Even though someone with borderline personality disorder may never be able to completely rid themselves of their tendency to act impulsively, they can take steps to minimize it as much as possible. Getting professional help is the first step in addressing BPD and the impulsive behaviors associated with the disorder.
It's not a character flaw on the part of the sufferer, and although sufferers from BPD are aware of their behavior and its effects on others, they lack the insight and ability to change their ways of behaving. BPD can begin in childhood, although it typically emerges during adolescence.
According to clinical experience, the DSM, and a number of authorities in the field, patients with BPD are known to be emotionally hyper-reactive in various types of situations.
But men and women with a diagnosis of BPD can be the exact opposite of what is sometimes portrayed in the media. They may be smart, engaging, loyal, compassionate, and painfully self-aware.
Signs and Symptoms for Impulsive BPD
Elusive and mercurial. Superficial, easily entertaining others on a surface level but avoiding more meaningful interactions or relationships. High levels of energy and easily bored. Thrill-seeking and risk-taking behaviors without regard for consequences.
Together these findings suggest that BPD is characterized by a preference for immediate gratification and tendency to discount longer-term rewards. This characteristic appears to exist independent of feelings of rejection and anger, rather than being reactive to this, and to be related to trait impulsivity.
People with borderline personality disorder struggle with self-regulation. Self-regulation is the ability to manage emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in ways that have positive outcomes, like self-esteem and good relationships.
Although BPD patients commonly use emotional manipulation techniques, their intent is not to manipulate others – but, in fact, to cry for help. Some of the things people with BPD do that are commonly viewed as being “manipulative” are threatening suicide, self-harm, and more.
People with BPD may not have a consistent self-image or sense of self. This may worsen obsessive tendencies, since they may find it difficult to see themselves as real or worthy individually, separate from their relationships.
Self-Blame
Sometimes, sufferers of quiet BPD will blame themselves for instances that they are not at fault for. As the guilt sits with them, they might struggle with feelings of unworthiness, shame, guilt, and believe that they do not deserve happiness, connection with others, and love.
Researchers have hypothesized that this means the sympathetic nervous system in people with BPD may be overly stimulated, causing intense or irrational reactions. 1 People with BPD tend to display signs of stress longer than others.
Many people with borderline personality disorder procrastinate and have trouble finishing projects because when they self-activate, they outrun their internal self-support.
Intense and sometimes inappropriate rage is a characteristic of borderline personality disorder (BPD). An individual with this mental health condition has difficulty regulating their emotions or returning to their baseline, which can include frustration-induced anger and even rage blackouts.
A distorted and unstable self-image or sense of self. Impulsive and often dangerous behaviors, such as spending sprees, unsafe sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, and binge eating.
The main difference is that with quiet BPD, you internalize emotional struggles and episodes. While those with BPD have intense impulsivity, anger outbursts, and episodes of anxiety and depression that are obvious to those around them, turning anger inward is more typical with quiet BPD.
BPD in particular is one of the lesser-known mental illnesses, but all the same it is one of the hardest to reckon with. (Some people dislike the term so much they prefer to refer to emotionally unstable personality disorder.)
During the manic phase of bi-polar, some are able to stay up for days. While during the depression phase, they sleep for 10-15 hours per day. A person with BPD may have poor sleep habits but they are not consistent with the mood swings.
Longing, aching, feeling not quite right, or like you're nothing and nothing really matters… these are all common feelings among people with borderline personality disorder. Furthermore, it's a chronic emptiness. Something we've felt for years, decades, or perhaps our entire lives.
There was no moderation by sex or age. This study suggests that youth with BPD symptoms are at risk for oversharing personal information, which could affect forming and maintaining intimate relationships and increases online risks.
These mood swings may also happen frequently. Someone with BPD can have many mood swings in the course of a day, whereas most people will only experience one or two major emotional shifts in the course of a week.
Thus, and partly in line with our a priori hypothesis, patients with BPD showed a visual hypervigilance in terms of faster initial saccades towards the eyes of briefly presented emotional and neutral faces in general rather than towards the eyes of angry faces in particular.
Tend to sabotage their own happiness and wellbeing due to feelings of being undeserving. Unstable self-image (lack identity) Believes no one cares about them, and so they don't care about themselves. Unstable emotions.
One of the most common ways of characterizing patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder is that they are manipulative. Clinical usage of the term varies widely but clearly carries a pejorative meaning.