This is a Borderline Friendly space where we share experiences around our lives with Borderline Personality Disorder (No, we are not crazy. Yes, we can be functional).
We are interested in bringing this topic to the table ONCE AND FOR FUCKING ALL (Ooops! A bit too much emotion there) to raise awareness and remind our “borderhood” they are not alone.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness that centers on the inability to manage emotions effectively. While some persons with BPD are high functioning in certain settings, their private lives may be in turmoil. Most people who have BPD suffer from problems regulating their emotions and thoughts, impulsive and sometimes reckless behavior, and unstable relationships.
Other disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse and other personality disorders can often exist along with BPD. The diagnosis of BPD is frequently missed and a misdiagnosis has been shown to delay and/or prevent recovery. BPD has historically met with widespread misunderstanding and blatant stigma. However, evidenced-based treatments have emerged over the past two decades bringing hope to those diagnosed with the disorder and their loved ones.
Usually, in order to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, the individual has to comply with at least five of the nine following criteria:
- Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
- A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.
- Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.
- Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g. spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating). This does not include suicidal or self-harming behavior.
- Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior.
- Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood – intense feelings that can last from a few hours to a few days.
- Chronic feelings of emptiness.
- Inappropriate intense anger or difficulty controlling anger.
- Transient, stress-related paranoid ideas or severe dissociative symptoms.
Not all people diagnosed with BPD will experience it the same way, as there are over 100 combinations of symptoms possible, considering 5 out of the 9 criteria.
The diagnosis of BPD is only made when it is clear that these behaviors have been present over time (usually starting in early adulthood) and across a range of situations.
BPD should be taken seriously, unfortunately 1 out of 10 individuals with this diagnosis die by suicide.
* If you think you could have BPD or if you’re struggling with your current condition, please seek professional care.