Borderline Personality Disorder - Types, Symptoms, Causes & Treatments

If you experience wild mood swings, including intense happiness, anxiety, shame, or irritability, which last for a few hours or days, you might be experiencing symptoms of borderline personality disorder. Here are all the details you need to know about it.

A borderline personality disorder is a mental illness that can interfere with your daily activities because it affects how you feel and thinks about yourself and others. Some typical BPD symptoms include having trouble managing emotions and unstable relationships.

If you have a borderline personality disorder, how you feel about yourself, others and how you interact with people all change.

The four types of borderline personality disorders are as follows-

• Discouraged Borderline: Individuals who suffer from this type of borderline disorder might seem dependent and needy. However, they keep a lot of anger towards other people and get disillusioned easily. Discouraged borderline sufferers experience feelings of inferiority and inadequacy yet strongly desire approval and acceptance. As a result, they are more prone to depression and use self-harm as a coping mechanism.
• Impulsive Borderline: Although it seems charismatic, energetic and exciting to be around people with borderline impulsive disorders, they tend to get bored, upset and angry quickly. In addition, they constantly need to be the centre of attention to avoid getting bored, which can lead to much risky behaviour. They often make decisions in a rush without thinking about their consequences.
• Petulant Borderline: People who suffer from this type of borderline disorder are difficult to please and often do unpredictable things. They get irritated, angry and disillusioned when they do not get what they want. As a result, they are prone to anger and have outbursts of it by being impatient with others. Relationships with sufferers of this BPD can be loving but are mostly complex.
• Self-Destructive Borderline: Similar to its name, people with this borderline are their worst enemies who tend to be involved in various dangerous activities. Whenever they make progress in life, they tend to sabotage themselves. Sufferers of this type of BPD often lack proper self-esteem and get highly dependent on others. Often, men and women suffering from self-destructive borderlines are moody and filled with anger and irritation.

People with a borderline personality disorder may experience emotional emptiness and dread of abandonment. Even if you choose to form deep ties with others, your wrath or sudden mood swings could alienate them. These symptoms are:

Instability of Emotions

If you are suffering from BPD, you may experience intense negative emotions like –

• Shame
• Panic
• Terror
• Rage
• Sorrow
• Feelings of loneliness and emptiness for a prolonged time

People with BPD frequently experience suicidal thoughts of despair before feeling more optimistic a few hours later. Some people do better in the morning, while others do better in the evening. Although the pattern changes, the most important indicator is that your moods change abruptly.

Disturbance in Thinking Patterns

People suffering from BPD might undergo various ways of thinking. These are –

• Short Episodes of Weird Experiences - This includes spending extended periods hearing voices outside your head. These could frequently feel like orders to hurt yourself or other people. You might need to find out if these are real.
• Upsetting Thoughts - These include feeling like you don't exist or that you're bad. You can be unsure of these notions and want confirmation that they are untrue.
• Episodes of Abnormal Experiences - Here, you could have both disturbing beliefs that no one can convince you to change and hallucinations (voices in your head)

Reckless Behaviour

There are two basic urges that people with BPD may struggle to control–

• A strong urge to engage in reckless and irresponsible activities, such as binge drinking, using drugs, spending time and money mindlessly
• Having unprotected intercourse with strangers.

Instability in Relationships

• When diagnosed with BPD, you might believe that others turn their backs when you need them or feel suffocated when they get too near.
• People who fear being abandoned may experience extreme anxiety and resentment. You might put up frantic attempts to ensure that you are not left alone, like:
• Constantly messaging or calling someone, then unexpectedly picking up the phone at midnight, and then physically grabbing onto them and refusing to let go while threatening to hurt or kill yourself if they ever leave you.
• Alternatively, you could experience tremendous anxiety and rage if you believe others are suffocating, dominating, or crowding you. Then you might react by driving others away, such as withdrawing emotionally, rejecting them, or abusing them verbally.
• An unstable "love-hate" connection with specific people may result from these two patterns.

Borderline Personality Disorders are not the result of a single reason, instead, it is a combination of multiple factors. The factors include the following–

• Genetics: If any of your parents have BPD, there is a high chance that you might develop it. In addition, a few studies have also shown that there remains a 2-in-3 chance that if 1 identical twin has BPD, the other one would also have it.
• Issues With Brain Chemicals: There is a thought that says many people with borderline disorder have something wrong, particularly serotonin or the neurotransmitters in their brain.
• Difficulties With Brain Development: People with BPD have either smaller or unusual activities in 3 parts of their brain. These parts are the hippocampus, which helps regulate self-control and behaviour; the amygdala, which plays an essential role in regulating negative emotions like anxiety, aggression and fear; and the orbitofrontal cortex, which helps in decision-making and planning.

