A person with BPD may experience intense episodes of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last from only a few hours to days.”
Extreme Emotional Swings
Many with this condition can be happy one moment and extremely sad or disappointed the next. Their moods are also very intense and unpredictable in timing. They can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours or longer.
A person with BPD can see the world in its complexity. But they often change their feelings from good to bad rather frequently. A splitting episode can last for days, weeks, months, or even years before shifting.
Someone with BPD may go to great lengths to feel something, as well as becoming increasingly withdrawn and avoidant during an episode. Paranoid thoughts of everyone being out to get them and hating them are also common during these times. Episodes can also be extreme highs, bursts of euphoria and positive emotions.
The patients in the current study experienced psychotic symptoms lasting between three weeks and four months. They were characterized by hysterical features, visual disturbances, and a possible history of sexual trauma. The diagnostic and therapeutic implications of these prolonged psychotic episodes is discussed.
In patients with BPD psychotic symptoms typically occur in reaction to stressful events (e.g. [20,23,50]). Their occurrence might therefore be moderated by further consequences of childhood trauma, namely high sensitivity to stress, and symptoms of PTSD.
Rage in a person with BPD can occur suddenly and unpredictably, often triggered by an intense fear of being alone. Fear of rejection can be so intense that they begin to anxiously expect rejection. Subtle cues that they associate with rejection can set off unexpectedly intense reactions.
With borderline personality disorder, you have an intense fear of abandonment or instability, and you may have difficulty tolerating being alone. Yet inappropriate anger, impulsiveness and frequent mood swings may push others away, even though you want to have loving and lasting relationships.
Splitting is a common behavior among people with borderline personality disorder (BPD). It means that a person has difficulty accurately assessing another individual or situation. Instead, they see something as completely good or completely bad, and their assessment may switch back and forth rapidly.
We may experience five or more intense mood shifts every single day—or every hour. Those with stressful jobs or home environments would, therefore, experience mood swings more often.
Most people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have triggers—particular events or situations that exacerbate or intensify their symptoms. BPD triggers can vary from person to person, but there are some types of triggers that are very common in BPD.
Also, BPD patients seem to recall autobiographical, particularly negative events with stronger arousal than healthy controls, while BPD patients also show specific temporo-prefrontal alterations in neural correlates.
Manic episodes usually last for at least 7 days, and they can sometimes be so severe that hospitalization is necessary. Depressive episodes often persist for at least 2 weeks. Some people have rapid-cycling bipolar disorder and experience four or more mood episodes within a year.
One of the most common misdiagnoses for BPD is bipolar disorder. Both conditions have episodes of mood instability.
In particular, there is evidence that BPD is commonly misdiagnosed as Bipolar Disorder, Type 2. One study showed that 40% of people who met criteria for BPD but not for bipolar disorder were nevertheless misdiagnosed with Bipolar Type 2.
Only remorse leads to a real apology and change. One of the hallmarks of people with Borderline Personality Disorder or Narcissistic Personality Disorder (BP/NP) is that they often do not feel truly sorry. Even though a BP/NP may say he or she is sorry, there is often something lacking.
Impulsive and often dangerous behaviors, such as spending sprees, unsafe sex, substance abuse, reckless driving and binge eating. Recurring suicidal behaviors or threats or self-harming behavior, such as cutting. Intense and highly changeable moods, with each episode lasting from a few hours to a few days.
A pattern of intense and unstable relationships with family, friends, and loved ones. 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.
Listening to your loved one and acknowledging their feelings is one of the best ways to help someone with BPD calm down. When you appreciate how a borderline person hears you and adjust how you communicate with them, you can help diffuse the attacks and rages and build a stronger, closer relationship.
Recent findings: Both auditory hallucinations and delusional ideation (especially paranoid delusions) are relatively common in individuals with BPD.
When stressed, people with borderline personality disorder may develop psychotic-like symptoms. They experience a distortion of their perceptions or beliefs rather than a distinct break with reality. Especially in close relationships, they tend to misinterpret or amplify what other people feel about them.
For example, in one study, 24% of BPD patients reported severe psychotic symptoms and about 75% had dissociative experiences and paranoid ideation. Thus, we start with an overview regarding the prevalence of psychotic symptoms in BPD patients.