Borderline personality disorder (BPD) first got its name because researchers thought it was in the middle of psychotic illnesses and neurotic disorders (“Treating borderline personality disorders,” 2010). Scientists think there is a direct correlation with the receptors in the brain responsible for “opioid” transmission and the behaviors demonstrated by people with the disorder (Bandelow, B; Schmahi, C; Falki, P; Wedekind, D., 2010, pp. 623-636). Symptoms of BPD include “interpersonal hypersensitivity, fear of being left alone, self-harming behavior, and extremely impulsive behaviors” (Gunderson, John, 2011, pp. 2037-2042). Symptoms of the disorder usually present themselves around early adulthood, mostly in women (Biskin, R. & Paris, J., 2012, p. 1789). The disorder can be treated with multiple methods, most common of these methods are the “pshychopharmacologic” treatment, which combines medication and group therapy (Ripoll, Luis, 2013). Borderline personality disorder can disrupt a persons life with the constant fear of abandonment, suicidal behavior, and erratic behavior; however, it can be combated with medication and group therapy. Where does borderline personality come from? According to the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual V, the disorder is fifty percent more common in primary relatives than in the general population (American Psychiatry Association, 2013, p. 665). People who have a family member with borderline personality are sixty-five percent more likely to develop the disorder (Gunderson, John, 2011). Detecting the disorder is difficult due to no machine can detect any differences in the brain (Biskin, R. & Paris, J., 2012). Onset of symptoms happen within the first few years of early adultho... ... middle of paper ... ...ersonality disorder: A dysregulation of the endogenous opioid system? Psychological Review. 117(2), 623-636. Biskin, Robert & Paris, Joel. (2012 November 6). Diagnosing borderline personality disorder. Canadian Medical Association. 184(16), 1789-1793. Gunderson, John G. (2011 May 26). Borderline Personality Disorder. The New England Journal of Medicine. 364(21), 2037-2042. Mental illness. (2012 November). National Alliance on Mental Illness. Retrieved from http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Mental_Illness/By_Illness/Borderline_Personality_Disorder.htm Ripoll, Luis H. (2012, June). Psychopharmacologic treatment of borderline personality disorder. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience. 15(2), 213-224. Treating borderline personality disorder. (2010 June). Harvard Health Publications. The Harvard Mental Health Letter.
Even with the multiple enlightening Internet sources, educational websites, and scholarly articles that attempt to explain Borderline Personality Disorder, the complexity of BPD still remains. It may be easier to understand the nature of Borderline Personality Disorder by viewing documentaries of individuals experiencing the illness first hand. When reviewing websites on a mental illness such as BPD, it is important to analyze the validity of the information rather than automatically believing the content is updated and reliable.
Selby, E. A., & Joiner Jr, T. E. (2008). Ethnic variations in the structure of borderline personality
Borderline personality disorder is a hard-mental disease to diagnose, according to The National Institute of Mental health the definition of borderline personality disorder is: “… a serious mental disorder marked by a pattern of ongoing instability in moods, behavior, self-image, and functioning. These experiences often result in impulsive actions and unstable relationships” (pg 1). When we look at that definition alone this is a very vague description of the disorder that anyone that is experiencing just a rough time in life, can be diagnosed with this mental disorder. Roughly about 3 million Americans are diagnosed with borderline personality disorder a year. To find out who really has this mental disorder we should look at case studies,
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) affects about 4% of the general population, and at least 20% of the clinical psychiatric population. (Kernberg and Michels, 2009) In the clinical psychiatric population, about 75% of those with the disorder are women. BPD is also significantly heritable, with 42-68% of the variance associated with genetic factors, similar to that of hypertension. BPD can also develop due to environmental factors such as childhood neglect and/or trauma, insecure attachment, and exposure to marital, family, and psychiatric issues. (Gunderson, 2011)
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been a disability surrounded by stigma and confusion for a long time, and the time to bring awareness and public understanding to this disability is long overdue. The disability itself often gets misdiagnosed as an other disability since the symptoms overlap with many other disabilities (NIMH, n.d, para 16), or worse case scenario, a medical professional refuses to diagnose or treat the disability due to the belief that these people are untreatable because of a negative schema about the disability and clinical controversies on whether BPD is a legitimate diagnosis (Hoffman, 2007) . However, after nearly three decades of research, it has come to light that BPD does indeed exist, does have a good prognosis for remission with treatment (BPD Overview, n.d, para 3), and that there are many treatment options available such as three different types of psychotherapy (Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Schema-focused therapy), omega-3 fatty acid supplements, and/or medications (NIMH, n.d, para 29, 30, 31, and 39, 41). Even though the disability started as a psychoanalytic colloquialism for untreatable neurotics (Gunderson, 2009), BPD is very treatable and doesn’t deserve the stigma it currently carries throughout society.
