Borderline Personality Disorder is a pattern of instable moods, relationships, and a sense of identity. The Borderline Personality Disorder is usually found in the Axis I of the DSM-IV, it is can be qualified as a mood disorder because of the disturbance in mood and most Borderlines tend to have substance abuse problems, which is also found in Axis I. But Borderline Personality Disorder can also be categorized in the Axis II, because it is a personality disorder. People who are diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder are functioning at the border of neurosis and psychosis (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2010).Individuals have a higher possibility for developing Borderline Personality Disorder in their 20s. This disorder was affected more by women but now there seem to be little difference between men and women being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (Cloud, 2009). Psychologist Marsha Linehan of University of Washington describes how she sees Borderline Personality Disorder, “Borderline individuals are the psychological equivalent of third-degree-burn patients. They simple have no emotional skin.
The slightest touch or movement can create immense suffering” (Cloud, 2009). A person with Borderline Personality Disorder seems to always fear the people they love and care about will leave them, but the person with Borderline Personality Disorder usually ends up pushing the ones they love away because they cannot control their emotions like someone can who is not living with Borderline Personality. People with Borderline Personality Disorder tend to express themselves more intensely and tend to react quickly without thinking about the consequences of the situation.
Borderline individual’s relationships are usually “all or nothing” whether it is romantic or platonic (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2010). As therapists are concerned, individuals seeking help who may have Borderline Personality Disorder are feared the most (Cloud, 2009). Borderlines are at very high risk of danger to themselves.
People who have Borderline Personality Disorder experience a different kind of depression, where they have a sense of numbness and negative emotions.Individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder do not have any or very little, emotion or feelings, they are more likely to commit suicide. Borderlines are also confused about who they are and what their place is in this world (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2010). Approximately 75 percent of Borderlines hurt themselves and 10 percent of them commit suicide, compared to only 6 percent rate for people who commit suicide in mood disorders (Cloud, 2009). Some Borderlines hurt themselves only to seek out attention from others but some end up losing their lives because of a severe wound or over dosing.
These individuals are trying to find a way to escape their depression, numbness, and over exaggerated emotions and most of the time they turn to alcohol and drugs to make them feel something. Once these factors are added to the Borderline Personality Disorder, the risk of over dosing is much higher than it is for someone who does not have this disorder. Almost always, individuals who develop Borderline Personality Disorder were neglected in some ways as a child.Some individuals come from homes where they were abused, some were not allowed to show their emotions in public (Cloud, 2009), and others who did not have a relationship with their mother like they wanted (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2010). In these situations, “the child does not learn how to understand, label, regulate or tolerate emotional responses, and instead learns to oscillate between emotional inhibition and extreme emotional liability” (Cloud, 2009). Most individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder end up committing a crime and spending a lot of their time in prison.
One of most used treatment plans for people with Borderline Personality Disorder is therapy. The therapists mostly focus on simple issues with the client first, then try to dig deeper to find out all of the client’s problems. One of the main problems with people who have Borderline Personality Disorder is that they do not stay in the therapy sessions long enough to make much progress (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2010). The therapists of these individuals must accept the person for whom they are, and respect them for they are trying to change their lives and not be angry all the time (Cloud, 2009).Borderline clients are most often overly medicated because of the difficulty diagnosing this disorder (Cloud, 2009).
In this article, psychologist Marsha Linehan, developed a study trial for people with Borderline Personality Disorder called “dialectical behavior therapy” which drastically reduced their tendency to injure themselves (Cloud, 2009). Individuals who do not seek treatment do not tend to get any better. This article describes a lady, Lily, who found out she had Borderline Personality Disorder in her late 20s.At that time in her life she felt as if nothing was bringing her any happiness.
She began to experiment cutting herself to make her at least feel something because she felt numb inside and out. She cut herself with a kitchen knife and after doing so she became panicked when she was taken to the hospital by her father. Afterwards, Lily was taken to a Behavioral Research & Therapy Clinic at the University of Washington, where she was going to be treated by Marsha Linehan. Lily did not think anyone especially a psychologist could understand her pain she was going through.After Lily attempted suicide again she realized that Linehan was only there to help. Linehan showed Lily how to regulate her emotions so they would not be so intense and dramatic (Cloud, 2009). Lily was experiencing a low functioning level because of her two attempts of suicide and difficulty carrying out day to day activities (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2010). “The key is not defining that uncertain borderline but learning to be happy there” (Cloud, 2009).
This article is very informative about Borderline Personality Disorder.It presents knowledgeable information about this disorder and ways to control emotions and thinking processes for someone with Borderline Personality Disorder. If the article had more statistics of how many people had the disorder and overcame it, the article would be more reassuring to someone who is going through the same complications as the ones stated in this.
Although it does state that 88% of individuals diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder most of them showed signs of improvement within a year (Cloud, 2009). But what about the people who did not? How are they coping with life? It would be interesting to know and would be very informative for the ones who have this disorder and are getting treatment that may not be showing signs of progress.ReferencesCloud, J. (2009, January, 8).
The Mystery of Borderline Personality Disorder. Time Magazine, 2-8. Retrieved October 16, 2010, from http://www. time.
com/printout/0,8816,1870491,00. html Halgin, R. , Whitbourne, S. (2010) Abnormal Psychology: Clinical Perspectives on Psychological Disorders.
Borderline Personality Disorder, 314-319.