Personality disorders
Counseling for personality disorders
The same argument. The same ending. And afterward, the same question about what is wrong with you.
A personality disorder therapist works on the pattern, not the label: how you read people, what you do when you feel rejected or crowded, and what happens next. In person in the Houston area, or online anywhere in Texas.
the weight sits.
- Select insurance plans accepted
- Self-pay $100–$150 per session
- For adults in Houston-Willowbrook, The Woodlands, and Katy
- Online across Texas
In crisis or thinking about suicide? Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. Counseling here is not an emergency service.
Who you might work with
Licensed counselors, matched to what you need
You are matched with a counselor based on what you need and who is available. These are some of the team. Tell us that long-standing patterns in how you relate to people are what you want to work on, and we will take that into account when we match you.
AJ Huynh
Director · LPC
Works with ACT, CBT and mindfulness-based approaches, with a focus on what matters to you rather than symptoms alone.
Brenda Resendez
Clinical Director · LPC
Blends ACT, CBT and motivational interviewing, adapting the approach to where you are rather than a fixed program.
Ricardo Alvarez
LPC
Draws on mindfulness, IFS, EMDR and ACT. A gentle, flexible approach that meets you where you are.
Cost and coverage
Know the cost before you begin.
For insured sessions, we verify your benefits and share an estimated out-of-pocket cost before the first session. That estimate is separate from the self-pay rates below.
Self-pay, per session
- Fully licensed clinician
- $150
- Associate clinician
- $100
Matching may include an associate clinician. Tell us if cost is a concern so we can discuss the options available to you.
Plans we currently work with
Coverage, cost, and availability depend on your plan, your eligibility at the time of service, and the clinician you see.
- Aetna
- Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Texas
- UnitedHealthcare
- Cigna
- Oscar
- Oxford
- Horizon BCBS
- BCBS of Massachusetts
- Original Medicare
- UHC Medicare Advantage
- Quest Behavioral Health
- Carelon Behavioral Health
Do not see your plan? Ask our team — consultations are free, and a limited number of sliding-scale openings may be available.
Daily life
It is not one bad week. It is the shape of most of them.
Reading a short text as a verdict. Agreeing to things you do not want so nobody leaves. Ending a friendship in one evening and not being sure, the next morning, why. Being told you are “too much” or “impossible to reach” enough times that you have started to believe it.
None of that makes you a diagnosis. It makes you someone with a pattern, and a pattern that has protected you from something is a pattern that can be understood before it is changed.
What you might work on
- The moment it turnsWhat happens in the seconds between feeling slighted, crowded or exposed, and what you do about it.
- The story you tell afterward“They never cared.” “I ruin everything.” Testing the explanation before it becomes the record.
- RepairWhat to do the day after a blow-up or a shutdown, so one bad night does not have to end the relationship.
- Who you are when nobody is reactingPreferences, opinions and boundaries that are yours rather than borrowed from whoever you are with.
You can try something between sessions, then talk about what fit and what got in the way.
Understanding personality disorders
Which patterns people come here about
Clinicians group the ten personality disorders into three clusters — A, the suspicious or detached patterns; B, the emotional and impulsive ones; C, the anxious and fearful ones. The six below are the ones people most often come here about. They are a starting point for a conversation, not a test you have to pass to deserve help.
01
Borderline personality disorder
Intense feelings that turn fast, a fear of being left, and relationships that swing between very close and over. This is the pattern we see most, and it has its own page: borderline personality disorder counseling.
02
Narcissistic personality disorder
A need to be seen as exceptional that sits on top of something far more fragile, and relationships that keep ending in the same hurt. Therapy here is quieter than the word suggests: it is about what the need is protecting.
03
Avoidant personality disorder
Wanting people badly and steering clear of them because the risk of being judged feels unsurvivable. A therapist for avoidant personality disorder works in small, agreed steps — nobody is pushed into a room.
04
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
Rules, lists, standards and control, applied to yourself and to everyone near you, until the standards run the relationship. Different from OCD, which has its own page: OCD counseling.
05
Dependent personality disorder
Not trusting your own judgment enough to make a decision alone, and going along with things you do not want because the alternative is being on your own. The work is in finding out what you actually think.
06
Paranoid and schizoid personality disorders
Reading harm into ordinary behavior, or not wanting the closeness other people seem to need. Both are cluster A patterns, and both can be worked with by a therapist who does not insist you trust them on day one.
What can contribute
- Childhood trauma, neglect or abuse
- Caregiving that was inconsistent or unpredictable
- Being told, early and often, that your feelings were wrong
- Family history and temperament
- Coping that worked once and never got updated
- Long stretches of stress with nobody safe to tell
A personality disorder rarely has one cause, and none of it is anyone’s fault. Understanding what the pattern once protected you from is part of the work, not a prerequisite for starting it. Where the difficulty comes in episodes — weeks of high or low rather than a steady way of relating — bipolar disorder counseling may fit better. Where it sits on top of something that happened to you, trauma counseling can run alongside.
