Histrionic Personality Disorder
This year at residential I was diagnosed with HPD. I always knew I had attention seeking problems to an extreme, but I didn't think I'd actually get a diagnosis. At first, she only wanted to diagnose the traits as it's frowned upon to diagnose a 16-year-old girl with HPD. She eventually decided it was "bad" enough to diagnose me, as without one, someone claiming to have HPD at my age would be dismissed.
The main issue I have is how unknown HPD is. Multiple therapists I've been to didn't even know what it was. Along with that, whenever I explain HPD and how I have it, I'm villainized and labeled purely as an attention seeker. I know it's true that I am one, but it still hurts. I'm honestly scared to post this as again, I'm 16. So many people don't think I'm valid because of my age, but I genuinely got a diagnosis.
@jinxiwix
Hi, welcome to 7 Cups! 💜 The diagnosis thing sounds double-edged. If you don't have the diagnosis, people dismiss your experiences based on your age. (Feels really nice that the person who helped you get the HPD diagnosis took that into consideration and wanted to try to prevent that from happening.) But then when you have the diagnosis, people make assumptions and say hurtful things... sorry that you've had to deal with that. 😢
Sharing some resources/links related to HPD:
https://www.7cups.com/forum/personalitydisorders/AntisocialHistrionicPersonalityDisorders_1985/ResourcesforHPD_268271/
