Narcissism Glossary

distinguishing histrionic personality disorder (HPD) from NPD

🎭 Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a separate diagnosis professionally assessing whether excessive emotional display and attention-seeking persist across situations over time. The hunger for attention can resemble NPD's — the criteria differ.

A big voice or an extroverted manner, by itself, establishes no HPD.

Often seen in situations like these

One scene of wanting the room's attention, and the 'histrionic' stamp lands.

When this happens, try this

💡 Instead of the diagnosis, write which words and behavior repeated and what they did to the relationship. Whether abuse occurred is judged by actual behavior, never by a label.

Type Formal diagnosis · cannot be self-diagnosed · Topic Narcissism-adjacent terms · Also known as Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD)

Official sources & review information

Standard/jurisdiction DSM-5-TR·APA

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