What is Borderline Personality Disorder?

Borderline Personality Disorder is a disorder also commonly referred to as BPD in the mental health profession. It is estimated that BPD affects as much as 14% of the American population. 75% of those diagnosed with BPD are women, and the treatment options for BPD vary from medication to psychotherapy or out-patient treatment. But what is Borderline Personality Disorder?

An inability to maintain, establish, or sustain relationships is the most notable aspect of Borderline Personality Disorder. They are unable to sustain relationships due to a constant fear of losing their relationships. Those that suffer from BPD will fear being abandoned and may seek out methods to prevent this. This will include attention seeking behavior such as cutting, slashing, overdose or chronic drug use, addictions, sexual promiscuity, or a number of other behaviors considered self-destructive.

Recognizing and diagnosing borderline personality disorder is established by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, a manual used in the mental health field to diagnose mental health illnesses. However, history and research shows us that borderline personality disorders have been recognized since at least 1930. The disorder tends to manifest itself most prevalently in early adult years. At this point, the instability of relationships has persisted fro some time and is accompanied by an instability in emotional well-being with the individual.

A person with BPD experiences dichotomized thinking. What this means is they think in black or white, there are no gray areas. They will consider others to be either good or bad people, and will have difficulty distinguishing that there is both good and bad in everyone they meet. They also will think in terms of 'all or nothing' as it is very difficult for them to distinguish a middle ground in their cognition.

Other characteristics that define BPD include extreme impulsive behavior. This behavior is manifested by a variety of symptoms and may include some or all of the following: frantic gestures in an efforts of avoiding abandonment whether that abandonment is real or imaginary; a repeated pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships; an unstable identity in terms of their own sense of self; impulsive and self-destructive behaviors in a minimum of two areas (sex, addictions, eating, spending, etc.); persistent suicidal behavior, threats, or behavior seen as self-mutilating; chronic feelings of 'emptiness'; a difficulty in managing or controlling temper with frequent episodes of temper and anger outbursts, or, constant anger within relationships; and paranoia that is stress-related and is accompanied by disassociative symptoms where the individual feels depersonalized.

These are the primary characteristics of individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder. The treatment options vary depending on the severity of the disorder. The sooner someone is diagnosed, the sooner they can begin a treatment program and begin to establish healthy relationships and behavior patterns.