The borderline is desperate for relief, and often finds it in drugs and endorphan releasing behaviors such as reckless driving, binge eating and binge spending. Psychosis develops from even mild stress, dysphoria, fear of abandonment, and emotional pain. It can be severe, and is frequently destructive. It is often associated with symptoms of temporal lobe epilepsy. This involves psychological counseling and other techniques to develop a healthy self-esteem and better psychological defense mechanisms.
Borderlines think like borderlines - they've spent their entire live with instability and pain.
Aggressively retraining with motivational books and tapes works - if the patient will do it. Borderlines live in the black and white. I feel very strongly that this disorder can be beaten. Untreated, it has a dismal prognosis. It's important to acknowledge the diagnosis, and fight for a better future.