Symptoms of borderline personality disorder

Answer 1

Borderline personality disorder is..A personality disorder marked by a long-standing pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, behavior, mood, and self-image that can interfere with social or occupational functioning or cause extreme emotional distress. AnswerI have a friend diagnosed with border-line personality. She can go weeks and seem quite normal, but she is hyper and when something strikes her as exciting she will get into a "go mood" and fly high on the prospects of what she is doing. As soon as it's over she goes bull low and is listless and dysfunctional for a couple of days. I find her moody, robotic and although intelligent not capable of doing the simplest things or of feeling and acting sociably. I care about her and am there when she's on her high. If she stays low for those two days, I know she'll phone when she perks up.

The following mnemonic can be used to remember some features of borderline personality disorder:

• P - Paranoid ideas
• R - Relationship instability
• A - Angry outbursts, affective instability, abandonment fears
• I - Impulsive behavior, identity disturbance
• S - Suicidal behavior
• E - Emptiness

Answer(The following is for public use with no copyright laws attached.) Borderline Personality DisorderRaising questions, finding answersBorderline personality disorder (BPD) is 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. While less well known than schizophrenia or Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), BPD is more common, affecting 2 percent of adults, mostly young women.1 There is a high rate of self-injury without suicide intent, as well as a significant rate of suicide attempts and completed suicide in severe cases. Patients often need extensive mental health services, and account for 20 percent of psychiatric hospitalizations.4 Yet, with help, many improve over time and are eventually able to lead productive lives. SymptomsWhile a person with depression or bipolar disorder typically endures the same mood for weeks, a person with BPD may experience intense bouts of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last only hours, or at most a day. These may be associated with episodes of impulsive aggression, self-injury, and drug or alcohol abuse. Distortions in cognition and sense of self can lead to frequent changes in long-term goals, career plans, jobs, friendships, gender identity, and values. Sometimes people with BPD view themselves as fundamentally bad, or unworthy. They may feel unfairly misunderstood or mistreated, bored, empty, and have little idea who they are. Such symptoms are most acute when people with BPD feel isolated and lacking in social support, and may result in frantic efforts to avoid being alone.

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.

TreatmentTreatments for BPD have improved in recent years. Group and individual psychotherapy are at least partially effective for many patients. Within the past 15 years, a new psychosocial treatment termed dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was developed specifically to treat BPD, and this technique has looked promising in treatment studies. Pharmacological treatments are often prescribed based on specific target symptoms shown by the individual patient. Antidepressant drugs and mood stabilizers may be helpful for depressed and/or labile mood. Antipsychotic drugs may also be used when there are distortions in thinking. Recent Research FindingsAlthough the cause of BPD is unknown, both environmental and genetic factors are thought to play a role in predisposing patients to BPD symptoms and traits. Studies show that many, but not all individuals with BPD report a history of abuse, neglect, or separation as young children. Forty to 71 percent of BPD patients report having been sexually abused, usually by a non-caregiver. Researchers believe that BPD results from a combination of individual vulnerability to environmental stress, neglect or abuse as young children, and a series of events that trigger the onset of the disorder as young adults. Adults with BPD are also considerably more likely to be the victim of violence, including rape and other crimes. This may result from both harmful environments as well as impulsivity and poor judgment in choosing partners and lifestyles.

NIMH-funded neuroscience research is revealing brain mechanisms underlying the impulsivity, mood instability, aggression, anger, and negative emotion seen in BPD. Studies suggest that people predisposed to impulsive aggression have impaired regulation of the neural circuits that modulate emotion. The amygdala, a small almond-shaped structure deep inside the brain, is an important component of the circuit that regulates negative emotion. In response to signals from other brain centers indicating a perceived threat, it marshals fear and arousal. This might be more pronounced under the influence of drugs like alcohol, or stress. Areas in the front of the brain (pre-frontal area) act to dampen the activity of this circuit. Recent brain imaging studies show that individual differences in the ability to activate regions of the prefrontal cerebral cortex thought to be involved in inhibitory activity predict the ability to suppress negative emotion.

Serotonin, norepinephrine and acetylcholine are among the chemical messengers in these circuits that play a role in the regulation of emotions, including sadness, anger, anxiety, and irritability. Drugs that enhance brain serotonin function may improve emotional symptoms in BPD. Likewise, mood-stabilizing drugs that are known to enhance the activity of GABA, the brain's major inhibitory neurotransmitter, may help people who experience BPD-like mood swings. Such brain-based vulnerabilities can be managed with help from behavioral interventions and medications, much like people manage susceptibility to Diabetes or high blood pressure.

Answer 2

1. frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. 2. a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation. 3. identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self. 4. impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating). Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5. 5. recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior 6. affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days). 7. chronic feelings of emptiness 8. inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights) 9. transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms

Answer 3

The Diagnostic and Statistics Manual is nicknamed the "Bible" of psychiatry where the symptoms of mental disorders are put into groups and sections called Axis1 and Axis 2

BPD is in Axis 2 as it is a personality disorder.

The IV part is just the version that they are referring to,soon the DSM5 will be coming out where changes will be made because of new research.It is just like a new version of a book being printed because of new information...

There are other documents like the DSM,Wikipedia describes those.

The phrase Borderline personality disorder DSM-IV

might refer to patients that have been diagnosed with BPD and are taking part in a study ,their diagnosis was made using that version of the DSM.

There are 9 criteria for BPD in the DSM-IV you only need 5 to have a diagnosis of BPD and the diagnosis will be made only if these criteria are disrupting your life and causing distress.The diagnosis should only be made by a professional,please do NOT self-diagnose!

I will list a few of the criteria-´for BPD in the DSM IV:

strong fears of abandonment (real or imagined)

impulsivity in 2 areas such as gambling and speeding

emotional instability (strong mood swings)

suicidal behaviour

chronic feelings of emptiness(feeling "hollow")

intense and uncontrollable anger

Answer 4

Borderline Personality Disorder is a disorder characterised by instability in moods, relationships, emotions and a general fear of abandonment. Commonly people feel a chronic sense of emptiness and often are suicidial/feel relief from self harming. are more prone to psychosis, binge drinking/eating and potential drug use. People often have a fairly traumatic history

Answer 5

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are highly unstable, with wide mood swings, a history of intense but stormy relationships, impulsive behavior, and confusion about career goals, personal values, or sexual orientation.