Histrionic Personality Disorder Checklist

Personal Information:
Name: ________REGINA GEORGE Age: ______________________ Sex: FEMALE
Date & Time of Assessment: JULY 31, 2021

This is a checklist to help one understand Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD). All information is taken
from the DSM-5.

Instruction:

Please check “yes” criteria that are evident in the client’s inner experiences and behaviors.

General Criteria of Personality Disorder

Section I: Must check TWO or more of the following: Evident Remarks on displayed
Yes No behavior
Criteria A. The client shows an enduring pattern of inner
experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the
expectations of the individual's culture and is manifested in at
least two of the following areas:
1. Cognition ((i.e., ways of perceiving and interpreting /
self, other people, and events).
2. Affectivity (i.e., the range, intensity, lability, and /
appropriateness of emotional response).
3. Interpersonal functioning. /

4. Impulse control.

Section II: Must check ALL of the following:

Criteria B. The client’s shows a pattern of inflexibility and is /

pervasive across a broad range of personal and social
situations.
Criteria C. The client’s enduring pattern of behavior lead /
him/her to clinically significant distress or impairment in social,
occupational, or other important areas of functioning
Criteria D. The client’s pattern of behavior is stable and long /
duration, and its onset can be traced back at least to
adolescence or early adulthood.
Criteria E. The client’ s pattern of behavior is not better /
explained as a manifestation or consequence of another
mental disorder
Criteria F. The client’ s pattern of behavior is not attributable to /
the physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a
medication) or another medical condition (e.g., head trauma).

Diagnostic Criteria of Histrionic Personality Disorder

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Section II: Must check FIVE or more of the following:
The client shows a pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality Evident Remarks on displayed
and attention seeking in a variety of contexts, as indicated by Yes No behavior
five (or more) of the following:
1. He/she is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is / The client is not only
not the center of attention. uncomfortable in
situations in which she
is not the center of
attention but she most
notably does not allow
herself to be in a
situation where she is
not the center of
attention. Whenever
her spotlight is
threatened, she tries
to befriend the rival to
control the situation
and the person.
2. His/her interaction with others is often characterized by / The client often wears
inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior. sexually provocative
or seductive clothing
regardless of the place
even in school.
3. He/she displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of / The client displays
emotions. extreme variances in
her emotions.
Emotional expression
may be shallow and
rapidly shifting When
she is happy she is
through the moon
happy and when she is
mad she is going to let
someone know about
it. Like when goes to a
dress shop to be fitted
for her prom dress
and finds that she
cannot fit the one she
wants, she had a
tyrannical outburst.
4. He/she consistently uses physical appearance to draw / The client is
attention to self. preoccupied with her
looks to draw
attention. She is an
attention junkie. She
seeks out attention
from people in every
aspect of her daily life.
She is constantly
talking about how she
is either too fat or that
she is not pretty
enough and also seeks
confirmation about
her body and looks
through others. Her

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 obsession with her
appearance would
have to be one of her
biggest weaknesses.
5. He/she has a style of speech that is excessively / The client has an
impressionistic and lacking in detail. immature speaking
style; she uses many
words that are not
even words such as
‘skeeze’ to describe
other students that is
excessively
impressionistic and
lacking in detail.
6. He/she shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and / Not evident on the
exaggerated expression of emotion. case presented

7. He/she is suggestible (i.e., easily influenced by others or / The client is gullible.

circumstances). She is easily
influenced by others
especially since she
does not focus on the
facts. She is a person
who will take a person
for their word. When
one of her friends tries
to help her with a
"weight-loss" bar she
takes it without
question.
8. He/she considers relationships to be more intimate than they / Not evident on the
actually are case data presented

*Note: The client must meet the minimum number of symptoms to be diagnosed of histrionic
personality disorder.

