Borderline personality disorder: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment
Definition of borderline personality disorder
What is borderline personality disorder?
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) or threshold personality disorder is a mental illness that affects how you think, see, and the ability to feel something related to oneself and others.
People with this condition have an unstable mood and self-image followed by impulsive behavior, as well as difficulty managing emotions. They often feel afraid of being abandoned, even though the relationship with their family and relationship with their partner is lasting and full of love.
As a result, people with this condition often find it difficult to carry out their functions in everyday life. BPD usually occurs in early adulthood and the symptoms get worse over time. Even so, when entering old age, the sufferer can gradually improve.
Reporting from the Mayo Clinic page, threshold personality disorder is very likely to cause other mental illnesses, such as:
How common is this condition?
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a type of mental illness that is quite rare. Most cases occur in young adults.
Signs & symptoms of borderline personality disorder
It is not easy to distinguish the symptoms of BPD from other mental illnesses. But generally, borderline personality disorder can be diagnosed by observing the following signs and symptoms:
Fear of going overboard
People with the condition usually have a serious fear of being ignored or left behind. They sometimes have extreme reactions, such as panic, depression, anger or excitement when they feel or are completely abandoned.
It’s hard to maintain a relationship
People with BPD are also unable to maintain stable relationships, even with family, friends or close people. They often cause problems in the relationship by idealizing someone and then resenting or getting angry with that person all of a sudden.
Inferiority
The mood of people with BPD is very volatile, with each episode lasting from a few hours to several days that can include intense happiness, irritation, embarrassment or restlessness.
This makes them often do not respect themselves, and sometimes think that their existence is not important.
Addiction
Patients with borderline personality disorder also often exhibit impulsive behavior that leads to addiction and is sometimes dangerous, such as:
- Like to gamble.
- Like to waste money.
- Unsafe sexual intercourse.
- Drug abuse.
- Drive recklessly,
- Binge eating (overeating without control).
The act of injuring yourself
About 4-9% of people with borderline personality disorder tend to have suicidal behavior. With mental problems, suicide is the most tragic result.
Self-injurious behavior is not as serious as attempted suicide, but it also has an impact on the patient’s physical and body health.
In certain cases, self-injurious behavior can be life-threatening, such as grooming, burning, hitting, shaking the head, pulling hair and other dangerous actions.
Worse, these people do not see this behavior as a dangerous activity, but as a way of expressing pain and punishing oneself.
Other signs
- Unable to control anger, which can sometimes lead to physical arguments.
- Often feel empty or bored.
- Have paranoid thoughts related to stress or serious dissociative symptoms, such as the soul being separated from the body.
When to see a doctor
If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, consider seeing a doctor. Neither you nor the sufferer may notice the symptoms. To better understand the symptoms, the following case examples can help.
When hanging out with family, the atmosphere is exciting and people laugh out loud. Suddenly you just feel sad and confused. You may be wondering, why can’t you enjoy the atmosphere yourself like the others? Eventually, you blame and hate yourself.
Or when you and a friend have made an appointment to watch a movie together at the cinema. Unfortunately, your friend canceled the promise. Even if your friend canceled because she had something important to do, you can’t control the negative thought that she’s actually canceling because she doesn’t want to go out with you.
Causes of borderline personality disorder
The cause of borderline personality disorder is not known with certainty. However, researchers argue that this condition may have something to do with genetic factors, abnormalities in the brain, and the environment.
Research shows that this mental illness can run in families. Then, the imperfect brain condition can also cause the production of certain chemicals in the brain to be problematic so that the ability to regulate moods does not function properly.
Risk factors for borderline personality disorder
Although the cause is not known with certainty, researchers have found various factors that can increase the risk of developing borderline personality disorder (BPD), including:
Complications of borderline personality disorder
Untreated borderline personality disorder can have a negative impact on relationships, work, school performance, and self-image in the environment. The complications of this mental illness include:
- Cannot do a good job. Often times changing companies or types of jobs, sometimes it can cause someone to become unemployed.
- Performance decreases, and may not be able to complete educators on time or completely.
- Relationships with partners are fraught with conflict, such as experiencing stress in marriage, committing violence against a partner, or divorce.
