BPD / EUPD Explained
Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder.
This is Not a Diagnostic Tool
What is BPD?
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a disorder of mood and how a person interacts with others. It's the most commonly recognised personality disorder. In general, someone with a personality disorder will differ significantly from an average person in terms of how he or she thinks, perceives, feels or relates to others.
Symptoms of BPD
Symptoms can be grouped into 4 main areas and usually emerge in adolescence.
Emotional Instability
Often intense negative emotions like rage, sorrow, shame, and panic. Moods can swing severely over a short space of time.
Disturbed Patterns of Thinking
Upsetting thoughts (e.g., thinking you are a terrible person), or brief episodes of strange experiences like hearing voices.
Impulsive Behaviour
Includes an impulse to self-harm, or engage in reckless activities like binge drinking, drug misuse, or spending sprees.
Intense but Unstable Relationships
A pattern of "love-hate" relationships where you may fear abandonment or feel smothered, leading to pushing people away or clinging to them.
Causes and Treatment
Causes
The causes of BPD are unclear, but it appears to result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Many people with BPD come from different backgrounds, but most will have experienced some kind of trauma or neglect as children.
Treatment
Many people with BPD can benefit from psychological or medical treatment. Treatment may involve a range of individual and group psychological therapies (psychotherapy). Effective treatment may last more than a year. Over time, many people with BPD overcome their symptoms and recover.