Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental health condition characterized by unstable moods, behavior, and relationships. People with BPD often experience intense emotions that can change rapidly.  

Symptoms of BPD

Individuals with BPD often exhibit a pattern of unstable relationships, self-image, and emotions. Common symptoms include:

• Intense fear of abandonment: A pervasive fear of being alone or abandoned, leading to desperate efforts to avoid real or imagined separation.
• Unstable relationships: Intense, idealizing relationships that quickly shift to feelings of devaluation and anger.
• Impulsive behavior: Engaging in risky behaviors, such as substance abuse, reckless driving, or impulsive spending.
• Self-harm: Engaging in self-cutting, burning, or other forms of self-injury as a way to cope with emotional distress.
• Rapid mood swings: Experiencing intense emotional shifts, often from euphoria to despair.
• Chronic feelings of emptiness: A persistent sense of emptiness or void.
• Dissociative symptoms: Feeling detached from oneself or reality.
• Inappropriate intense anger: Difficulty controlling anger, often leading to outbursts.
• Paranoid thoughts or dissociative symptoms: Transient, stress-related paranoid thoughts or severe dissociative symptoms.

Causes of BPD

The exact causes of BPD are not fully understood, but a combination of genetic, biological, and environmental factors may contribute to its development.   

While BPD can be challenging to manage, effective treatments are available. Psychotherapy, particularly dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), is a highly effective treatment for BPD. DBT focuses on teaching skills to regulate emotions, improve interpersonal relationships, tolerate distress, and mindfulness.