Self-injury is common for people with BPD. Sometimes people hurt themselves without wanting to commit suicide. Common methods include cutting, burning, head banging, and drug overdose. The reasons people with BPD give for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) are different from their reasons for suicide attempts. Reasons they give for hurting themselves include expressing anger, punishing themselves, creating normal feelings, and distracting themselves from emotional pain or difficult situations. When suicide is the goal, they usually attempt suicide with the belief that others will be better off without them. Both suicidal and non-suicidal self-injury are a response to feeling negative emotions.
People with BPD can be very sensitive to the way others treat them. They can feel very happy and grateful when they feel someone has been nice to them, and very sad or angry when they feel someone has been hurtful to them. Their feelings about others often switch from positive to negative if they feel like they might lose someone, if they think someone important to them does not care about them, or if something is not as good as they expected. They think in extremes, seeing things or people as "all good" or "all bad". This is sometimes called black-and-white thinking. It includes a change from admiring someone to devaluing them, often feeling pure anger or dislike.The way they see themselves can also change quickly from positive to negative.
While strongly wanting to feel closeness, people with BPD tend to be anxious, have mixed feelings, or be paranoid when it comes to their relationships. They often view the world as dangerous and bad. BPD is linked to high levels of stress and conflict in romantic relationships, abuse, and unwanted pregnancy. These things are also common with other types of personality disorders.
People with BPD tend to have trouble seeing a clear picture of their identity. It is difficult for them to know what they value and love. They often do not know about their long-term goals for relationships and jobs. They often have trouble making decisions and can change their minds quickly. These difficulties can cause people with BPD to feel "empty" and "lost".
People with BPD are easily bored and it is hard for them to concentrate. People with BPD may tend to disconnect or "dissociate" from people and things around them, which can be thought of as an intense form of "zoning out". This often happens in response to a painful event, or something that triggers the memory of a painful event. This can give make the person feel better for a short time, it can also have the unwanted side effect of blocking ordinary feelings. This has the result of keeping people with BPD from learning how to handle these feelings, and can make it difficult for them to make positive choices when they feel these emotions. Sometimes other people can see when someone with BPD is dissociating because the expressions in their face or voice can seem emotionless, or they look like they are distracted. Sometimes when someone with BPD is dissociating, other people are not able to see or know that it is happening.
Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals diagnose people with BPD using a book called the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM-IV-TR). They look at a person's behaviour and how they are feeling. If the person has five or more of the following signs, the DSM-IV-TR says that they have BPD.
Nearly all people with BPD also have other mental health problems, such as: mood disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders, anxiety disorders (especially post-traumatic stress disorder), and other personality disorders including Haltlose personality disorder.
Most struggle with substance abuse and/or addictions. Self-harm and suicidal behavior are also common.
Other illnesses that often happen with BPD include diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic back pain, arthritis, and fibromyalgia.
The cause for BPD is not known. There may be several causes for people developing BPD. Some researchers think that it might be caused by trauma in childhood, such as sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect. Many people with BPD were abused when they were children. Modern thinking as demonstrated by functioning MRI scans is that neurotransmitters within the brain are not working correctly, and messages are not conducted in the usual way.
Some studies of twins and families suggest that personality disorders may be inherited or strongly associated with other mental health disorders among family members.
Some factors related to personality development can increase the risk of developing borderline personality disorder. These include:
Treating BPD is very difficult and takes a long time. Today, most people with BPD are treated with different kinds of psychotherapy. One of these is called dialectical behavioral therapy. In addition to therapy, drugs such as antidepressants, antipsychotics or mood stabilizers are often used. Many sufferers recover within 10 years.
Personality disorder
A personality disorder (PD) or character disorder is a type of disorder where a person thinks, feels and behaves differently from how society expects them to. Where these traits would be flexible in most people, these traits are rigid and unworkable in someone with a personality disorder and create lasting patterns and often lasting problems. These thoughts, feelings and behaviours can cause problems for the person, and for other people around them. In the United States, the United Kingdom, and many other countries, personality disorders are classed as a kind of mental disorder and are treated by medical professionals. About ten percent of adults have PDs. They are often caused by child abuse and trauma.
In the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders", a book about mental illness written by the American Psychiatric Association, there are ten personality disorders. They are split into three "clusters" or groups.
Cluster A is the odd or eccentric group of personality disorders. They have similarities with schizophrenia. They are:
Cluster A disorders are more common in men.
Cluster B is the dramatic or emotional group of personality disorders. They are:
All Cluster B disorders are comorbid with each other. There are things that are in more than one PD. For example, selfishness and lack of empathy are major parts of ASPD and NPD. Needing to be admired is a major part of HPD and NPD.
Cluster C is the anxious or fearful group of personality disorders. They are:
The World Health Organization has a different way of describing personality disorders. It makes use of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
The specific personality disorders are: paranoid, schizoid, dissocial, emotionally unstable (borderline type and impulsive type), histrionic, anankastic, anxious (avoidant) and dependent in the current version. The current version is the ICD-10.
Mood disorder
A mood disorder or affective disorder is a type of mental illness where the main problem is the person's mood. The two main kinds of mood disorder are depressive disorders (like major depressive disorder) and bipolar disorder. Some other mood disorders can be caused by using drugs.
Most people who have mood disorders also have other mental disorders, such as personality disorders and anxiety disorders.
Mood
A mood is an emotional state of mind. They can be positive or negative. People sometimes say they are in a "good mood", if they are happy, or a "bad mood" if they are sad, or angry. Moods can last for several hours or days.
Sometimes, people's moods depend on what kind of personality they have. People who are optimistic are often in a good mood. People who are pessimistic are often in a bad mood. People's moods also change when things happen to them. For example, if something bad happens in a person's life, they may be sad or angry as a result.