Apa Case Study Alicia Essay

Samantha Stiernagle
Chapter 11 Case Study: Alicia

Part One:
People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often experience may symptoms associated with wide mood swings, instability, and insecurity. One symptom of BPD is using extreme efforts to avoid abandonment, whether real or imagined. Alicia exhibited this by threatening self-harm and suicide in an effort to stop her boyfriend from leaving. She also showed an alternating pattern between idealization and devaluation, also known as “splitting”. She would sometimes fantasize about marriage, kids, and starting a family when she was in a relationship, yet other times she would think that her boyfriend is constantly leaving hints that he is going to break up with her or that he is cheating

She couldn’t see how her own behavior was affecting her friendships and relationships, she just casted the blame on other people. One example of this was work. When she got fired from her last job, she was quick to throw the blame on her coworker without seeing how her own behavior could have brought on the problem. Another symptom of BPD is impulsive behaviors such as substance abuse. Alicia told the therapist that she often would find herself eating a lot of food all at once before realizing that she needed to stop eating so much because she would get fat. After the realization, she would start drinking alcohol heavily instead. She also exhibited the symptom of self-harming behavior. She would cut herself often and dig her fingernails into her skin as hard as she could. These actions were often associated with another symptom of BPD, depression, she would often get emotional which would bring on her substance abuse. Lastly, she also exhibited intense, uncontrollable anger. She would get very angry over little things. She was often quick to overreact. For example, she threw a chair out the glass door onto the balcony over something that started off as a little fight. Alicia