{"id":64,"date":"2026-05-08T16:44:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun-referrals\/?page_id=64"},"modified":"2026-05-08T16:56:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:56:03","slug":"personality-disorders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/about\/personality-disorders\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Personality Disorder?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A <strong>personality disorder<\/strong> is a term used to describe long-term problems that affect how a person:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Thinks<\/li>\n<li>Feels<\/li>\n<li>Behaves<\/li>\n<li>Gets along with others<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These problems can make daily life hard for the person and sometimes for the people around them.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ohft-box blue\">\n<p>Not everyone who attends SUN groups has a personality disorder<\/p>\n<p>However, everyone who comes to the service is dealing with <strong>long-term difficulties <\/strong>like the ones described below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>How it might feel<\/h2>\n<p>People using our service often:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Know they are having difficulties<\/li>\n<li>May feel stuck or worried that nothing can help<\/li>\n<li>May have asked for help before but not found it useful<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Common difficulties<\/h2>\n<p>Not everyone experiences the same problems, but people may struggle with some of the following:<\/p>\n<h3>Feelings and emotions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Strong feelings that are hard to manage<\/li>\n<li>Quick changes in mood<\/li>\n<li>Feeling anxious or low (depressed)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Coping with stress<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Finding it hard to deal with everyday pressures<\/li>\n<li>Feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Behaviour<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Trying to cope in harmful ways, such as:\n<ul>\n<li>Hurting themselves<\/li>\n<li>Using alcohol or drugs<\/li>\n<li>Losing control of their temper<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Relationships<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Finding it hard to get along with others<\/li>\n<li>Feeling anxious around people<\/li>\n<li>Acting distant or keeping people at a distance<\/li>\n<li>Having intense or unstable relationships<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Impact on daily life<\/h2>\n<p>These difficulties can make it hard to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep a job<\/li>\n<li>Maintain a home or tenancy<\/li>\n<li>Build and keep relationships<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why it is called a &#8220;personality&#8221; disorder<\/h2>\n<p>When these patterns have been there for a long time, they can become part of how a person:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Thinks<\/li>\n<li>Feels<\/li>\n<li>Acts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are sometimes called <strong>personality traits<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>If these traits cause serious problems in someone\u2019s life, they may be described as a personality disorder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A personality disorder is a term used to describe long-term problems that affect how a person: Thinks Feels Behaves Gets&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":61,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-64","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64\/revisions\/70"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/61"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/sun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}