Cluster B

5 or more of the following symptoms should be there in a person to be categorised under narcissistic personality disorder:

• Has a grandiose sense of self importance
• Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love
• Believes he or she is extremely special and unique and only a person of very high social standing can understand them
• Need excessive admiration
• Has a high sense of entitlement
• Takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
• Has no empathy for others
• Is arrogant and has a selfish attitude
• Is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her

Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a mental disorder in which a person becomes obsessed and completely immersed about their self.
Narcissistic Personality disorder starts taking affect from early adulthood, where a person has a strong urge for admiration and praise from every people they meet.
They have an escalated sense of their own importance and they think they deserve special treatment everywhere they go college, office or a social outing.
Their behaviour is of long standing pattern where they are extremely manipulative and selfish, catering and giving importance to things which inflates their false sense of self esteem.
Behind this fake image they create they are highly insecure and can’t handle criticism, this gets an aggressive streak out from them.
In the attempt to be always superior and control people, they fail to see the damage that is being caused to oneself and others.

R S, 25 years old and a MBA graduate is dressed attractively, with matching accessories and high heels. She was recently fired from her second job in 3 months because of her inability to tolerate criticism, replying angrily to her boss and consistently failing to oblige to the dress code of the office. She justifies that these jobs were beneath her level and she deserves a job at a bigger company and at a higher post. Her mother states that R S dresses inappropriately; her friends praise and encourage R’s behaviour, which her mother thinks is very childish and irresponsible. This statement makes R S temperamental as she says I’m beautiful and deserve accolades from everyone, you won’t understand that, you are not beautiful like me, R states to her mother, people are jealous of me, she makes her final remark. A look at her behavioural history reveals, she fantasised of becoming an actress for a very long time, her group of friends are of higher economical class and they keep changing from time to time. Sometimes she spends hours looking at herself in the mirror and spends heavily on cosmetics, clothes and jewellery.

5 or more of the following symptoms are found in a histrionic person:

• Is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the centre of attention
• Interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behaviour
• Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions
• Consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self
• Has a style of speech that lacks in detail and is not to the point
• Is highly dramatic, theatrical in terms of showcasing emotions
• Is easily influenced or convinced by others
• Makes relationship more intimate than they actually are

Histrionic Personality Disorder is a mental disorder affecting a person’s relationship whether personal or social.
Histrionic Personality Disorder takes effect from early adulthood or adolescence where the behaviour of a person becomes of excessive attention seeking, their emotions fluctuate according to the attention they gather, if they don’t get the wanted attention they may resort to seductive and emotionally melodramatic behaviour.
Histrionic Personality Disorder is more common in females than in males, and such people always want to be the centre of attraction for which they go to the extent of exposing their body and talking in highly seducing voice.
They have even worse relationship with the people of same sex because of their atrocious behaviours and they are highly manipulative and go to any degree to gain attention and they get bored easily with the same routine.

D N, 38 came for consultation in a flashy sleeveless gown. She got divorced a couple of years back and currently stays alone with her 8 year old daughter, she argues with the receptionist, so that she can see the doctor at the earliest. She comes and sits inside twitching her open hair and makes eye contact for the first time, she is a bit restless as she complains about her drinking problem. After her divorce, she has been involved in a relationship with 6 different men, and all she says were a mistake, she feels cheated and unsatisfied with them. D N left her husband because she thinks he didn’t value her enough, so she choose to have a relationship with a guy 5 years younger to her, who she states exploited her and didn’t value her emotions. She starts to cry at this point, and the way she puts thing into perspective, it’s difficult to understand what she wants. She is currently single and feels lonely, which has aided her drinking problem further.

3 or more of the following symptoms should be present in a person to be treated under anti social personality disorder:

• Failure to conform to social norms
• Repeatedly indulging in behaviour which can get them arrested
• Deceitfulness, conning others for personal profits
• Repeatedly lying about everything
• Impulsivity and failure to plan ahead
• Frequently getting into fights with dangerously aggressive intent
• Highly irritated at most times
• Disregard for safety of self and for others
• Consistently irresponsible in all aspects of life
• Lack of remorse and guilt for their extremely negative actions

People suffering from Antisocial Personality Disorder are popularly referred to as psychopaths or sociopaths.
They don’t believe in the norms of society and its values, they are insensitive towards the rights and feelings of other people.
Antisocial Personality disorder sets in early adolescence and the behaviour of such individuals is often criminal in nature.
They are insensitive and expert manipulators, they have a fake charm and charisma attached to their personality which pleases people and attracts a large following among others.
They have a very high inflated self esteem and arrogance is deep rooted in their character.
It is very hard to differentiate when they are speaking the truth and when they are creating stories about themselves.
These people are excessively self assured and cocky exploiting others emotionally and even sexually.
They are consistently irresponsible towards any relationship or work they are entitled to perform.
History suggests the biggest criminals in the past like Adolf Hitler; Ted Bundy had the traits of antisocial personality disorder, making the treatment of such people from an early age a necessity of great need.

A 23 year old, V S was arrested on charges of vandalising vehicles and destruction to public property. He was later released on bail and his parents after a relative’s advice got him to the clinic. V has no regret of what he did, he casually remarks we were throwing stones to break the windshield of the cars and I was unlucky to get caught all my friends escaped. His parents complain he has serious discipline problems at school; V has been suspended in the past for picking up fights and damaging the school’s property. He often ventures out of home late at night and returns in the morning, and often screams and disobeys at whatever his parents say. V’s academic performance is poor and he often steals money from his parents to support his habit of drinking and smoking. He is overly aggressive and abusive towards his father. The result of his behaviour is that his parents feel scared to communicate and make him understand things.