Betrayal Trauma and Histrionic Personality Pathology

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Trauma Studies

Background:

• Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a common personality pathology.
• Recent research links HPD to trauma, particularly sexual trauma.
• The role of interpersonal betrayal in trauma's association with HPD is under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between traumatic experiences with varying degrees of betrayal and histrionic personality characteristics.
• To examine gender differences in the association between trauma, betrayal, and histrionic personality characteristics.

Main Methods:

• Online survey of 364 men and women.
• Evaluation of traumatic experiences, including interpersonal trauma with and without betrayal, and non-interpersonal trauma.
• Assessment of histrionic personality characteristics.

Main Results:

• Interpersonal trauma without high betrayal and non-interpersonal trauma were positively associated with histrionic personality characteristics.
• Interpersonal trauma with high betrayal was not associated with histrionic personality characteristics.
• Sexual trauma, with or without betrayal, was linked to histrionic personality characteristics in women, but not men.

Conclusions:

• Findings suggest that the nature of trauma, specifically the presence of betrayal, influences its association with histrionic personality characteristics.
• The results highlight potential traumatogenic origins of HPD.
• Further research is needed to explore these associations and gender differences.