Personality Disorders Therapy

If you’ve ever felt like the same patterns keep tripping you up—no matter how hard you try—you might wonder if there’s something deeper going on. Personality disorders aren’t about being “broken”; they’re about long-standing habits of thinking, feeling, and relating that can make life harder than it needs to be.

Ask yourself:

• Do I often feel misunderstood or disconnected from others, even in close relationships?

• Do I struggle with big swings in how I see myself—sometimes confident, other times worthless?

• Do my reactions to stress or conflict feel stronger, longer-lasting, or harder to manage than other people’s?

• Do I notice the same problems in relationships, work, or self-esteem coming up again and again?

If you’ve answered yes to some of these questions, consider reaching out for support. Together, we can work on untangling these patterns and creating more stability, confidence, and connection in your life.

A personality disorder involves long-standing patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that cause ongoing struggles in relationships, work, or self-esteem. These patterns often begin in adolescence and may feel like “just who you are,” but they create unnecessary distress and barriers to living the life you want.

Rather than neat categories, most people have personality traits that may cause more struggle than needed. These traits exist on a spectrum—from mild styles that occasionally get in the way, to rigid patterns that dominate daily life. Common challenges include unstable self-image, difficulty managing stress, and recurring conflicts in relationships.

The good news: with the right therapy, it’s possible to understand these patterns, develop healthier coping skills, and create more stable and fulfilling connections.

There are 10 official personality disorder diagnoses, but most people struggle more with patterns of personality than with neat diagnostic labels. Schema therapy focuses on these underlying patterns and how they affect your life. Here are some of the most common personality disorders schema therapy can help with:

Schema Therapy helps you break free from long-standing “life traps” that keep fueling anxiety, depression, and relationship struggles. It blends insight, emotional healing, and practical tools so you can make lasting changes in how you think, feel, and relate to others.

Schema Therapy identifies 18 possible ‘life traps.’ Here are a few of the most common ones that many people recognize in themselves:

• Defectiveness & Shame – feeling like you’re unworthy or deeply flawed.
• Emotional Deprivation – believing your needs for love and support will never be met.
• Unrelenting Standards – feeling pressure to be perfect and never good enough.
• Failure – expecting to fall short, even when you’re capable.
• Abandonment – fearing that important people in your life will leave you.

In therapy, you’ll work on:

• Identifying schemas – noticing the deep patterns and triggers that keep repeating.
• Exploring childhood roots – understanding where these patterns began and how they still shape you.
• Imagery rescripting & role-play – reworking painful memories and practicing healthier responses.
• Mode work – recognizing your different “parts” (like the inner critic or vulnerable child) and strengthening the healthy self that can take the lead.
• Therapeutic relationship – using the safe, supportive connection with your therapist as a base for growth.

• Building new coping skills – replacing old reactions with strategies that help you feel calmer, stronger, and more in control.