Walking a Difficult Line: Taking a Look at Borderline Personality Disorder

What is Borderline Personality Disorder? Defined by the website www.borderlinepersonalitydisorder.com, “Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness that causes unstable moods, behavior, and relationships. It usually begins during adolescence or early adulthood.” One may wonder what can be the cause of this disorder. BPD can be detected by an in-person interview about the symptoms that are occurring. The input from family and close friends of the individual that is being treated can also help detect the symptoms. The causes for BPD are not fully

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) can be described in simple terms as a condition in which sufferers experience long periods of emotional instability and troubled feelings about themselves and other people. These troubled feelings allow individuals to take impulsive measures and have trouble in their relationships (Bouchard, Sabourin, Lussier & Villeneuve, 2009). BPD basically comprises of unusual intensities of instability in mood and irrational thinking also referred to as splitting. Splitting in BPD involves a switch between negative perception of others and idealization (Sperry, 2003). This usually occurs along with irregular mood swings and can negatively impact on the existing relationships such as family,

This disorder occurs in most by early adulthood. The unstable pattern of interacting with others persists for years and is usually closely related to the person’s self-image and early social interactions. The pattern is present in a variety of settings, and often is accompanied by a similar fluctuation in a person’s emotions and feelings. Relationships and the person’s emotion may often be characterized as being shallow. People with BPD often have odd thinking and

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental health disorder that cause changes in the mood and behavior of a person. According to www.mhhe.com, traits of BPD would be “self-destruction behaviors, fear of abandonment, and mood shifts.” People suffering from BPD has symptoms and problem with regulating emotions (intense mood swings), low self-worth, aggressive behavior, and a fear of abandonment (being left behind). It has been found that BPD has vague symptoms that is based on a wide collection. The cause of BPD are not well understood, but some psychoanalytic believe the symptoms come from poor care taking during childhood.

Extreme mood swings are common in patients with borderline personality disorder. Someone with BPD can switch between feelings of extreme happiness to intense sadness in an instant. Emotions are also felt more deeply and persist longer than others’. Because their emotions are more heightened, patients may exhibit hyper reactivity in situations that they consider unpleasant such as criticism, disagreements, or separation. These unpleasant events can cause extreme anger, resentment, or sadness whereas a normal person would easily get over the problem. On the other hand, patients are often exceptionally optimistic and enthusiastic when positive events occur. (nimh.nih.gov, 2013)

BPD affects about four percent of the community, but can be as high as twenty percent in many clinical psychiatric populations. It can be difficult to treat because it responds poorly to most conventional methods of treatment and because of how little we still know about it. There have been many great discoveries about BPD in only a few decades. There are still many questions to be answered about this disorder, but it has gone from a label attached to those who did not quite fit into other categories to a completely separate and somewhat understood mental illness.

This affects how you feel about yourself and how you relate to others. A person with BPD has a fear of being alone. Feeling alone, worthless, etc. can lead to these people having episodes of anxiety and depression. Most researchers agree that a history of childhood trauma can be a cause for BPD. BPD is more widespread in females. 75% of those diagnosed are females. It is thought that BPD affects about 2% of the general population. A person with BPD has a smaller hippocampus and amygdala than an average person would. Their prefrontal cortex tends to be less active, especially when recalling memories of abandonment. Although like most personality disorders, BPD will typically decrease as a person ages. A person with BPD has manic episodes. In a manic episode, the person is extremely happy without any real reason to be happy. Not being able to sit still, restlessness, irritability, and unlimited energy are common in manic episodes. People in a manic episode oddly become very creative. A lack of organization renders a person in a manic episode from expressing their

(j) My critique of the source material the research only focused mainly of the internal state the involved BPD, although some environmental influences where mention.

1.6 % of adults are diagnosed with BPD each year. It is usually shown that BPD begins in early adulthood/adolescence, but has also been seen to show symptoms in early childhood. (National Institute of Mental Health, 2014) It is unlikely to be diagnosed before the age of 16 (National Center for Biotechnology Information,

Psychologists perform many studies related to Borderline Personality Disorder. One study in adults proves that 2-8% of adults suffer from BPD. In the same study, psychologist discovered that in fact the disorder is far more common in women than in men. After obtaining research in children and teens we see the frequency of BPD in 9-19 years of age is about 11%. This study or theory also proves that BPD occurs more often in girls than in boys. Borderline Personality Disorder can be triggered or caused in many different ways. Some people suffer from BPD due to a disturbing childhood experience. Studies show this disorder could even be genetic. There are numerous reasons why a child, teen, adult can develop traits and eventually suffer from BPD. Many patients tell or report abuse or neglect during childhood or some pivotal time in their life. The most common abuse reported tends to be sexual abuse as a child. Forty to seventy percent of patients with Borderline Personality Disorder, who suffered abuse as a child, claim the abuse was sexual in nature. Other important causes revolve around family neglect, foster care, or trauma. BPD patients have an increased fear of losing a primary attachment figure. With higher awareness of BPD, we now know this disorder’s high personal, social, and economic toll make it a national public health

This disorder has been the focus of different and significant research because results suggest that 2.7 percent of adults in the United State meet diagnostic criteria for BPD (Tomko, Trull, Wood, & Sher, 2014). Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe form of psychopathology characterized by a long standing pattern of difficulties in interpersonal relationships, impulsiveness, and instability of moods, identity disturbance, self-harm, and a high rate of suicidal behavior. The instability of moods is the deadline of this personality disorder because it is very difficult for people to control anger depression and anxiety (Rathus, 2014). This can affect the workplace and daily life since it is employees with borderline personality traits are challenging for management. Although there can sometimes be overt evidence of impulsive or disruptive behavior, the problems are more often manifest in more subtle ways. Appropriate limit setting is essential, with a focus on proper workplace conduct, completion of assigned tasks, and due consideration of coworker feelings (Ogden, & Prokott,

With BPD there are often extremes in beliefs and views, such as all good or all bad. People with BPD are can be uncertain about whom they truly are as a person. With no self sense, interests and values may conflict as well as change rapidly. Their views of others may also change quickly. One day a certain person may be admired. The next day that same person may be despised or hated. Suddenly shifting feelings often foster relationships that are unstable and intense. There are numerous other identifiable traits someone with BPD may display. Some of these symptoms may include fear abandonment, feelings of emptiness and boredom, frequent displays of inappropriate anger, destructive impulsiveness, intolerance of being alone, as well as repeated self crises (i.e. self injury).

Likewise, the author read that Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is described as instability in interpersonal relationship, self-image and mood, a fast fluctuation between emotional states, impulsive behaviour and an inclination towards self-harm and suicidal thinking (NICE 2009).

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) include a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and is marked impulsivity. BPD begins in early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts. Alice Klieg displays 6 of

The history of BPD can be traced back to 1938 when Adolph Stern first described the symptoms of the disorder as neither being psychotic nor psychoneurotic; hence, the term ‘borderline’ was introduced (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15). Then in 1960, Otto Kernberg coined the term ‘borderline personality organization’ to describe persistent patterns of behavior and functioning consisting of instability, and distressed psychological self-organization (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15).