Histrionic personality disorder as pseudo-learning disability.

The case of a 20-year-old woman with a histrionic personality disorder is described. She claims to have a mild learning disability, and indeed, is receiving special college education for people with learning disabilities and has a specialist learning disability social worker, despite being of above average intelligence. Aetiologically, her persona is viewed as a psychological defence, rather than a deliberate attempt at deception. A process of 'institutionalization' appears to have occurred and compounded the problems with further regression. Psychiatrists and professionals in allied disciplines should not accept that a person has a learning disability purely because that person tells you that he or she has one.