Personality disorders are common among veterans of combat. Although there are limited studies regarding this, many veterans with PTSD suffer co-occurring symptoms of other mental health conditions.
Solara Mental Health has contracted with VA insurance, which allows us to provide affordable veteran mental health services. Solara offers personality disorder treatment services to veterans in need. Solara can provide transportation, housing, and other accommodations with authorization.
About Personality Disorders
Personality refers to a person’s traits on how they think, behave and feel. It makes a person unique and is usually influenced by biological and environmental factors. On the other hand, personality disorders refer to a person’s disordered feelings, behavior, and thinking. These types of disorders may cause distress to how a person functions over time.
Personality disorders can bring profound instability, insecurity, isolation, and pain. These disorders can be especially difficult for family and friends, who see their loved one suffering but are unsure how to help. Here, we recognize that veterans’ personality disorder symptoms come from their illness, not their true personalities. Our program takes a nuanced, in-depth approach to help veterans let go of shame and come to a stable, unified sense of self.
Types of Personality Disorders
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) there are ten personality disorders that can be grouped into three categories, depending on symptoms. Personality disorders are often associated with difficulties with self-identity and interpersonal functioning. Failing to develop or maintain close relationships with others is common with personality disorders.
Cluster A Disorders
Cluster A personality disorders are often characterized by unusual thinking and behaviors. This group of personality disorders often can lead to social difficulties and problems.
Cluster A personality disorders include:
- Paranoid Personality Disorder: Mistrust and suspicion of others leading to the tendency to hold grudges and hostile reactions to perceived insults.
- Schizoid Personality Disorder: disinterest in others socially, romantically, and little interest or pleasure in most activities.
- Schizotypal Personality Disorder: eccentric ideas, behaviors, and odd perceptual experiences.
Cluster B Disorders
Cluster B personality disorders are often characterized by consistent unstable emotions and dramatic behaviors. Cluster B disorders tend to have unpredictable thinking and behaviors.
Cluster B personality disorders include:
- Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD): Social irresponsibility, disregard for others, deceitfulness, and manipulation of others for personal gain.
- Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): Impulsive and risky behavior, inner emptiness, unstable relationships, and emotional dysregulation.
- Histrionic Personality Disorder: Attention-seeking, excessive emotionality, and easily influenced by others.
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Self-grandiosity, need for admiration, arrogance, and lack of empathy.
Cluster C Disorders
Cluster C personality disorders are often characterized by experiences with severe anxiety and fear. Fearful thinking and behaviors can begin to affect daily functioning.
Cluster C personality disorders include:
- Avoidant Personality Disorder: Avoidance of interpersonal contact due to rejection and criticism sensitivity.
- Dependent Personality Disorder: Submissiveness, clingy behaviors, lack of self-confidence, and a need to be taken care of.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD): Preoccupation with rules and details, perfectionism, rigidity, and obstinacy.
What are the Causes?
Mental health disorders, including personality disorders, can be caused by multiple factors. Although no single cause has been linked to personality disorders, certain experiences can lead to an increased risk of developing these disorders.
Genetics
Some genetic factors can be associated with certain disorders. Having a family member who struggles with personality disorders can cause an increased risk of developing a personality disorder. In addition, people with a background of fear, aggression, and anxiety can experience these disorders.
Childhood Trauma
Researchers believe there is a strong connection between a traumatic childhood and personality disorders. Victims of sexual traumatic childhood may experience a borderline personality disorder.
Verbal Abuse
Children who were verbally abused in their childhood have a higher chance of experiencing borderline, paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, and narcissistic personality disorders.
Risk Factors Among Veterans
There is no single known cause of personality disorders among veterans. However, certain factors are likely to trigger these types of disorders.
Risk factors for personality disorders in veterans can include:
- Chaos
- Abnormal brain chemistry
- History of mental illness in the family
- Trauma
Veterans have an increased risk of developing a personality disorder after combat due to experiences at war that are traumatic. The increased stress of living a military life can increase the risk of personality disorders developing.
Treating Personality Disorders in Veterans
Different clusters and types of personality disorders may require different kinds of treatment. A customized treatment plan can be developed for veterans to help best fit individual needs. Treatment is also dependent on how severe the disorder is and the current situations in a veteran’s life.
Specialized Personality Disorder Treatment
For veterans struggling with borderline, dependent, or narcissistic personality disorder, Solara offers specialized therapies. These therapies are both integrative and modern, designed to create a tailor-made and maximally effective mental health treatment plan for each veteran’s specific diagnosis and symptoms. Treatment plans are aided by Solara’s intensive program structure, which allows veterans to progress toward healing in an environment that is focused and compassionate.
At our behavioral health and psychiatric facility, veterans are free from the stressors and judgment so frequent in day-to-day life. Here, veterans can feel safe and secure as they work with clinicians and peers to increase their ability to give and receive love and build a stronger sense of self.
