Symptoms Expanded

The National Institute for Mental Health describes Borderline personality disorder (BPD) as a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior.
This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and the individual's sense of self-identity. Originally thought to be at the "borderline" of psychosis, people with BPD suffer from a disorder of emotion regulation.

A person with BPD may experience intense emotions such as anger, depression, and anxiety that usually only lasts a few hours, or a day at the most, differing from a typical person with Bi-polar or Depression who will experience the mood for weeks.

These intense emotions may also be accompanied with episodes of impulsive aggression, self-injury, and drug or alcohol abuse. Distortions in cognition and identity can lead to frequent changes in long-term goals, career plans, jobs, friendships, gender identity, and values.

NIMH goes on to state that people with BPD often have highly unstable patterns of social relationships. While they can develop intense but stormy attachments, their attitudes towards family, friends, and loved ones may suddenly shift from idealization (great admiration and love) to devaluation (intense anger and dislike). Thus, they may form an immediate attachment and idealize the other person, but when a slight separation or conflict occurs, they switch unexpectedly to the other extreme and angrily accuse the other person of not caring for them at all. Even with family members, individuals with BPD are highly sensitive to rejection, reacting with anger and distress to such mild separations as a vacation, a business trip, or a sudden change in plans. 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. Suicide threats and attempts may occur along with anger at perceived abandonment and disappointments.

People with BPD exhibit other impulsive behaviors, such as excessive spending, binge eating and risky sex. BPD often occurs together with other psychiatric problems, particularly bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and other personality disorders.


~The more we go on trying to understand BPD, the easier it will become to view it as the actual illness it is. We will no longer be bewildered by the chaotic behavior, less likely to take the many hurtful experiences personally, and better able to let go of the "story lines" weaved by the afflicted.

We will learn how to set healthy boundaries that enhance self-respect and quality of life. We will no longer allow ourselves to be controlled by this disorder as we take the upper-hand and expand our knowledge base.