Symptoms & Diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder: Symptoms & Diagnosis

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, people with borderline personality disorder (BPD), may experience intense bouts of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last only hours, or at most a day. These may be associated with episodes of impulsive aggression, self-injury, and drug or alcohol abuse.

People with BPD often feel ruled by the emotions that have so much difficulty controlling. One researcher said, “People with BPD are like people with third degree burns over 90% of their bodies. Lacking emotional skin, they feel agony at the slightest touch or movement.”

Distortions in cognition and sense of self can lead to frequent changes in long-term goals, jobs and career plans, friendships, gender identity, and values. People with BPD sometimes view themselves as fundamentally bad, or unworthy. They may feel unfairly misunderstood or mistreated, bored, empty, and have little idea who they are. Such symptoms are most acute when people with BPD feel isolated and lacking in social support. They may result in frantic efforts to avoid being alone.

As might be expected, people with BPD often have highly unstable patterns of social relationships. They can develop intense but stormy attachments, but their attitudes towards family, friends, and loved ones may suddenly shift from idealization (great admiration and love) to devaluation (intense anger and dislike).

A slight separation or conflict can trigger angry accusations of not caring towards people who were previously idealized. Individuals with BPD are highly sensitive to rejection, even with family members. These fears of abandonment seem to be related to difficulties feeling emotionally connected to important persons when they are physically absent, leaving the individual with BPD feeling lost and perhaps worthless and sometimes triggering suicide threats.

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