resources that aren’t just the stereotypes or hateful caricatures.

hi um honestly im just a teenage girl not a therapist so idk about some of these, for the first one i think its possible?? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ and for the second one, I'd trust @honestlyhistrionic with materials, i think ive also reblogged some hpd related materials! if anyone else has anything plus share <33

[honestlyhistrionic]

Tysm for tagging me!

There are no diagnostic subtypes to HPD (as is the case with all the PDs), but psychologist Theodore Millon did propose six subtypes, which you can read about here.

For resources, I unfortunately lost all the resources I had saved when I broke my old computer. Off the top of my head I can recommend Theodore Millon's "Personality Disorders in Modern Life" (which does talk about all the PDs, but the sections are pretty long so there's a decent amount of info on HPD), but I'd have to do some digging to find my old resources and I'll get back to you with another reblog when I do find them!

[deadlypawz]

Understanding the Histrio High and Crash: Splitting in HPD

Histrio High and Histrio Crash are terms used to describe extreme emotional states that people with Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD) often experience. While not formal clinical terms, they reflect a pattern of emotional flow triggered by changes in attention, whether positive or negative.

⸻

Histrio High

Often triggered by a sudden increase in attention—whether positive (praise, admiration) or negative (criticism, confrontation). This can lead to an elevated mood, increased self-worth, and the development of a temporary superiority complex.

Behaviors May Include An Increase In:

• Sudden changes in behavior, appearance, or mood

• Flirtatious or attention-seeking actions

• Exaggerated speech or dramatic self-expression

• Overidentifying with new relationships or people (example, considering everyone immediately close friends)

• Emotional displays that seem out of proportion to the situation

Internal Experience:

• Feeling elated and full of self-worth

• A strong need for admiration and attention

• Lack of awareness of others’ feelings or boundaries

• Emotional detachment despite expressing intense emotions

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Histrio Crash

A Histrio Crash often happens after a withdrawal of attention, whether it’s real or imagined. It feels like an emotional collapse, filled with panic, shame, and a desperate need for reassurance or connection. This can be seen with low mood, decreased self-worth, and the development of a temporary inferiority complex.

Behaviors May Include:

• Crying, oversharing, or panicking

• Reaching out to unsafe people for attention

• Feeling hopeless or thinking catastrophically

• Viewing others as distant, hostile, or abandoning—even if they are not

• Physical symptoms like shaking, nausea, or fatigue

Internal Experience:

• A deep fear of being abandoned or forgotten

• Intense shame, self-criticism, and emotional vulnerability

• Wanting closeness while fearing being “too much”

• Overwhelming emotional distress

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To support someone going through a Histrio High or Crash, it’s important to stay calm, consistent, and nonjudgmental. Validate their emotions without making them feel like they’re manipulating others. Offer reassurance and maintain clear boundaries while showing compassion. Encourage grounding techniques like deep breathing or mindfulness. Above all, be present and offer comfort without trying to “fix” the situation.

[honestlyhistrionic]

https://www.tumblr.com/communities/hpd-hub

!!

if you're looking for an HPD space, check out this tumblr community!

[honestlyhistrionic]

That moment when there's no community place for pwHPD so you make your own tumblr community

do you mind sharing a link anon 👀 i'd love to help promote it!

[honestlyhistrionic]

Honestly Histrionic Culture is none of your friends acknowledging you when you send something so now you spam everyone you know with that thing and have the urge present yourself in a dramatic way to gain attention. Because. Please look at me??? Am I not real??? 😔

[Hope this type of submission is okay?]

Culture submissions are more than welcome, and yeahhh this is very real

[honestlyhistrionic]

Hey everyone! I have an unfortunate announcement to make (don’t worry, this blog isn’t going anywhere). My computer is currently busted and I only have my phone to use tumblr. This will mean that posts will be very slow for the next several months until I can save up for a new computer, as I’m not very good with mobile tumblr. I will still try to use this account, I’m just not going to be as active making original posts and responding to asks.

[honestlyhistrionic]

HPD and social withdrawal

I don't see very many people talking about how histrionics can also experience social withdrawal, so here's a post discussing it! This is a bit of an add-on to my last post coining the term HPD Withdrawing, since I didn't explain much of why we socially withdraw.

Histrionics often deal with pervasive feelings of insecurity and a fragile sense of self. These feelings are part of what drives us to seek so much attention, but they can also push us in the opposite direction at times.

When a histrionic feels criticized, rejected, embarrassed, or ashamed, they may enter a state of social withdrawal to avoid and deny these feelings. For some histrionics, social withdrawal is a means to gain attention in the form of concern about their well-being. For other histrionics, social withdrawal is a means to avoid hurt and pain. For many histrionics, social withdrawal can be both, or somewhere in between.