Dependent Personality Disorder (DPD)
Dependent personality disorder (DPD) is characterized by intense feelings of inadequacy or incompetence, an extreme fear of being alone, and severe helplessness. For people struggling with DPD, these feelings can seem relentless and inescapable, constantly keeping them from living full, self-sufficient lives.
Our combination of individual psychotherapy, group therapy, holistic therapies, and psychiatric counseling allows clinicians to develop comprehensive, individualized, and flexible treatment plans for each veteran. Through these personal treatment plans, veterans are empowered to identify roadblocks on their path to healing, find ways to break down those roadblocks, and ultimately build up their sense of security and self-confidence.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) affects the way you feel about yourself and the people around you. Problems with self-image and controlling emotions and behaviors stemming from BPD can heavily impact one’s relationships with others.
As one of the most misunderstood, stigmatized, and misdiagnosed mental health disorders, BPD all too often leaves those diagnosed with it, as well as their loved ones, feeling confused, alone, and hopeless.
Our veterans come to learn that they are capable of lasting change, allowing them to begin the process of healing and developing emotional security.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)
For veterans struggling with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), Solara Mental Health has three main goals for treatment:
- Helping veterans increase their self-awareness.
- Teaching veterans techniques for breaking destructive behaviors and thought processes.
- Showing veterans ways to increase, develop, and display empathy for others.
From inpatient to outpatient and from transitional living to a long-term aftercare plan, our program is designed to help free our veterans from the clutches of narcissistic personality disorder.
Therapeutic Approaches for Personality Disorders
Treating personality disorders can be tough, as they affect each person uniquely. Because of this, we tailor a personalized plan to address each individual’s unique condition. A combination of the therapeutic methods below may be recommended depending on your diagnosis.
Individual Psychotherapy
Individual psychotherapy is a cornerstone of our personality disorder treatment. Our clinicians use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which is regarded as one of the most successful treatments for managing distressing symptoms.
We also pair CBT with psychodynamic therapy. This is crucial for veterans with personality disorders because it allows for a deeper examination of your life, helping you understand the roots, triggers, and effects of the illness. Through this understanding, you and your clinician can find more effective methods for managing the disorder’s effects and developing a strong, cohesive sense of self.
Group Therapy
Solara Mental Health provides group Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is recognized as one of the most effective treatments for certain personality disorders. We have adapted the customary DBT structure to fit our program and our veterans’ specific needs. Our supportive and non-judgmental group therapy sessions allow veterans to develop and practice new skills in a safe environment.
Family Therapy
Personality disorders present unique challenges to a veteran’s interpersonal life. Symptoms can be most damaging in relationships with close family and friends. As such, Solara offers family therapy. This provides a safe environment where veterans and their loved ones can come together to have honest discussions, learn to resolve conflict, recognize each other’s struggles, and start the process of healing and forgiving.
Medications
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved any specific medications to treat personality disorders. However, certain medications can be used to alleviate some personality disorder symptoms.
They include:
- Antidepressants. These types of drugs may be used to improve some personality disorder symptoms like depression, anger, feeling irritable, or impulse control.
- Mood stabilizers. Mood stabilizers can help impulse control, mood swings, feeling irritable, and aggression.
- Antipsychotic medications. These drugs are also known as neuroleptics and can help people with severe symptoms manage their anxiety and anger issues.
- Anti-anxiety medications. Doctors can use them to treat anxiety symptoms, agitation, or insomnia. However, these drugs should be cautiously used because they can sometimes increase impulsive behavior in certain types of these disorders.
Solara Mental Health provides medication for personality disorders on an as-needed basis. Depending on the diagnosis and severity of the disorder, the clinical team can determine whether medication will be beneficial.
Transportation, Housing, & Accommodations for Vets
Solara Mental Health is able to provide transportation to and from it’s facilities for most of the TriWest-covered states.
Along with transportation, Solara can provide long-term housing at its beautiful residences that are close to the treatment center. These housing accommodations can be provided for both inpatient and outpatient treatment that may follow inpatient care.
Veterans may remain in housing for as many weeks or months as the VA insurance authorizes. We often find that the VA authorizes a considerable length of stay, allowing us the ability to provide quality treatment for the amount of time needed to heal and recover.
View our facilities to get a preview of what you might expect when choosing Solara Mental Health as your care provider.
Veteran Personality Disorder Treatment
Solara Mental Health focuses on giving veterans a safe environment to access quality treatment. Our team of mental health professionals has experience treating veterans with personality disorders. We are well equipped to accommodate every veteran’s needs while offering the resources needed to meet these needs.
Solara Mental Health is VA contracted as a community care provider in order to help veterans with their personality disorders at an affordable cost. If authorization occurs, we are able to provide housing, transportation, and accommodations to veterans in our care.
If you or a veteran you care about is struggling with a personality disorder, reach out to Solara Mental Health for help. Our team of professionals can answer any questions you may have and give you a better understanding of our program.