Histrionic, Anyone???

For the fun of it, I was looking up Avoidant Personality. Found an on-line test. Took it, slightly Narcissistic, I felt, no way, I do consider myself empahetic. Took another test...Came back with Histrionic. And as I read more and more....well...what can I say? I felt that it suits me well.

Symptoms
DSM-IV-TRlists eight symptoms that form the diagnostic criteria for HPD:

Center of attention: Patients with HPD experience discomfort when they are not the center of attention. {Can this be why I tend to be that 'quiet' observer in places not my own?}
Sexually seductive: Patients with HPD displays inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behaviors towards others. {well,certainly not ALLthe time,lol...but there are times I flirt a bit and can 'cross' that line}
Shifting emotions: The expression of emotions of patients with HPD tends to be shallow and to shift rapidly.{I've never considered myself as shallow, but yes my emotions, if shallow can shift quickly---I mean if I'm primarily happy, if can go from good to joyous to ecstatic}
Physical appearance: Individuals with HPD consistently employ physical appearance to gain attention for themselves. {well, I dont fully know about this...I maintain appearance and look nice...consider myself a plain jane of sorts?}
Speech style: The speech style of patients with HPD lacks detail. {I guess I don't fully open up to others quickly or I hold back thoughts, etc? Maybe I do leave out details?}
Individuals with HPD tend to generalize, and when these individuals speak, they aim to please and impress.{sure}
Dramatic behaviors: Patients with HPD display self-dramatization and exaggerate their emotions. {Compared to the 'average' person...yes my emotions can come off dramatic and over-the-top}
Suggestibility: Other individuals or circumstances can easily influence patients with HPD. {Yeah...to a point...}
Overestimation of intimacy: Patients with HPD overestimate the level of intimacy in a relationship{So true!}

I guess there's not much out there except years of psychotherapy and assertiveness training with some specialized CBT in the mix. Ayyyy....

WOW....and all this time I'd been leaning towards bpd,but that doesn't quite fit the bill for myself....Disassociation comes with this...lovely....

Does "histrionic" = "bad"?

About your center of attention response... I thought it was that HPD people don't like to back down and be quiet like you said. I thought it was the other way around, that they will make themselves the center of attention to avoid that discomfort.
And also, about the shifting emotions, I thought it was shifting from very happy to very mad to very sad at miniscule things... Shallow meaning that something like a stain on a shirt accounting for intense anger, or a sunny day influencing a happy mood.

I guess you're not the only one looking for clarification on the matter.

I think you probably need to talk to a therapist and see what they have to say as it's easy to see ourselves in any sort of online test; they're not for diagnosis, usually just for fun and some can give us information we can ask our therapist about, etc. but like Magasanguis, I didn't see a whole lot that seemed to fit histrionic or narcisstic in your responses as a primary category.

I would take the Sanity Test up above and see what that came up as; it can give a little broader picture of areas instead of just focusing on one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrio...ality_disorder

Thanks for the clarifications And NO, I do not feel histrionic=bad {besides, that style black/white thinking would be BPD, wouldn't it }

I feel it's so easy to start taking all of these 'on-line' tests and start questioning things?? And even reading the DSM on Histrionic, well it doesn't fully help explain things always.

But anyways, thanks for responding and helping me understand this better.

Histrionics is a song.
Lol sorry.