Researchers identified several personality traits in children or adolescents, including affective instability, negative affectivity, negative emotionality, inappropriate anger, poor emotional control, impulsivity, and aggression, that could prepare to borderline pathology [e.g., Refs.
In fact, content analysis of DSM criteria by Geiger & Crick (2001) found five childhood indicators of BPD: hostile or paranoid worldview; impulsivity; intense, unstable or inappropriate emotion; excessively close relationships; and lack of sense of self.
BPD is a personality disorder that has historically been diagnosed in adults. A significant body of evidence suggests it is possible for children and adolescents to begin to develop BPD before age 18. Because teen personalities are still forming, young people may undergo many changes before they're considered an adult.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe and heterogeneous mental disorder that is known to have the onset in young age, often in adolescence. For this reason, it is of fundamental importance to identify clinical conditions of childhood and adolescence that present a high risk to evolve in BPD.
Common signs of Borderline Personality Disorder in children include: Emotional instability. Extreme emotions/mood swings, from intense love to intense hate. Chronic feelings of emptiness and isolation. Explosive anger.
Children of mothers with BPD are also at heightened risk for exhibiting attention difficulties, aggressive behavior, and low self-esteem, in addition to major depression, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder itself.
How old do you have to be to be diagnosed with BPD? You have to be a teenager or older to be diagnosed with BPD (borderline personality disorder). In the past, mental health professionals were reluctant to diagnose anyone under 18 with BPD.
According to the DSM-5, BPD can be diagnosed as early as at 12 years old if symptoms persist for at least one year. However, most diagnoses are made during late adolescence or early adulthood.
Dissociative identity disorder—a type of dissociative disorder—most often develops during early childhood in kids who are experiencing long-term trauma. This typically involves emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse; neglect; and highly unpredictable interactions with caregivers.
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.
Some experts have speculated that BPD symptoms decline because the symptoms naturally “burn out” or that people simply grow out of the symptoms as they mature. In particular, research has shown that the impulsivity symptoms of BPD are the most likely to decline over time.
People with a history of child abuse, such as childhood sexual abuse, physical neglect, early life stress (such as traumatic events in childhood), and child maltreatment are significantly more likely to develop BPD.
Children who have experienced emotional neglect, sexual abuse, and violence are at an increased risk of developing DID. Symptoms in children include: having distressing dreams and memories. being unresponsive or “zoning out” (dissociating)
Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, has an average age of onset between the ages of 5 and 6 years old. It can go unnoticed due to the assumption that a child is playing a game in which they are pretending to be someone else.
Child and adolescent alter personalities
Child alters will often say that they do not know how to play, that they feel unloved and that they d not have any friends. In a sense, this is exactly their experience. Since their access to the body was usually during the abuse, this is the only experience they know.
Although anyone can develop BPD, it's more common if you have a family history of BPD. People with other mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression or eating disorders, are also at higher risk.
Recognizing a BPD Episode
Intense outbursts of anger are indicative of an episode of BPD as are bouts of depression and anxiety. Eighty percent of those suffering from BPD experience suicidal thoughts and behavior while in the throes of an episode as well.
A family history of mental illness places a child at an increased risk for later development of mental illness, including the risk for BPD.
People with Borderline Personality Disorder have a reduced life expectancy of some 20 years, attributable largely to physical health maladies, notably cardiovascular. Risk factors include obesity, sedentary lifestyle, poor diet and smoking.
Distrust, poor empathy and intimacy problems are common in BPD patients, often leading to difficulties in friendships and relationships. These symptoms may appear in both disorders, but typically those with autism are less defensive and are unable to read others' emotions.
Maladaptive Parenting. Maladaptive parenting including childhood maltreatment, abuse and neglect, exposure to domestic violence and parental conflict are found to be prevalent psychosocial risk factors for development of BPD in children and adolescents [10, 11].
A BPD mother's symptoms will affect how she interacts with her children. Mothers with BPD can seem unloving, withholding, and negative. Their behavior may be unpredictable and their children may feel like they have to “walk on eggshells” to prevent their mothers from having mood swings.
There is also evidence to link BPD to other forms of child maltreatment, such as emotional and physical neglect. In fact, some research suggests that emotional and physical neglect may be even more closely related to the development of BPD than physical or sexual abuse.