Borderline : The borderline personality disorder (bpd)

What is it ?.(*)

In simple terms: "A person suffering of a borderline disorder swings between adult's behavior and disturbed childish behavior. The adult behavior of the Borderline can suddenly collapse without apparent provocation resulting in tears or a seemingly infantile show of anger"
In a nutshell: "My auntie she'is little girl in a woman's body"
To be a little more realistic, we can say "They have tendency to react more intensely to lower levels of stress than others. It can be seen as Emotional Dysregulation or emotional hypersensitivity, highly emotional",(non-medical definitions)

Does this describe you or describe someone you know ?
" But... Why did he/she act like this ? "
If you or someone you know regularly shows at least 5 of the following points, it is possible that he / she has this disorder ()

• Relationship problems
• Inability to manage their emotions
• Sudden, intense rapid or frequent mood changes
• Anxiety
• Love - Hate relationships. Viewing others by extremes - All good / All bad without nuance, black and white thinking
• Feeling " victimised ", unable to accept responsability for themselves
• Feeling depressed, sad or empty
• Frequent and or unpredictable outbursts of anger (whether acted-out or not)
• Unstable self image
• Fear of abandonment
• Impulsive self destructive behaviors with addictions like Bulimia, Unsafe sex, Anorexia, Spending, Alcohol, Road rage, Drug or Medication abuse, …
• Rage attacks
• Suicide attempts or self-injury such as cutting, burning, scratching,...

.
> They spend their time controlling more or less emotions which they really do not control
> Their ability to hide their disease means that those closest to them are often "unaware that there is something wrong", when in the fact their life is one of suffering and sheer hell

• "It's just their nature" > False, it is a mental disorder, an illness, not the person
• "He/she is a childish man or woman" > False, it's a sick person disturbed and unable to manage their emotions
• "She is just a silly billy" > False, their IQ is completely "normal", she is often well-educated and can even hold down a rewarding career
• "She manipulate, she lie" > False, she use defence mecanisms in order to protect herself
• "She can improve without treatment" > False, she probably better hide
• "It is a woman illness" > False, men are diagnosed less (or are already in prison)
• "I'm doing what I can by protecting her, avoiding crises" > False, you prevent her from becoming aware of their problems and take away any sense of responability she might have
• "She is too young to have this disease" > False, symptoms are possible from childhood onwards
• "You can never recover from a mental illness" > False, the right treatment is effective
• "The borderline disorder does not exist" > False, thousand of clinical studies and publications prove that it is a mental illness with genetics, biological (serotonin) and environmental tendencies

• 2 to 4% of the general population (NIMH - APA)
• 73% of "borderlines" will attempt suicide at least once in their lifetime (Soloff 1994)
• 10% of "borderlines" will die (J.Paris 1994, APA,...)
• 30% to 40% of suicides are committed by people with a personality disorder (Duberstein, 1997)
• Impulsive unpremeditatedsuicide even if suicide is present in their everyday life(Mann, 1999)

Reading tip. If you are or if you think that you are borderline, try not to read too much at once. Read, but don't give into your initial feelings, wait some time and then go back again to read. That way, it will be, I think, less distressing for you
• The synthesis / summary contains a lot of informations, testimonies about the illness plus the Borderline's typical behaviors and available treatments.(Summary for teenagers)
• FAQ's including basic questions / answers that someone might ask about behavioral disorders
• Positive vision of BPD disorder, the emophane^TM or emophany !

... And then why not join the association or make a donation so we can keep the organisation running?

.

..
Warning:
All the information in this site is aimed at helping people understand a "rather particular" and puzzling kind of disease
But more especially, to support everyone affected by it, sick or not.  In any case, it is ESSENTIAL to see a therapist who specialises in this field they can confirm or give an alternative diagnosis
The name of what you’ve got doesn’t matter so much, getting the right treatment for the right patient does
,.
last update July 2007
Copyright AAPEL^TM federation - All rights reserved
Author, Alain Tortosa, psychotherapist, founder president of the Aapel
Non profit organization

bordeline