Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder

What is borderline personality disorder? Borderline personality disorder is a psychiatric condition characterized by unstable mood, relationships, identity, self-image and behavior, black-and-white thinking, and episodes of idealization and devaluation. People with borderline personality are highly sensitive, sometimes impulsive and conflicted. They may experience different moods from anger and anxiety to depression. It is difficult for them to maintain interpersonal relationships because they may be very sensitive about perceived criticism or rejection by others. They might push other people away before they can get hurt themselves, which in turn can alienate and frustrate loved ones. People with borderline personality disorder are unstable in their sense of self. They may tend to see themselves as vulnerable to danger, powerless to protect themselves and insecure in who they are. As a result, their behavior can be impulsive and erratic. They may participate in binge eating, substance abuse, reckless driving and promiscuity. They may also exhibit suicidal behavior and attempts.

What is black-and-white thinking? This kind of thinking categorizes everything in the world into 2 extreme opposite groups, hence black and white. The world is more complex and cant always be fit into a dichotomy, but people with borderline personality disorder see things dichotomously, or in an all or nothing light: for example, failing once means failing always and never being a success. People will fail and succeed at different times and in different circumstances. However, a person with borderline personality disorder has difficulty realizing this and making these distinctions. Black-and-white thinking in turn is related to idealization and devaluation, in which the positive or negative qualities of things are over-exaggerated. A person might be seen as completely good or completely bad, but not in between. People with borderline personality disorder might idealize a friend and vilify an enemy without making room for any gray area. They might at times also idealize and vilify themselves, which contributes to their unstable self-image.

Today, borderline personality disorder remains a highly controversial diagnosis. Feminists have noted that women are much more likely to be diagnosed, and some believe that therapists may be contributed to the condition by labeling BPD patients as manipulative and demanding, thus fueling their instability. Still others feel that borderline personality disorder is a pejorative and inaccurate label, and want to change it to emotional dysregulation disorder. In any case, BPD remains a part of the DSM and will likely continue to be employed in diagnosis, and psychologists will still search for ways to treat this difficult condition.

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