Many people confuse different mental health illnesses as these mental health disorders bear similar signs. Some of the most common ones are sadness, irritability, lack of concentration, and social isolation. Due to such similarity, it is easy to misinterpret one mental health disorder with another. Now, you might have heard so many discussions on mood disorder vs personality disorder. Both mental health disorders may look similar in terms of signs. However, there are some differences. Continue reading to learn more.
What Is A Mood Disorder?
A mood disorder is a mental health disorder that majorly impacts a person’s emotional state. An affected person experiences prolonged extreme happiness, sadness, or sometimes both.
Mood shifting depends on the situation; however, a diagnosis is developed based on noticeable signs for weeks or longer. Mood changes are so severe that they can trigger changes in a person’s behavior and negatively affect the potential of managing routine work such as family, work, or academic performance.
Know The Signs
- Extreme sadness
- Lowered energy
- Hopelessness
- Unhealthy eating habits
- Sudden changes in weight
- High energy
- Agitation
- Irritability
- Racing thoughts
- Sleeping issues
- Indulge in risky acts
- Fast speech
What Is A Personality Disorder?
Personality means how a person thinks, perceives, reacts, and relates to others. Personality disorder develops if these traits become so rigid, marked, and unadaptable that they negatively impact the affected person’s interpersonal and work functioning. Personality disorders can cause significant pain for the sufferer and also with the people they interact with. The harmful behaviors of such a person are the primary reason for seeking professional help from a mental health expert, not due to the discomfort they experience with their thoughts and feelings.
What Are The Common Signs?
- Distrust
- Suspiciousness
- Peculiar dress
- Arrogant behavior
- Difficulties with law
- Unbending about ethics
- Can’t stand criticism or rejection
- Unstable self-image
- Attention seeking behavior
- Disregard for someone’s right
- Beliefs that someone will harm them
Some Common Types Of Personality Disorders
Here are some of the common personality disorders.
Paranoid personality disorder:
A paranoid personality disorder is identified by extreme mistrust of other people and strange suspiciousness that others will harm them. This personality disorder type makes a person misinterpret the behaviors and intentions of the surrounding people. Signs can include extreme suspiciousness, such as holding grudges for prolonged periods, issues in trusting others, and a tendency to blame others for all the problems in their lives.
Schizoid personality disorder:
A schizoid personality disorder is diagnosed when a person withdraws and isolates themselves from society and other people. Those with this personality type do not like engaging in intimate relationships and tend to stay alone and do things like watching TV or reading. Symptoms may include compromised facial expression, lack of close friendship, no interest in activities, and inattention to joys or punishments.
Antisocial personality disorder:
There is one more type of personality disorder, and it is called antisocial personality disorder. If you have an antisocial personality, you may experience low regard for the rights of others and no pity for them, and you are usually impulsive. This personality type involves the person being a thief or a vandal and is generally known to be a threat to others. Some signs are deceitfulness, dishonesty, aggression, recklessness, and doing things on impulse while neglecting personal or other people’s safety.
Borderline personality disorder:
People suffering from borderline personality disorder exhibit marked affective dysregulation and impulsive actions, which were observed during these nine days. Thus, individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder show maladaptive behaviors in their interactions with other people and often fight a lot. Some of the signs are anger disorder, erratic behavior, risky and self-destructive tendencies, and fear of being left alone.
Histrionic personality disorder:
A histrionic personality disorder, therefore, makes the affected individual very dramatic and attention-seeking. This personality characteristic involves magnifying feelings to command society’s attention. Some signs can be characterized as excessively dramatic or excessively sexual, an extreme need for approval, and problems with interpersonal relationships.
Avoidant personality disorder:
An avoidant personality disorder entails being extremely socially withdrawn and feeling socially inept. This type of person usually has low self-esteem and isolates themselves from social functions because they feel rejected. Some manifestations are low self-esteem, believing one is awkward in front of others, and fearing interaction with people.
This is essential information to know. Mood may be affected by anxiety, and it is necessary to stress that an anxiety disorder is different from a mood disorder, but it is a dangerous mental disorder.
Dependent personality disorder:
A dependent personality disorder involves a basic fear of being apart as well as having constant demands toward someone to be cared for. This personality type usually makes people depend on their superiors to make decisions on their behalf.
What Is The Primary Difference Between A Mood Disorder And A Personality Disorder?
Mood and personality disorders are types of mental health disorders but have different signs and impacts on the affected person. Mood disorders are all about patterns in feelings. On the other hand, personality disorders focus on how individuals relate to others.
However, mood disorders also negatively impact the social life of an affected person. And personality disorders can also influence someone’s mood. The diagnosis of a personality disorder can be pretty tricky, even more so when the individual has bipolar disorder. Moreover, suppose a specific person has a personality disorder. In that case, the person will misbehave and, hence, cause several negative behaviors that affect their relationships with family or friends.
It differs from mood indicators such as depression, obsession, or hypomania. However, the difference probably becomes clearer only when the pattern of the challenging behavior is displayed after mood symptoms have remitted. Unfortunately, many of those who have mood disorders are not at that phase yet. However, the theoretical difference between the two is hard to reveal.
The key difference? The symptoms each one causes. This is characterized by episodes of joy or low mood, which is a feature of mood disorders. Mood swings are characteristic of some personality disorders, but they are not a primary sign of personality disorders. The challenge for your healthcare provider is that two conditions are diagnosed, and both of them can lead to emotional and mood issues. It’s not about looking at symptoms but rather the pattern of symptoms.
Treatment Options For Mood Disorders And Personality Disorder
Both mood disorders and personality disorders are best treated with a combination of psychotherapy and psychiatric medications. However, the effectiveness depends on the individual differences. One of the defining differences is that individuals suffering from mood disorders can show improvement with psychiatric medicines alone. However, the improvement is not the same in personality disorder. The treatment for personality disorder relies on psychotherapy to help manage the signs.
Mood disorders cannot be treated as effectively if only one psychiatric medication or psychotherapy is used. Antidepressant drugs help in reducing symptoms of depression; on the other hand, therapy, like the most common cognitive behavioral therapy, assists the affected individual in exchanging their detrimental thought patterns for healthy ones by using different techniques for coping. Nevertheless, bipolar disorder puts emphasis majorly on drugs. The rationale for this is that bipolar disorder usually requires the person to be on psychiatric medications for the remainder of their life with the use of mood stabilizers.
Additionally, for individuals with personality disorders, psychotherapy is crucial for symptom management. This happens because personality disorders develop due to psychological responses to life events. For example, psychiatric medication can only regulate someone’s mood, but it can’t change how they form, develop, and maintain their relationships.
Concluding Remarks!
Mood disorders and personality disorders are two different yet most confusing mental health disorders. However, the primary difference lies in the focus and impact. Mood disorders primarily focus on a person’s emotions and cause a person to experience extended states of high mood, persistently low mood, or both. On the other hand, personality disorders involve an individual’s ways of relating to others, thinking about others, and behaving toward others in inflexible and pathological manners. However, the best news is that both mental health disorders have treatment, and people who are suffering from the two should seek medical attention. The therapies that are almost always used with the patient are psychotropic drugs and talk therapies.
If you are also experiencing any of these two mental health disorders and you feel confused. Then wait no more, and get in touch with Orange Coast Psychiatry today to attain mental health recovery from mood disorders or personality disorders.
