Borderline personality disorder symptoms include instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotion, as well as a pattern of impulsive behaviors. People with BPD often first experience these symptoms in young adulthood and the symptoms tend to continue for many years.
SIBLINGS EXPERIENCE TRAUMA
Being a sibling of someone who suffers from BPD can be a very isolating and stressful experience. It is common to find yourself overwhelmed at times with feelings of fear, obligation, guilt, worry, confusion, helplessness, anger, and even abandonment.
A person with BPD will find themselves getting angry quickly and escalating situations seemingly out of nowhere. A person with Borderline Personality Disorder will engage in impulsive and sometimes dangerous behavior. These behavioral patterns often defy logic and reason.
Genetics or Environmental Causes
Studies of BPD in families show that first-degree relatives—meaning siblings, children, or parents—of people treated for BPD are ten times more likely to have been treated for BPD themselves than the relatives of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
What is the effect of BPD on family members? Family members often feel mystified and exhausted by their relative's illness. The intense mood swings and anger outbursts can be frightening and disruptive. Impulsive acting out in areas such as spending, substance abuse, or sex can be a major source of marital conflict.
Persistently unable to form a stable self-image or sense of self. Drastically impulsive in at least two possibly self-damaging areas (substance abuse, reckless driving, disordered eating, sex). Self-harming or suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats. Instability often brought on by reactivity of mood (ex.
Separations, disagreements, and rejections—real or perceived—are the most common triggers for symptoms. A person with BPD is highly sensitive to abandonment and being alone, which brings about intense feelings of anger, fear, suicidal thoughts and self-harm, and very impulsive decisions.
One of the most common misdiagnoses for BPD is bipolar disorder. Both conditions have episodes of mood instability. When you have bipolar disorder, your mood may shift from depression to mania, in which you experience elation, elevated energy levels and a decreased need for sleep.
Personality disorders, including borderline personality disorder, are diagnosed based on a: Detailed interview with your doctor or mental health provider. Psychological evaluation that may include completing questionnaires. Medical history and exam.
Loneliness and the need to self-isolate are common in borderline personality disorder. Here's how you can overcome these feelings. If you live with this condition, you might crave close connections with others — but you might also find it challenging to interact with them.
Bold – Impulsivity is a BPD trait that can be positively linked to being bold, courageous and having the ability to speak one's mind. Creative – The high intensity of emotions can be released into creative endeavours. Many people with BPD put their entire emotional expression into music, art, performance and writing.
For many folks with BPD, a “meltdown” will manifest as rage. For some, it might look like swinging from one intense emotion to another. For others, it might mean an instant drop into suicidal ideation. Whatever your experience is, you're not alone.
People with BPD score low on cognitive empathy but high on emotional empathy. This suggests that they do not easily understand other peoples' perspectives, but their own emotions are very sensitive. This is important because it could align BPD with other neurodiverse conditions.
People with borderline personality disorders are aware of their behaviors and the consequences of them and often act in increasingly erratic ways as a self-fulfilling prophecy to their abandonment fears.
People with borderline personality disorder may experience intense mood swings and feel uncertainty about how they see themselves. Their feelings for others can change quickly, and swing from extreme closeness to extreme dislike. These changing feelings can lead to unstable relationships and emotional pain.
A person with BPD may appear to be emotionally immature because they often expect others to put their needs first. They're frequently emotionally dependent on others and may appear to be trying to manipulate others to give them their way by inappropriate emotional reactions or acting out.
Borderline personality disorder is a mental health condition marked by extreme mood fluctuations, instability in interpersonal relationships and impulsivity.
So, what exactly does the BPD break up cycle look like? It can look like fear of abandonment, distrust of a partner, cheating, lack of communication and self-blame. It can look like idolizing a partner, confusing strong emotions for passion, anxiety and overreacting to interactions perceived as negative.
Many family members of people with BPD describe very difficult struggles with feelings of guilt. 2 Research on the causes of BPD suggests that childhood maltreatment in the form of abuse or neglect may be related to the development of BPD. There is also evidence of a strong genetic component.