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Borderline Personality is a disorder that affects a significantly large percentage of the

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Borderline Personality is a disorder that affects a significantly large percentage of the population with a prevalence rate of up to 5.9%. (DSM, 2000) Out of that percentage about 75% of patients diagnosed with BPD are female. It is an illness that is both misunderstood and given quite a bad stigma. It is difficult to live with and those that have it struggle to maintain personal and business relationships. Even with the high demand for treatment it is a disorder that is hard to treat however when treated can be highly affective. (NIMH) This paper goes into detail on the history, diagnosing, treatment, and effects of Borderline Personality Disorder so that the disorder may better be understood. Borderline Personality disorder (BPT) is …show more content…

They may often think “the person doesn’t care enough, give enough, or is not there enough”. (DSM, 2000) Patients may display signs of an unstable self-image, sense of self or identity disturbance. A patient may be indecisive about his or her life and feel they constantly want to change jobs, may question their sexual identity, and values etc. These feelings lead to the next characteristic, extreme impulsivity in at least two areas that could be harmful such as unsafe sex, substance abuse or reckless driving. (DSM, 2000) The patient may feel unstable and experience rapid mood changes such as irritability or anxiety. They may have chronic feelings of emptiness or boredom which may stimulate self-mutilation. (NIMH) The next symptom is feeling inappropriate and intense anger or trouble controlling anger such as constantly getting into fights or constantly feeling anger, stress related paranoia and severe dissociative symptoms for brief periods of time. These “moods often only last a few hours however they can overtake the feelings of well-being that a patient does have resulting in unstable mental state. (DSM, 2000)They are usually brought on by a patient if they feel a lover or close friend is being neglectful. They may feel intense guilt afterwards leading to the feeling that they are evil or bad. (DSM, 2000) The dissociative symptoms that a patient may experience can

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