Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) affects how an individual feels about themselves and relates to others, in turn affecting their behavior. Although BPD may display different symptoms for different individuals, there are some common signs and symptoms. These may include:

• Intense fear of abandonment. People with BPD are significantly afraid of being abandoned or left alone by their loved one. The fear is so intense that it can trigger from a small situation such as a loved one being home late from work or going on a weekend trip.

• Extreme mood swings.Unstable emotions and moods are a common characteristic of BPD. Moods can change rapidly from calm to helpless. Small events that people would normally pay little attention to may send someone with BPD into an emotional tailspin. While the mood swings can be intense, they tend not to last as long as mood swings from bipolar disorder, lasting from a few minutes to hours.

• Shifting self-identity. BPD causes rapid changes in self-image and self-identity. Sometimes, a person can feel secure about themselves and the next they may not even know who they are. This causes a shift in goals and values and as a result, frequently changing friends, jobs, religions, values, and goals.

• A chronic feeling of emptiness. A person with BPD may experience an ongoing feeling of emptiness, like a void within. With the loss of self-identity, they may feel as if they are “nothing” or “nobody”. The feeling of emptiness is sometimes filled with unhealthy behaviors such as drugs, food, or sex. Even so, it is difficult for them to find true peace with a chronic feeling of emptiness.

• Impulsive self-destructive behavior. Individuals with BPD may engage in impulsive, risky, and sometimes even dangerous behaviors in an effort to feel something, especially when they are upset. Examples of these behaviors include reckless driving, excessive gambling, binge eating or drinking, drug abuse, and quitting a stable job.

• Explosive anger. People with BPD may experience explosive anger and a short temper. They often have trouble controlling their anger once it hits, displaying behavior such as yelling, throwing objects, or being completely overcome by rage. Sometimes, this anger is directed inwards towards themselves.

• Paranoia or feeling out of touch with reality. BPD can cause a person to go through periods of paranoia or loss of touch with reality related to stress. Losing touch with reality is commonly referred to as dissociation. They may become suspicious of people’s motives, even those close to them. Stress from BPD could lead a person to feel spaced out and foggy.

• Self-harm. The unbalanced emotions of someone with BPD increase the chances that the individual will engage in suicidal or self-harm behavior. This is usually in response to a fear of separation or rejection from a loved one.

• Unstable relationships. One of the most defining characteristics of BPD is a pattern of unstable relationships. Changing moods often result in a shift in how the person with BPD views their significant other. One moment they may be completely dedicated to the person and the next moment they believe that the person doesn’t care enough. Relationships are usually intense and short-lived due to rapid swings of idealization to devaluation.