What is histrionic personality disorder? Despite its long history, many people have never even heard of histrionic personality disorder (HPD) before, let alone have an understanding about it. So what is HPD and what does it really look like?

“I knew I should have felt happy or sad or surprised or angry but I didn’t. I simply felt empty, numb, completely detached… I didn’t even feel like me”. We often talk about the pain associated with depression, the feelings of sadness, hopelessness or guilt. We speak of the overwhelming emotions, we speak of their intensity and their persistency, which begs the question, … is it better to feel nothing at all?

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide in Australia. On average 1 in 5 women and 1 in 8 men will experience some level of depression in their lifetime. Unfortunately, it is estimated that only 35% of Australians with anxiety and depression access treatment … many of these people may never even open up to others about their struggles. It is valuable for friends and/or loved ones to be aware of some of the warning signs of depression so that they can offer help as early as soon as possible.

While many of us have heard of schizophrenia before it is still a highly misunderstood mental illness and one that carries a heavy and dogmatic stigma with it. So what really is schizophrenia and how does it come about?

Every now and again we might notice that our clothes aren’t quite fitting into our wardrobe anymore, or perhaps that pile of junk mail on the bench is getting just a little too high … and so we decide to get rid of a few things. You might find yourself wanting to hold onto a pair of jeans you haven’t worn in years, or an old assignment you’d written years ago that might come in handy one day. We are all guilty of this from time to time however for people with Hoarding Disorder (HD) these difficulties are excessive and may cause safety concerns, significant distress and have an impact on all other aspects of life too.