Withdrawing in HPD can be global or targeted at a specific person/group. Some histrionics, upon feeling negatively about themselves/an interaction, may isolate from everyone and everything for a period of time. Others may only avoid the person/people who triggered those negative feelings. It's possible to experience both of these at different times, though some histrionics may experience primarily one or the other.

My personal experiences with social withdrawal involve a mix of both attention seeking and harm avoidance. When I'm feeling criticized or rejected, I might delete social media, unfriend people, go offline, etc. in hopes that someone will check up on me and shower me with attention and sympathy. When I'm feeling embarrassed or ashamed, I'm likely to pull away in more subtle and unconscious ways to keep myself safe from hurt, such as not replying to messages or not texting people first. My subconscious withdrawal tends to be specifically targeted at whomever caused me to feel negatively in the first place, and my conscious withdrawal tends to involve avoiding everyone.

[honestlyhistrionic]

HPD seeking / withdrawing

I've been going back and forth on coining some terms like these, but I figured I'd give it a shot!

These terms describe two sides of the histrionic experience. The first, seeking, refers to a period where a person with HPD needs more attention than they usually need. They may be more prone to acting out to get that attention, and they likely will feel more distressed than usual when they don't get the attention they need.

The second, withdrawing, refers to a period where a person with HPD pulls away from others. They might delete social media, unfriend people, skip plans, ignore messages, not leave the house, etc.

Both experiences can be related to feeling ashamed or criticized. Some histrionics will be more likely to react to shame with seeking, and others may be more likely to react with withdrawing. They can also be unrelated to shame; some histrionics may find they end up seeking or withdrawing with seemingly no cause.

These terms are exclusive to people with HPD or HPD traits.

[honestlyhistrionic]

anon who asked about the diagnostic criteria: i'm not ignoring your ask, i'm actually really excited to answer it!! just need a few days to collect my thoughts and write up a comprehensive answer.

[honestlyhistrionic]

Hi! I write characters with HPD from time to time so I think itd be appropriate to ask a pwHPD:

What, in your opinion, are Do’s and Dont’s of representing people with HPD??

-⚰️ (can I claim this sign off?)

thanks for the question anon!

i don't really think there's too many absolute Do's and Dont's, but a few suggestions that come to mind are:

focus on both external and internal symptoms. HPD is not just an external presentation, but also an internal experience at the same time. while we may outwardly appear confident and charming, many of us struggle with poor self esteem, sensitivity to criticism, low persistence (refers to the ability to stick with a task or activity when obstacles arise or when the activity becomes difficult), mood swings, and more.

with that in mind, make sure you know what struggles you want your character to have that relate to their HPD. we can have very different presentations depending on what exactly it is we struggle with, and it's important that you have a solid idea of what your character has a hard time with so that you can portray their disorder in a realistic way.

it's more common for people with a PD diagnosis to be diagnosed with more than one, rather than just a single PD. DPD, BPD, NPD, and ASPD are the most common PDs to be diagnosed alongside HPD. don't be afraid to give your character traits of another PD, especially since PDs overlap a lot and there can be a lot of blurriness between symptoms.

if you aren't intimately experienced with writing characters with HPD, i'd personally avoid making the character fill a comic relief role. if not done carefully and skillfully, turning HPD characters into comic relief characters can often feel mocking and belittling. while i have seen some characters with HPD-like traits successfully fill a comic relief role, it's hard to pull off respectfully and probably not a good idea for someone still getting the hang of HPD representation.

allow the character's HPD to create tension in the story, don't be afraid to use their attention-seeking traits to bolster an unexpected twist or even conflict amongst the characters! in reality, it's not uncommon for people with HPD to have strained relationships. while it is absolutely true that we can be wonderful friends and partners, it's also true that our disorder can put stress on our relationships, particularly for histrionics who aren't very self aware.

don't be afraid to show the bad parts of the disorder. HPD is a disorder for a reason, we often struggle a lot interpersonally, behaviorally, and psychologically. a lot of people claim that representation that shows the ugly parts of disorders is "bad", but personally i believe differently. i think there is no perfect representation for one, and for two i think that at the very least representation should make an effort to be honest about reality.

these are the main points i can think of right now. this is kind of open ended and vague i'm aware, but like i said there is no perfect representation. what might be accurate to one pwHPD may be totally inaccurate to another. this doesn't mean the representation is objectively bad, just means representation is not one size fits all. definitely let yourself explore the disorder and the dynamics it can create for an individual as well as their relationships.

good luck, and ofc thanks for making an effort to represent such an underrepresented disorder!

[honestlyhistrionic]

Honestly it's ironic that we are the least acknowledged

- 🎭🐾

i never thought about the irony there but yeah it is pretty silly!

i wish there was more information about us, i myself had a hard time realizing my own HPD because of the lack of information out there and i know i'm not the only one

[honestlyhistrionic]

It's good to see other pwHPD around!

- 🎭🐾

hell yeah! i love seeing other histrionics, it's very nice to have a sense of community surrounding the disorder and the struggles that come with it