Psychology Moment

Today I ventured out to a coffee shop patio to read my personality disorders book as it was FINALLY warm outside! (30C). The server looked baffled when I ordered a hot tea, but who knows what drafts are lurking under the shade of an umbrella...

Anyway, I was reading about histrionic personality disorder and came upon an interesting blurb that I wanted to share. First, a lesson:

Some features of histrionic PD include:

* a need to be the center of attention
* inappropriate sexually seductive behaviour
* rapid shifting of emotions
* using physical appearance to draw attention to the self
* self-dramatization/exaggerated emotionality

It probably comes as no surprise that more women than men are diagnosed with this disorder. Why? Maybe this has something to do with it:

The word 'histrionic' is related to the idea of 'hysteria'. The Greeks believed hysteria was caused by [I shit you not] a 'wandering uterus that could become detached, tour the body, and settle in the brain, thus producing the behavioural excesses such as wild emotion and female lust.' In fact, the modern surgical procedure of removing a woman's uterus is called a 'hysterectomy', not a uterusectomy or uterectomy [or whatever].

From a feminist perspective, hysteria/histrionic PD embodies a stereotype of women and reinforces the male belief that women are nuts or freak out over seemingly innocuous comments or unintended oversights. This has ramifications for future disorders added to the DSM - ie: the proposed 'premenstrual dysphoric disorder' which is the idea that women's menstrual cycles cause psychological problems. On the flip side, is there a psychological disorder related to having a penis? I quote my textbook:

"Although many would admit to emotional and behavioural changes related to their period, women might also argue that these changes occupy only a few days a month, whereas a penis distorts behavior most of he time. Strangely, history holds no such wandering member that might become detached, take up residence in the brain, and distort perception in order to explain antisocial behaviour among males."

I've read that more people are beginning to think that histrionic and antisocial PD are actually two sides of the same coin. The reason for the different names could be a reflection of the biases of the men who made up this stuff to begin with.

Let the smart-alecky comments begin :P