Borderline personality disorder is characterised by a pervasive pattern of instability in relationships, self-image, moods, and behaviour and hypersensitivity to possible rejection and abandonment.
- Individuals with borderline personality disorder fear rejection and abandonment, partly because they do not want to be alone.
- Medical professionals diagnose borderline personality disorder based on specific symptoms, including frequently changing relationships, self-image, and mood and self-destructive, impulsive behaviour.
- Psychotherapy can reduce suicidal behaviours, help relieve depression, and help individuals with this disorder function better, but drugs are sometimes needed to lessen symptoms.
Personality disorders are long-lasting, pervasive patterns of thinking, perceiving, reacting, and relating that cause an individual significant distress and/or impair an individual’s ability to function.
Individuals with borderline personality disorder cannot tolerate being alone and may resort to self-destructive actions to cope with or to avoid being alone.
They may make frantic efforts to avoid abandonment, including creating crises.
For example, they may attempt suicide as a way to communicate their distress and to get other individuals to rescue and care for them.
Borderline personality disorder occurs in up to almost 6% of the general population in the United States.
It is diagnosed more often in women than in men. With time, symptoms tend to lessen in most individuals.
Other disorders are also often present. They include:
- Depression.
- Anxiety disorders (such as panic disorder).
- Posttraumatic stress disorder.
- Eating disorders.
- Substance use disorders.
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