Personality Disorder Treatment for Veterans in San Diego, California

We understand veterans face unique struggles that lead to mental health concerns. At our Mental Health Treatment Center in San Diego, we are sensitive to your challenges. Solara will find every possible solution to enable you to live the life that you are meant to live.

Mental Health and Wellness

Personality Disorders Treatment for Veterans

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 in San Diego, CA, 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.

Types of Personality Disorders

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) 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 one 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

There are higher chances of children verbally abused in their childhood 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 in veterans

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.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, is an approach that is the most commonly used method of treating personality disorders. However, psychiatric treatment is not enough to treat these disorders. Veterans can take a holistic approach to help ensure that their medical and social needs are also met.

Psychotherapy can help veterans discuss their thoughts, feelings, moods, and behaviors. Veterans can also learn about their condition, manage it, and cope with stress and other difficult situations.

There are different types of talk therapy treatments that are usually provided in individual, group, or family sessions. Veterans can also get training in critical social skills.

Social skills training helps veterans use the knowledge gained in therapy to adopt healthy ways of managing their symptoms and behaviors. By using this approach they build relationships and improve social interactions with others.

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 its facilities in San Diego, CA for most of the TriWest covered states.

Along with transportation, Solara can provide long-term housing at its beautiful Pacific Beach, San Diego residences that are close to the treatment center. These housing accommodations can be provided for both inpatient and outpatient treatment that may follow inpatient treatment.

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 in Pacific Beach to get a preview of what you might expect when choosing Solara Mental Health as your care provider.

Veteran Personality Disorder Treatment in San Diego

Solara Mental Health in San Diego 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.

What Our Clients Say

Lynn

Even though I’m not religious, I realized when I got sober that for the first time in my life I wanted to explore my spiritual side. I benefited hugely from the individual spiritual sessions that I had with Chris. I’m really grateful for that aspect of the whole treatment experience.

Alex

I have never felt better than I do now, since completing your program. The truly caring and supportive staff and the intensive program changed my life. What a neat place to stay for treatment - I love Pacific Beach! I have learned skills and behavior to move forward with my life thanks to you.

Bill

The program has given me the tools I needed to really gain stability. For the first time in years - maybe for as long as I can remember, actually, I’m learning how to cope and manage my stressors and triggers. I now believe that I can find some relief and happiness.

R.M. – Father

If not for Solara Mental Health, I am almost positive that our daughter would not be as advanced in her treatment, and would not have the almost miraculous confident and positive outlook that she has.

Dad

We are so grateful to you for the treatment and care you provided our daughter. She is doing unbelievably well now thanks to your program. We will gladly tell anyone we encounter that needs treatment about the wonderful work you do at Solara.

Husband

Solara was truly a life-changing experience for me and for our children, because of what you did for my wife! The treatment team was phenomenally supportive and perfect for helping her with her anxiety and depression. We are all now moving forward to put our lives back together and it started with you all in Pacific Beach. Thank you for what you do.

Bradley

The therapists and counselors and really whole team were extremely beneficial to me and my understanding of my issues. The treatment plan they developed was exactly what I needed

Michelle Family

I want to thank you and the entire staff and support system at Solara for taking such good care of my sister. On behalf of my entire family, we want you all to understand that your patience and kindness stretches further than you can see… Thank you, again and again, from the bottom of my heart.

Lauren

The Solara program is truly amazing. I’ve never had more clarity or more good energy in my entire life. The attention the physicians and the therapists gave me was outstanding. I feel like they truly understood and addressed my issues, which had consumed my life for years. Thank you all.

Terri

The Solara Treatment Program was a life-changing experience for me. To be able to heal in such a beautiful, peaceful environment, with such a terrific treatment team, was so amazingly positive. I have found my true self, again. I thank you and my family thanks you for helping me become the person I was meant to be.

Watson Family

Solara’s program was such a positive experience for our mom (and for us)! She had become almost impossible to deal with. Your entire staff was phenomenally supportive and kind and patient with her. We feel like we’ve got our mom back, now.

M.P. – Father

Your program provided our daughter with the most masterful therapist we have ever encountered (and we have used many). She has had an unbelievable ability to see the long-term trajectory of our daughter’s treatment and to approach her treatment in stages that fit where my daughter’s development was. We can’t say enough positive about her.

Trauma, Veterans

Managing War Flashbacks: Tips for Coping with PTSD

War flashbacks are a distressing symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that can have a significant impact on the lives of those who experience them. It is important to note that not everyone who experiences a traumatic event will develop PTSD, as individual resilience and coping mechanisms play a role in determining the likelihood of developing the disorder.

VA Mental Health Coverage in San Diego, CA

Veterans

Does the VA Cover Mental Health?

Veteran mental health can be affected by the service, but VA provides veterans healthcare that can include mental health benefits.