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FINDINGS:

DIAGNOSIS: HISTRIONIC PERSONALITY DISORDER CODE: 301.50 (F60.4)

Case data info has suggested that the client has no alcohol and drug use history and is
generally in good condition. Thus, substance abuse is not considered a risk factor for the client's
behavior. Further, the result of the checklist adapted from DSM5 criteria revealed the
following:

The client has satisfied the minimum symptoms requirement of the Diagnostic Criteria
of Borderline Personality Disorder. The client has met 6 out of 8 criteria to label him with HPD.

A. The client has a pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention-seeking, beginning
by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by the following:

A.1 The client is not only uncomfortable in situations in which she is not the center of
attention but she most notably does not allow herself to be in a situation where she is
not the center of attention. Whenever her spotlight is threatened, she tries to befriend
the rival to control the situation and the person.

A.2 The client often wears sexually provocative or seductive clothing regardless of the
place even in school.

A.3 The client displays extreme variances in her emotions. Emotional expression may be
shallow and rapidly shifting When she is happy she is through the moon happy and
when she is mad she is going to let someone know about it. Like when goes to a dress
shop to be fitted for her prom dress and finds that she cannot fit the one she wants, she
had a tyrannical outburst.

A.4 The client is preoccupied with her looks to draw attention. She is an attention junkie.
She seeks out attention from people in every aspect of her daily life. She is constantly
talking about how she is either too fat or that she is not pretty enough and also seeks
confirmation about her body and looks through others. Her obsession with her
appearance would have to be one of her biggest weaknesses.

A.5 The client has an immature speaking style; she uses many words that are not even
words such as ‘skeeze’ to describe other students that is excessively impressionistic and
lacking in detail.

A.6 not evident on the case data presented

A.7 The client is gullible. She is easily influenced by others especially since she does not
focus on the facts. She is a person who will take a person for their word. When one of
her friends tries to help her with a "weight-loss" bar she takes it without question.

A.8 not evident on the case data presented

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Based on the case data provided and the result of the Diagnostic Criteria Checklist, it is
recommended that the client undergo the following treatment:

1. PSYCHOTHERAPY. This is generally the treatment of choice for histrionic personality

disorder. The client may have had issues with her relationship with her parents, as it was
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 noted on the causal factor that it may be due to the uncaring and loose parenting style
that led the client to have the excessive need to be the center of attention. It is her way
of coping to compensate for the feeling of not being loved by the parents that makes
her an attention junkie. Psychodynamic Therapy may assist the client in becoming more
aware of her feelings. It aims to help clients identify how their current behavior is
informed, often unconsciously, by their past behavioral patterns. Long-term
psychodynamic therapy usually targets the underlying issues and may help the patients
in decreasing their emotional reactivity (www. therecoveryvillage .com)

2. Moreover, for the causal factor of learned behavior, it is also recommended that
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) will be done. Through CBT, the client may begin to
think and act more calmly and with more deliberation and contemplation. CBT is also
effective against depression and anxiety disorders, which can co-occur with HPD. The
goal of treatment is to help the client reduce her emotional distress (especially with
trivial matters); improve her self-esteem (especially with her comorbidity of an eating
disorder); and enhance the client's coping skills, especially with her excessive need to
get attention and her exaggerated outbursts of emotions even for trivial distress. This
approach focuses on improving self-esteem, reducing emotional distress, and improving
coping skills (French JH. 2019).

3. Lastly, HOLISTIC THERAPY is also recommended. This refers to a school of thought in

therapy that attempts to address an individual as a whole person rather than as
someone who is sick, just has psychological issues, or as being separated into different
components (www.cambridge.com). The client may be helped with her psychological
issues that may have precipitated the histrionic traits. Mindfulness techniques, including
yoga, tai chi, and biofeedback, may also help the client control their inner feelings
including impulsivity and emotional reactivity. The client may need to reprogram her
mind to more effectively control her hair-trigger emotional reflexes.

Evaluated
by: DESIREE O. LABIO Date: JULY 31, 2021

Prepared by:

Florie Ann L. Fermil, RGC Date:

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