With regard to the dissociative experiences endorsed, almost all patients reported identity confusion, unexplained mood changes, and depersonalization. Even those BPD patients with mild DD reported derealizationDerealization is an alteration in the perception of the external world, causing those with the condition to perceive it as unreal, distant, distorted or falsified. Other symptoms include feeling as if one's environment is lacking in spontaneity, emotional coloring, and depth.https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Derealization
When a person experiences dissociation, it may look like: Daydreaming, spacing out, or eyes glazed over. Acting different, or using a different tone of voice or different gestures. Suddenly switching between emotions or reactions to an event, such as appearing frightened and timid, then becoming bombastic and violent.
The exact cause of dissociation is unknown, but it often affects people who have experienced repetitive, overwhelming trauma, such as severe child abuse or neglect. 1 Dissociation appears to be the brain's way of coping and separating from trauma, which can make it more bearable.
Stress-related dissociation occurs in about 75–80% of BPD patients [6, 113–118], typically lasting between minutes and hours, or days [119, 120]. The strength, frequency, and intensity of dissociative experiences are positively correlated to self-reported arousal/stress levels [6].
Dissociation Symptoms
Memory loss surrounding specific events, interactions, or experiences. A sense of detachment from your emotions (aka emotional numbness) and identity. Feeling as if the world is unreal; out-of-body experiences. Mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide.
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.
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.
BPD has been linked to the amygdala and limbic systems of the brain, the centres that control emotion and, particularly, rage, fear and impulsive automatic reactions.
Usually, signs of dissociation can be as subtle as unexpected lapses in attention, momentary avoidance of eye contact with no memory, staring into space for several moments while appearing to be in a daze, or repeated episodes of short-lived spells of apparent fainting.
There are five main ways in which the dissociation of psychological processes changes the way a person experiences living: depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration.
The difference from active avoidance (on purpose avoiding thinking about or doing something) is that dissociation tends to happen without planning or even awareness. Many times, people who are dissociating are not even aware that it is happening, other people notice it.
Zoning out is considered a form of dissociation, but it typically falls at the mild end of the spectrum.
Borderline personality disorder is a mental illness that severely impacts a person's ability to regulate their emotions. This loss of emotional control can increase impulsivity, affect how a person feels about themselves, and negatively impact their relationships with others.
Personality disorders are difficult to treat because it's very difficult for someone suffering from one of these disorders to separate their personality (how they interact with others, how they view the world, and how they think about themselves) from the symptoms of their mental illness.
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.
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.
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.
They may engage in a variety of risky behaviors such as substance abuse, spending recklessly, or binge eating. They may tend to display recurrent suicidal behaviors or threats and, in some cases, these may be accompanied by non-suicidal self-mutilation.
Shutdown dissociation includes partial or complete functional sensory deafferentiation, classified as negative dissociative symptoms (see Nijenhuis, 2014; Van Der Hart et al., 2004). The Shut-D focuses exclusively on symptoms according to the evolutionary-based concept of shutdown dissociative responding.
Dissociation is a way the mind copes with too much stress. Periods of dissociation can last for a relatively short time (hours or days) or for much longer (weeks or months). It can sometimes last for years, but usually if a person has other dissociative disorders.
Feeling like you're looking at yourself from the outside
Feel as if you are just observing your emotions. Feel disconnected from parts of your body or your emotions. Feel as if you are floating away. Feel unsure of the boundaries between yourself and other people.
Examples of mild, common dissociation include daydreaming, highway hypnosis or “getting lost” in a book or movie, all of which involve “losing touch” with awareness of one's immediate surroundings.