Personality disorders
![Two office workers, one standing and reviewing papers, the other seated and smoking, in a 1970s-style office with a telephone and stacks of paperwork.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/af84edb1-61ee-41ad-aaad-e9c106a75dbe/rt-final-par159357.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Personality disorders
idea
Popular views of narcissism are distorted and too pessimistic
As therapists, we’ve treated people with narcissistic personality disorder. We have a more hopeful story to tell about them
by Giancarlo Dimaggio & Igor Weinberg
![Two children come down a slide in a sepia-toned photo](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/467b1c4d-976d-4ada-8506-d18eaea03117/rt-final-gettyimages-6228-000528.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Personality disorders
idea
To understand borderline personality, imagine having no history
For people with an unfairly stigmatised mental health condition, and the rest of us, it’s vital to connect past with present
by Alexander Kriss
![A small black puppy lying on a couch with a man in a red checkered shirt sitting in the background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/892407e7-95db-4368-b5d7-256382821702/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Personality disorders
idea
There’s a growing case for renaming ‘personality disorders’
The concept of personality disorders has been around for centuries but it’s flawed and needs both a rethink and a new name
by Matt Huston
![Abstract image with textured orange and purple hues, featuring a dark silhouette of a person in the centre on an ageing, rough paper background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/49077518-992e-4252-ae6f-95aab6625343/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Personality disorders
idea
People with BPD need compassion yet even clinicians stigmatise them
Both clinicians and laypeople misunderstand and stigmatise borderline personality disorder. Those who have it deserve better
by Sara Rose Masland & Hannah E A Peeples
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/81d10317-694f-4898-869b-6cb74f43e6ef/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Personality disorders
idea
Some people feel so utterly alone it’s as if they don’t exist
People diagnosed with ‘avoidant personality disorder’ fear getting close to other people, yet crave greater connection
by Kristine Dahl Sørensen & Marit Råbu
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/a9e52fae-c22b-4290-8027-b6f3314a1c76/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Personality disorders
idea
What the new science of narcissism says about narcissists
What the new science of narcissism tells us about its nuances, and how to avoid its darts while gaining from its strengths
by W Keith Campbell & Carolyn Crist