How we work
How counseling for personality disorders works
Three approaches do most of the work here. Which one your therapist leans on depends on the pattern you bring, and on you. You can ask about it in the first session and change your mind later.
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Mapping the pattern
Cognitive behavioral therapy, applied to a pattern rather than a mood. Your therapist helps you lay out what tends to happen before, during and after the moments that go wrong — the trigger, the reading you gave it, the move you made — until the sequence is visible enough to interrupt.
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Acceptance and commitment therapy
ACT works on the gap between what you feel and what you do next. Feeling abandoned, criticized or crowded is allowed to be there; the work is in choosing the response from what matters to you — the friendship, the job, the marriage — rather than from the feeling alone.
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Skills for the moment it happens
Practical, rehearsed moves for the seconds that decide the evening: how to pause when the urge is to react, how to say what you need without setting fire to it, and how to repair the next day. These are drawn from emotion-regulation and communication skills training and practiced in session before you need them.
Getting started
Someone who will not flinch at the pattern.
Matching starts with what matters to you. You have a say in your goals and in whether the therapist feels like a fit.
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Tell us what you need
Use the matching form to share what brings you here and whether you prefer an office or online sessions.
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Explore your match
We suggest a counselor based on what you shared, who is available, and whether you want an office or online. You can ask about their approach before you decide.
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Start where you are
In your first session, talk about what feels hard. Nobody will ask you to do anything you have been avoiding on day one.
Before your first session
If it helps, you might jot down:
- The last time it went wrong — what was said, and what you did next
- What you have been told about yourself that you half believe
- One relationship you would like to be different in a year
These notes are optional. You do not need a log, a count, or a tidy history — bring whatever you can say that day.
The Reset Guarantee
Not happy with your therapist? We waive the fee for your last session and cover the cost of your next one, until you find the right fit.
Near you, or online
Choose where you meet
Meet in person at one of our three Houston-area offices, or choose telehealth anywhere in Texas.
Houston-Willowbrook
12807 Haynes Rd, Building C1
Houston, TX 77066
The Woodlands
2219 Sawdust Rd, Suite 1204
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Katy
21715 Kingsland Blvd, Suite 105
Katy, TX 77450
Online across Texas
Prefer to meet from home? Explore telehealth counseling in Texas.
Online sessions run the same way as an office visit, with the same counselors. If being in a room with someone new is the hardest part, starting on video is a reasonable first step, and you can move to an office later.
A few questions
Before you start
Have a different question? Ask our team when you get matched.
Is a personality disorder the same as a mood disorder?
No. A mood disorder — depression, bipolar disorder — comes and goes in episodes. A personality disorder is a steady way of reading people and reacting to them that has been there, in some form, since your teens or early twenties. The two can overlap, and part of a first assessment is telling them apart, because the work is different.
Can a personality disorder actually change?
Yes, and “cured” is the wrong word for it. The pattern does not vanish; it loosens. People learn to see it starting, hold the moment longer, and choose a different move often enough that relationships stop ending the same way. That is measurable change, and it is what the evidence for talk therapy in personality disorders shows.
Which personality disorders do you work with?
Borderline, narcissistic, avoidant, obsessive-compulsive, dependent, paranoid and schizoid patterns — the six on this page — in weekly outpatient counseling. We do not run a residential or intensive day program, and if that is the level of care you need, we will say so and help you find it.
I think I have BPD. Is this the right page?
Probably not — borderline personality disorder has its own page here, written for exactly that: borderline personality disorder counseling. If you are not sure which pattern fits, this page is the place to start and the matching form will sort the rest.
Do I need a diagnosis to start?
No. Many people arrive with a word someone else used about them, or with no word at all — just a pattern they are tired of. A personality disorder is diagnosed over time by a clinician, not from a checklist, and you do not need to have that done before you book.
What if I was told I have a personality disorder and I do not agree?
Then say so. Diagnoses in this area get handed out fast, sometimes in one bad appointment, and a label you did not agree to is a reasonable thing to bring to a first session. The work is on what keeps happening in your life, whatever it ends up being called.
Do I need medication as well?
There is no medication for a personality disorder itself. Some people take something for the depression or anxiety that travels with it, and that is a decision for you and a prescriber. Our counselors do not prescribe; if you already take something, counseling runs alongside it.
What if my therapist is not the right fit?
If you are not happy with your therapist, we waive the fee for your last session and cover the cost of your next one, until you find the therapist who feels like the right fit.
Your next step
The pattern has a history. It does not have to have a future.
Tell us what keeps happening, and we will help you find a counselor.
In crisis? Call or text 988 any time. Counseling here is not an emergency service.
We provide diagnosis, assessment and therapy. Our clinicians are licensed in Texas as professional counselors, clinical social workers or marriage and family therapists, and none of them prescribe medication — if you see a prescriber, counseling runs alongside that. We do not run a residential or intensive day program; this is weekly outpatient counseling.