- Pregnancy unplanned, contracted a sexually transmitted disease, had an accident, or was involved in a fight.
- The body is injured due to self-harm, disability in the body from attempted suicide, or death.
Diagnosis & treatment of borderline personality disorder
The information provided is not a substitute for medical advice. ALWAYS consult your doctor.
There are no laboratory tests that can help diagnose this disease. The diagnosis of borderline personality disorder is not only by observing the symptoms, because the symptoms are also found in other mental illnesses. Therefore, the doctor will do the following:
- Examination of patient and family medical history.
- Questions and answers about what symptoms are being experienced. The doctor may also ask the person closest to you to explain the behavioral changes that the patient is exhibiting.
- Psychological evaluation by asking the patient to fill out a questionnaire.
What are the treatments for borderline personality disorder?
The main treatment for borderline personality disorder is psychotherapy. However, in some cases, patients need combination treatment, even hospitalization. Especially if the patient also has other mental illnesses, such as depression or substance abuse.
These treatments can help patients learn skills to manage and manage symptoms. The following describes the treatment for threshold personality disorder:
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a fundamental treatment approach for BPD with the following goals:
- Helping patients carry out daily activities.
- Reducing impulsive behavior that might harm the patient.
- Helps improve relationships with family, friends and loved ones.
Drugs
There is no specific drug to cure borderline personality disorder. Medicines such as antidepressants, antipsychotics or mood stabilizers will only be prescribed if the patient exhibits symptoms of a mental illness, such as depression, anxiety disorders, or exhibits aggressive and impulsive behavior.
Every drug has side effects and each person can experience different side effects. If you experience any annoying side effects, consult your doctor further. The doctor may reduce or change the type of drug that is safer.
Inpatient
People with this mental illness can engage in impulsive actions that harm both themselves and others. If the patient shows these signs or is injured from certain events, hospitalization should be required.
Supervision by doctors and other medical professionals can prevent patients from taking actions that are harmful.
Recovery process
Learning to manage emotions, thoughts, and behavior in the treatment of this personality disorder takes time. Most patients improve over time, but some may still have the same symptoms and need to continue treatment.
Patients may experience times when symptoms improve or get worse during treatment. Don’t give up on continuing to take medication as this can increase your ability to function in your daily life at the same time and help you feel better about yourself.
Home remedies for borderline personality disorder
Apart from doctor’s treatment, borderline personality disorder patients also need to make changes to support their treatment, such as:
- Follow the treatment or therapy according to the schedule that has been made. Take medication as directed by your doctor.
- Involve your family and loved ones to help you undergo treatment, understand your condition, as well as provide support.
- Learn to manage stress in healthier ways, such as doing breathing techniques or meditation.
- Understand more about this disease so you can understand yourself better. You can get information through trusted doctors, psychologists, books, and articles on the internet.
- Adopt a healthy lifestyle, including consuming healthy nutritious foods, getting enough sleep, being physically active because exercise can help reduce stress, and engage in social activities in the environment.
Prevention of borderline personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder is not a preventable disease, so there is no sure way to prevent the disease from progressing. Even so, you can reduce one of the risks, namely if you have experienced stress, pressure, or painful experiences in childhood, you should seek counseling with a psychologist.
The goal is to help you manage the stress and negative emotions associated with these painful experiences.
Hello Health Group does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
NIMH »borderline personality disorder. NIMH »Home. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/borderline-personality-disorder/index.shtml [Accessed on January 29th, 2021]
Borderline personality disorder. (2017, October 20). nhs.uk. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/borderline-personality-disorder/ [Accessed on January 29th, 2021]
Borderline personality disorder – Symptoms and causes. (2019, July 17). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/borderline-personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20370237 [Accessed on January 29th, 2021]
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) prevention. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9762-borderline-personality-disorder-bpd/prevention [Accessed on January 29th, 2021]
Cavazzi T, Becerra R. Psychophysiological Research for Borderline Personality Disorder: Review and Implications for Biosocial Theory. Europe’s Journal of Psychology. 2014, 10 (1); 184-195 [Accessed on January 29th, 2021]
Understanding borderline personality disorder. NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/June-2017/Understanding-Borderline-Personality-Disorder [Accessed on January 29th, 2021]