Borderline personality disorder affects about 1.6% of the entire u.s. population (Salters-Pedneault). BPD is five times more likely to occur in a person if they have a close family member that already has the disorder (National Institute of Mental Health) . An example of a close family member would be the person’s mother or father. Symptoms of BPD consist of unstable relationships with their family, friends and loved ones. The person will swing from extreme closeness and love to extreme dislike. The person will also experience impulsive behaviors that are not safe. They have intense mood swings and have inappropriate, intense anger that they have a hard time controlling. A person struggling with BPD will also experience stress-related, paranoid thoughts (National Institute of Mental Health). Another mental health disorder is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is a non genetic disorder that affects 7-8% of the u.s. Population (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs). The disease develops in people who have experienced an immense emotionally shocking or dangerous event. The events can range from near death experiences to sudden, unexpected deaths of loved ones. Symptoms of PTSD usually start within three months of the shocking or dangerous event. PTSD sufferers can experience flashbacks, feelings of guilt or blame, angry outbursts, negative feelings about the world, and a loss of interest in enjoyable activities (National Institute of Mental Health). Another mental health disorder is Schizophrenia. People suffering from this disorder experience hallucinations and delusions that they believe to be real (National Institute of Mental Health). They also experience a reduction in expressed emotions and reduced feelings of pleasure in everyday life, such as increased difficulty to begin and sustain activities and a reduction in the amount of speaking the
Linehan addressed the need for effective and empirically supported psychotherapeutic treatment for borderline personality disorder. She discovered important shortcomings in standard cognitive and behavioral (CBT) treatments (Chapman & Robins, 2004). DBT was developed to address difficulties faced when implementing standard CBT to chron...
Borderline Personality Disorder is diagnosed predominantly in females. There is approximately a 3:1 female to male gender ratio for this disorder.
The term borderline personality disorder (BPD) was termed by Adolph Stern in the 1930s to describe a group of people on a “borderline” between neurosis and psychosis (SITE). Today, BPD is described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as “a pervasive patt...
...f dialectical behavior therapy for patients with borderline personality disorder on inpatient units . Psychiatric Quarterly .
The history of BPD can be traced back to 1938 when Adolph Stern first described the symptoms of the disorder as neither being psychotic nor psychoneurotic; hence, the term ‘borderline’ was introduced (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15). Then in 1960, Otto Kernberg coined the term ‘borderline personality organization’ to describe persistent patterns of behavior and functioning consisting of instability, and distressed psychological self-organization (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15).
An estimated 1.6%-5.9% of the adult population in the United States has BPD, with nearly 75% of the people who are diagnosed being women. Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder include Frantic efforts to avoid being abandoned by friends and family, Unstable personal relationships that alternate between idealizations, Distorted and unstable self-image, Impulsive behaviors that can have dangerous outcomes, Suicidal and self-harming behavior, Periods of intense depressed mood, irritability or anxiety lasting a couple hours/days, Chronic feelings of boredom or emptiness, Inappropriate, intense or uncontrollable anger - often followed by shame and guilt, and Dissociative feelings. The three main factors that could cause this mental illness are Genetics, Environmental factors, and Brain function. This illness can only be diagnosed by a mental health professional after a series of interviews with the patient and family/friends of the patient. The patient must also have at least five of the nine symptoms of this illness in order to be diagnosed. The most common treatment for this illness is some form of psychotherapy. Some other treatment options are to prescribe medications and if needed a short-term
In most cases Borderline Personality Disorder develops with comorbidity. Often times people cope or self medicate with alcohol, drugs, and food. Eating Disorders, Alcoholism, and other similar mental health issues develop in coax with BPD alo...
This paper looks at a person that exhibits the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). In the paper, examples are given of symptoms that the person exhibits. These symptoms are then evaluated using the DSM-V criteria for BPD. The six-different psychological theoretical models are discussed, and it is shown how these models have been used to explain the symptoms of BPD. Assessment of
People with Borderline Personality Disorder tend to view the world as simple as possible. People who view the world like this, confuse the actions of others. (Hoermann et al, 2005) Recurrent thoughts about their relationships with others, lead them to experience extreme emotional reactions, great agony which they have a hard time controlling, which would result in engaging in self-destructive behaviors. Diagnosing a patient with this disorder can be challenging which is why is it is labeled as one of the difficult ones to diagnose. (Hoermann et al, 2005)