I am a firm believer that many people with personality disorders can be helped to lead normal or near normal lives. While it’s true that our overall personality structure stays fairly constant throughout our lives, there’s a huge difference, for example, between a person who has tendencies toward Avoidant Personality Disorder but who’s able to set them aside and function well, as opposed to someone who is emotionally crippled by the disorder.

Treatment for personality disorders is long and involved and the individual has to be highly motivated to stick with it. Often, as the initial pain that brings the person to therapy begins to subside, they see themselves as “cured” and leave therapy. This tendency may be what causes some to say people with personality disorders don’t change.