Borderline Personality Disorder

What is Borderline Personality Disorder?

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental illness that can make it hard for a person to feel comfortable in themselves, cause problems controlling emotions and impulses and causes problems relating to other people. People that have Borderline Personality Disorder tend to have higher levels of distress and anger than others around them. It is easy for those individuals to take offence at things people do or say and they may struggle with painful thoughts and beliefs about themselves and other people. Having these barriers can cause distress in their work life, family life and social life. Some people who have BPD may also go to the extent of killing themselves. BPD symptoms usually start during patients teenage years or as a young adult then progress into adult life. BPD isn’t chosen by an individual and cannot be purposely caused as it is a condition of the brain and mind and no fault of their own.

What’s the cause of Borderline Personality Disorder?

Those who have BPD will have several of these signs or symptoms.

• Fears of other people leaving them. This can cause some frantic efforts to avoid being abandoned including in situations where other people wouldn’t feel let down or take it personally.
• Having unusually intense and unstable relationships. For example, idealising another person then intensely disliking them.
• Feeling unsure about themselves and not really knowing what they are or what to think about themselves.
• Acting impulsively and taking risks that could be potentially harmful to themselves. For example, not thinking before spending money, drug and alcohol abuse, driving recklessly and binge eating).
• Showing suicidal behaviours like harming themselves or thinking about committing suicide.
• Experiencing short bursts of intense emotional lows or times of irritability or anxiety. Usually these will only last a few hours but sometimes can be longer.
• Feeling a persistent empty feeling inside.
• Feeling unusually intense anger and out of proportion anger from a trigger and being unable to control it.
• Being stressed and highly suspicious of others or usual feelings of detached emotions from their own body or surroundings.

What are the treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder?

The best way to treat BPD is by psychological treatments, talking therapies, which involve talking with a health professional on a one-to-one basis or in special groups. Medication is not recommended for a person’s main treatment of BPD but it may be helpful for those already undergoing psychological therapies to manage particular symptoms. Several types of psychological treatments can be provided by psychiatrists and psychologists and sometimes is provided by GPs, nurses, social workers and occupational therapists with special training. One of the main talking therapies for BPD is Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT). DBT is a treatment that aims to balance cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with acceptance strategies. Whilst CBT’s main focus is on changing a problem you are experiencing into a positive one and how to regulate your emotions and relationships closer, DBT layers onto this therapy with strategies on how to accept reality as it is in that moment. It practices accepting pain, and how to change that into a positive outcome.