What is BPD?
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental health condition. People with BPD have extreme mood swings, unstable relationships and trouble controlling their emotions. They have a higher risk of suicide and self-destructive behavior.
Many diagnosed with BPD feel suspicious about events in their lives. They struggle with suspicion and paranoia about the intentions of people around them. When stressed, they may lose touch with reality and become disassociated.
What Causes BPD?
Like any other psychological disorder, precise causes for BPD are difficult to pinpoint. Many experts agree that interactions among the environment, biology, and genetics can contribute to its development.
While having any or a combination of these factors could result in the onset of BPD symptoms, this may not be the case for everyone. Conversely, a person may lack these risk factors and still develop BPD.
Who does borderline personality disorder affect?
Most personality disorders begin in the teen years when your personality further develops and matures. As a result, almost all people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder are above the age of 18.
Although anyone can develop BPD, it’s more common if you have a family history of BPD. People with other mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, or eating disorders, are also at higher risk.
Nearly 75% of people diagnosed with BPD are female. Research suggests that males may be equally affected by BPD. However, they may be misdiagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression.
Possible causes of borderline personality disorder include:
Genetics: There is some evidence suggesting that BPD may be genetic. Someone with a close relative (like a parent or sibling) with this condition may be at a higher risk of developing BPD.
Brain Anomalies: Several studies have linked brain anomalies with BPD. These revealed that variations in brain structure and function may account for symptoms like emotional instability and impulsiveness.
Childhood Trauma: Many cases of BPD have been associated with childhood trauma. BPD sufferers have reported experiencing traumatic events during childhood, like physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, neglect, abandonment, etc.
Unspoken signs of borderline personality disorder (BPD) include emotional numbness, chronic self-doubt, avoidance of conflict, internalized anger, and a deep fear of abandonment. These signs can be subtle and not immediately apparent but are important for understanding the condition.
Another commonly observed behavior in individuals with BPD is oversharing, a tendency to divulge personal or sensitive information excessively.
Fear of abandonment
People with BPD may say they are afraid that people they care about will leave them.
They may say they are scared to be alone, even when things are going well.
They may say they are clingy or needy because they want to be close to people but are afraid of being rejected.
Splitting
People with BPD may rapidly switch between perceiving someone as "good" or "bad".
They may idealize someone and then devalue them.
Anger
People with BPD may experience intense anger and have a short temper.
They may lash out or make impulsive gestures when they feel insecure in a relationship.
They may have difficulty controlling their anger and may engage in self-harm.
Unrealistic expectations
People with BPD may have unrealistic expectations of people.
They may ask for lots of reassurance or test people's commitment.
Impulsive behavior
People with BPD may do things impulsively, such as driving recklessly, having unsafe sex, or binge drinking.
A person with BPD can have various thoughts and feelings all at once and may find it difficult to express them. This can make it difficult for people to understand each other's feelings. One way to help is to acknowledge the person's feelings, emotions, and thoughts.
Other Symptoms:
Dissociative symptoms are a criterion of BPD; features may include 'psychotic-like symptoms (e.g., hallucinations, body-image distortions, ideas of reference, hypnagogic phenomena) during times of stress' and 'self-mutilation may occur during dissociative experiences.’
The amnesia — often referred to as dissociative fugue — associated with BPD refers to the feeling of losing time. Even though the individual is awake, they may be unable to recall where they were, who they were with, or what they were doing. This may include intense confusion.
Psychological symptoms include subjective detachment from the own person (depersonalization) or the environment (derealization), which may be perceived as unreal, blurry, movie-like, or lacking significance.
A rage or anger blackout is a period of intense anger during which an individual may lose awareness or memory of their actions. While not exclusive to BPD, these blackouts can be particularly distressing when they occur, leading to potential harm to oneself or others and damaging relationships.
