Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental health disorder classified under the personality disorders. Personality disorders differ from other disorders such as depressive disorders, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders. Personality disorders are characterized by longstanding or ongoing symptoms while other disorders like depression and anxiety typically occur in episodes with symptoms subsiding in between episodes. People with personality disorders display symptoms that are essentially apart of who they are, their character, or their ‘personality.’
The primary traits of BPD are unstable personal relationships, a poor self-image, and difficulty managing emotions. People with BPD have a significant fear of being abandoned by loved ones and therefore will engage in behaviors to prevent abandonment such as extreme anger, suicide attempts or self-harm, or other intense displays of emotion. These individuals struggle with being alone, but at the same time, their behaviors often alienate others. Low self-esteem is common among these individuals often causing them to hate themselves. Their feelings towards others are similar as they can vacillate from idealizing another person to despising them if they feel slighted or wronged. BPD is also characterized by impulsive and risky behaviors, sudden changes in mood, and even paranoia and detachment from reality.
BPD is a chronic and severe condition, as these personality deficits will interfere with one or more areas of the person’s life. People with BPD often struggle with getting along with family, spouses/romantic partners, friends, or co-workers. In severe cases, these individuals will experience frequent psychiatric hospitalizations due to suicide attempts or acts of self-harm. These individuals often do not intend to end their own life, but may do so accidentally in moments of despair and impulsivity as they engage in behaviors such as self-mutilation (e.g., cutting) or taking large quantities of medications, alcohol, or drugs. Self-harm is also often an outlet for these individuals to release the emotional pain and hopelessness they feel. Many describe pain as having a numbing effect.
In the past, personality disorders were viewed as being ‘untreatable;’ however, there are therapeutic approaches, such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), that provide interventions to help people with BPD manage impulses and intense emotions, improve interpersonal relationships, and learn coping skills to replace self-harm and other high-risk behaviors.
