Borderline personality disorder (BPD) generally involves poor regulation of emotions. It is characterised by patterns of instability in relationships, mood, behaviour and self-image. One of the major problems experienced by BPD sufferers entails a difficulty in distinguishing between reality and their own misperceptions of the world.
Characteristics of Borderline Personality Disorder
People with borderline personality disorder will often find that their emotions take control; this can deeply affect the patient's relationships with other people. They are prone to alternating extremes of anger, anxiety, depression and emptiness. Intense bouts of emotions can last for hours.
People with borderline personality disorder experience distortions in self-perception, which can lead to frequent changes in goals, career plans, friendships, values and even gender identity issues. Often, people with borderline personality disorder believe they are bad or unworthy and they frequently feel misunderstood, mistreated and empty. People with this disorder often struggle to put into words who they really are.
Relationships in Borderline Personality Disorder
An individual with borderline personality disorder will have very stormy and intense relationships with other people. Their view of the world and other people could be described as very black and white in nature.
Someone with borderline personality disorder may experience shifts in perceptions of friends and family from great admiration and love to intense anger and dislike. This tendency to view others as heroes or villains is called "splitting" and it serves as a defence mechanism that's intended to protect the person with the disorder from the perception of dangerous anxiety and intense moods.
Rejection and Self-Destruction in Borderline Personality Disorder
People with borderline personality disorder are extremely sensitive to rejection. The person may react with anger and distress in response to even mild separation from loved ones.
As a result of intense inner turmoil, a person with borderline personality disorder may result in destructive behaviours such as self-harm, eating disorders or suicide attempts in order to escape their extreme emotions. These types of behaviour are often triggered by fears of being abandoned.
Facts About Borderline Personality Disorder
- Borderline personality disorder affects 2-3% of the general population
- Borderline personality disorder is three times more common in women than it is in men
- The disorder generally begins in childhood, peaking in late adolescence and early adulthood
- Up to 60% of people with borderline personality disorder achieve some stability during their 30s and 40s
- Borderline personality disorder overlaps with other personality disorders as well as bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse
Signs and Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder
Symptoms of borderline personality disorder include:
- A pattern of unstable and intense relationships;
- Splitting;
- An intense fear of abandonment;
- Rapidly shifting attitudes about friends and family;
- Desperate attempts to maintain relationships;
- Manipulation;
- Limited coping skills;
- Rapid, dramatic mood swings;
- Acting out feelings;
- Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger;
- Unpredictable self-damaging behaviour; and
- Self-destructive behaviour.
Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder
Psychotherapy is usually the best treatment for borderline personality disorder. The disorder can be very hard to treat, but individual and group therapies have shown to bring some level of success. However, the patient's unstable relationships and problems with anger can cause problems as the individual attempts to establish the requisite therapeutic relationship with his or her therapist.
Borderline Personality Disorder Prognosis
Borderline personality disorder is one of the most severe of all personality disorders, severely affecting the lives of people suffering this disorder, as well as blighting the lives of their family members and friends. People with this disorder struggle to form healthy relationships; they experience extreme emotional turmoil and frequently engage in self-destructive behaviours. For some, the BPD will improve with treatment, or symptoms may spontaneously abate during middle-age. But for others, borderline personality disorder is a lifelong mental health condition.
Sources:
Evans, D and Allen, H (2009), Mental Health Nursing Made Incredibly Easy, London, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.
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