A borderline personality disorder may be more likely to emerge due to certain personality development-related issues. They include the following–

• Genes: You may be more susceptible if a close relative, such as your mother, father, brother, or sister, has the same or a comparable disorder.
• Disturbed Upbringing: Many people with this condition say they were neglected or subjected to physical, sexual, or emotional abuse as children. Some people had the loss of a parent or other significant caregiver when they were young, were estranged from them, or had parents or caregivers who misused drugs or had other mental health issues. Others have had violent altercations and unstable family relationships.

The diagnosis of borderline personality disorder is mainly based on the following–

• A detailed interview that your mental health provider or doctor will conduct
• Medical history and exam
• A discussion on what your symptoms and signs could be
• Psychological evaluation which might require you to complete a questionnaire

Treatment for BPD has always been challenging. However, more modern therapy methods that lessen symptoms while enhancing the quality of life are now helpful for many patients with a borderline personality disorder.

However, constancy, benevolence, and perseverance are necessary for effective treatment. Talk therapy and prescription drugs as medication are viable treatment options.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy or talk therapy is the go-to method for treating borderline personality disorder. This treatment aims to help you identify the worries and difficulties driving your thoughts and behaviours and, in turn, help you build more supportive connections.

The following therapies can be used to treat BPD–

• DBT or Dialectical Behavior Therapy: The target group for developing this therapy was people with BPD. The main goals of DBT are to help you learn to change your life and to accept the consequences of your actions. Additionally, it teaches you how to control your intense emotions better, reduce destructive behaviours, and improve your relationships.
• Transference-focused Psychotherapy: This therapy is also known as psychodynamic therapy. This way, your therapist can build a better relationship with you to understand your interpersonal difficulties and emotions.
• Schema-focused Therapy: This therapy can be done in groups or individually. It will help you get an idea of what needs you have that are not met and have led to negative life patterns. For example, they might have helped you to survive, but as you grew, they turned hurtful. With therapy, you can meet those needs and lead a positive life.
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: The therapy is planned and objective-driven. A psychologist or therapist who works with you carefully evaluates your emotions and thoughts. You'll discover how your thoughts affect your actions. You can unlearn negative behaviours and thought patterns through CBT and cultivate a more optimistic outlook.
• Group Therapy: Group therapy is a type of psychotherapy in which several patients get together to discuss and analyse their problems with the help of a therapist or psychologist. Group therapy may be advantageous for people with BPD as it may enable them to communicate more effectively with others.
• Medications or Drug Therapy: Because the benefits of using medicines as the primary treatment for a borderline personality disorder are unknown, healthcare practitioners frequently do not advise them.

A psychiatrist may recommend medicines in some circumstances to treat specific symptoms or co-occurring mental health conditions. For instance, drugs can treat anxiety and depression, control impulsive behaviour, and lessen mood swings. In addition, some BPD patients find antipsychotic (neuroleptic) drugs helpful.

Scenarios, where one needs to consult a doctor, are as follows -

• You should consult your doctor or a mental health expert if you see any of the signs  or symptoms mentioned earlier.
• If you feel suicidal or have thoughts of harming someone, you should consider seeing a doctor.

If you see any signs or symptoms, talk to a family member or friend about making an appointment with a physician or mental health professional. However, you cannot force someone to ask for help. If the relationship is very stressful, you might find it helpful to attend a therapist yourself.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) cannot be cured; therefore, anyone who seeks treatment hoping for a quick fix will be disappointed. But with the right care, BPD symptoms can be effectively managed, monitored, and eventually made less severe or gone altogether.

However, there are a few ways you can manage it, such as the ones listed below–

• Being present at the moment
• Sustaining consistent routines that you can keep up with
• Validating your feelings
• Reinforcing positive attitudes and behaviours, and
• Being kind and patient with both yourself and others

So, this is all about borderline personality disorder. Ignoring the signs described above if you have been experiencing them could seriously harm your personal life. So, don't be afraid to ask for help from a professional to get your life back on track.