Meeting-The-Challenge-Making-a-Difference-Practitioner-Guide

THE RANGE OF SEVERITY OF PERSONALITY PROBLEMS AND THE DIFFERENT
INTERVENTIONS THAT MIGHT BE HELPFUL
HEALTHY PERSONALITY
FUNCTIONING
SOME PROBLEMATIC TRAITS
MANY PROBLEMATIC TRAITS
POSSIBLE PERSONALITY
DISORDER
Anna is a teacher who regularly puts on school plays. She takes great
pleasure in the children’s delight, and in the response of the audience.
She enjoys the applause and the appreciation for her hard work, but is
happy to step back and let the children be the stars of the show.
• Anna is unlikely to need or want help with this aspect of her life
Angela is a music teacher at another school, where she has a reputation
for organizing outstanding concerts. The quality of the children’s work is
very high, but some parents feel that she drives the children too hard to
excel, often losing her temper with them if she thinks they are not working
hard enough. Her friends know that if she thinks the performance is less
than perfect she will be miserable for days
• Angela might benefit from some short-term counselling or self-help
information to help her see that her very high standards are problematic
and can make her unhappy
Annabel is a teacher at a third school. She is known for demanding very high
standards from herself and everyone she comes into contact with, and for
losing her temper very easily if she feels criticised or slighted in any way.
Annabel works extremely long hours and sleeps very badly, feels very
stressed and has repeatedly sought help from her GP. Her colleagues and
acquaintances feel they have to tread very carefully around her so as not
to spark off an outburst. Annabel feels anxious, unappreciated, and
wonders why she does not have more friends.
• Annabel’s problems are pervasive and she might benefit from some
psychological therapy to explore the range of situations that cause
her difficulty
Anne-Marie has not worked for several years. She started out as an art
teacher but left teaching after a number of uncontrolled outbursts at work
led to her being disciplined. She could not stand having to fit in with the
strict timetable and demands of the job. She tries to paint, but swings
between feeling that she is an exceptional artist and that people should
recognise her talent, and feeling that her work is worthless rubbish. She has
had a number of intimate relationships, but she is quick to feel that she is
being let down or misunderstood, and relationships tend to deteriorate into
jealous arguments and physical fights. She has always cut herself when very
stressed, but recently this has been getting more frequent and more severe.
Her life feels empty and depressing and she holds onto the thought that, if
things got desperate, she could always kill herself.
• Anne-Marie’s difficulties are persistent, pervasive and problematic.
She may need longer term or specialist help from a personality disorder
service or team.
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