Personality Disorders: Tackling Dramatic and Manipulative Behaviors

Course overview

While estimated to be the most common of all mental health conditions, personality disorders remain largely unfamiliar to most people, including social service personnel. Personality disordered individuals often cause significant disruptions in their own and others' lives by creating dramas and using manipulation in dealing with other people. Because the condition does not respond to traditional mental health interventions, personality disorders often remain mysterious and frustrating for those who deal with them. This training will describe and explain both personality disorders and the difficulties they tend to cause. It will describe the structure and purpose of the dramas created by personality disordered individuals, as well as how and why manipulation is commonly used by these individuals. The training will provide the latest information on what a personality disorder is, and why for many years the condition was thought to be untreatable. This training will present techniques that have been found to be effective in avoiding and intervening in the dramas created by personality disordered individuals in both clinical and non clinical settings. In addition, attendees will learn how professionals treating these difficult conditions work with them in order to change their functioning into a less destructive and more constructive pattern.