Defense attorney Joe Amendola may present evidence about a condition known as Histrionic Personality Disorder.

CNN: June 17, 2012 -- Updated 2034 GMT (0434 HKT)

Occasionally, a shocking gesture is called for, perhaps even a histrionic one.

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The victims include a Joseph Losey-like director (played with amusing snap by Martin Scorsese) and a Dorothy Comingore-like actress (Patricia Wettig, in a stupefying histrionic exhibition).

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Dr. Elliot Atkins testified that he diagnosed Sandusky with histrionic personality disorder, a class of conditions called dramatic personality disorders, which are marked by unstable emotions and distorted self-images.

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Dr. Elliot Atkins testified that he diagnosed Sandusky with histrionic personality disorder, part of a class of conditions called dramatic personality disorders that are marked by unstable emotions and distorted self-images.

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Fears of economic contraction continue to grow, and after two years of histrionic punditry over the inevitable return of severe inflationary pressures, public gaze has begun to shift towards the truly frightening prospect of deflation.

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Failing to make this basic distinction helped lead to serious errors in outlook during the late 1980s, during which many observers who generally share sound presuppositions about the nature of the economy were given to histrionic predictions of national default, debt monetization, and hyperinflation.

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