Splitting is a psychological mechanism which allows the person to tolerate difficult and overwhelming emotions by seeing someone as either good or bad, idealised or devalued. This makes it easier to manage the emotions that they are feeling, which on the surface seem to be contradictory.
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.
You can identify splitting most commonly through the language of a person with BPD. They'll often use extreme words in their characterizations of self, others, objects, beliefs, and situations, such as: “never” and “always” “none” and “all”
Examples of splitting behavior may include: Opportunities can either have "no risk" or be a "complete con" People can either be "evil" and "crooked" or "angels" and "perfect" Science, history, or news is either a "complete fact" or a "complete lie"
Summary. BPD splitting is a symptom of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in which a person sees everything as black or white, good or bad, or best or worst. Splitting is a defense mechanism used to deal with emotions (such as the fear of abandonment) that a person with BPD cannot handle.
Sometimes it only lasts a couple hours, but one time it lasted two months.” — Raylene C. If you “split” because of your BPD, or even your childhood trauma, know that you're not alone and your thoughts do not define you. Splitting is a very real and common part of living with BPD for many people.
Results found in a 2014 study found the average length of a BPD relationship between those who either married or living together as partners was 7.3 years. However, there are cases where couples can stay together for 20+ years.
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.
A favorite person is the center of attention of an individual living with BPD. This means they consider this person as a trusted friend, confidant, and counselor all wrapped in one.
If someone is splitting on you, you may become either all good or all bad in the other person's eyes, rather than a nuanced person with flaws. An example of splitting would be offending someone but convincing yourself that the person was bad anyway, so you really didn't do anything wrong.
While relationships can be challenging when one or both partners have BPD, healthy bonds are still possible. Learning more about the condition and seeking professional support can be helpful steps.
Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. Unstable and intense personal relationships, marked by alternating idealization and devaluation. Persistently unstable sense of self. Risky, potentially self-damaging impulsivity in at least two areas (e.g., substance abuse, reckless behavior, sex, spending).
Participants with BPD had more frequent, intense, and sudden experiences of aversive tension than did control participants; moreover, rejection, being alone, and failure were identified as triggering events for nearly 40% of the BPD group's increases in aversive tension.
Antipsychotics are widely used in BPD, as they are believed to be effective in improving impulsivity, aggression, anxiety and psychotic symptoms [Nose et al. 2006; American Psychiatric Association, 2001].
BPD splitting destroys relationships by causing the person to distort how they see themselves and others. BPD relationships shift between highs and lows. BPD splitting destroy relationships in the way that the person defends against bad feelings within themselves so that they can feel good about themselves.
Dating someone with borderline personality disorder (BPD) can be difficult at times, but it doesn't have to be something that harms your relationship. BPD symptoms can include complex and unhealthy thought processes, anxiety, poor self-image, and dramatic mood swings.
Symptoms of BPD
Suicidal threats, suicidal behavior or self-injury. Intense fear of abandonment or rejection. Periods of stress-related paranoia and irrational thoughts. Highly reactive and extended mood swings.
While there is no “cure” for BPD, there are ways of managing it with therapy, medication, and education. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is often used to help clients with BPD understand the relationships between their fears and emotions and how this can lead to splitting[6].
Alters that take from one or more source alters as they split may have more substance or be able to quickly gain substance, but many new splits at first feel disoriented, depersonalized, hollow, flat, or incomplete.
Affective splitting involves separation along the positive/negative evaluation dimension, or more generally between opposites. Dissociation refers to separation ofelements along some dimension(s), includ- ing ones other than positive/negative evaluation.
Formerly known as multiple personality disorder, this disorder is characterized by "switching" to alternate identities. You may feel the presence of two or more people talking or living inside your head, and you may feel as though you're possessed by other identities.
4.1.
For borderline personality, traits included Affect Instability, Identity Problems, Negative Relationships, and Self-Harm. For psychopathy, traits included Callous Affect, Interpersonal Manipulation, Erratic Lifestyle, and Criminal Tendencies.
If you have BPD, you may engage in harmful, sensation-seeking behaviors, especially when you're upset. You may impulsively spend money you can't afford, binge eat, drive recklessly, shoplift, engage in risky sex, or overdo it with drugs or alcohol.
Those diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) or those with BPD who may not even know they have it, are more likely than the general population to be verbally, emotionally/psychologically, physically abusive.