What Is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental disorders illness characterized by fluctuating moods, behaviors, and self-image. When someone has BPD, they frequently experience severe sensations of rage, anxiety, or despair that can persist for hours or days, which can lead to impulsive conduct and contribute to marital problems.
People suffering from BPD have a variety of triggers that might put their symptoms into action. Rejection or desertion in relationships, as well as the reappearance of a painful childhood incident, are common causes. Borderline personality disorder patients usually perceive things in extremities- all good or all terrible.

What are the Signs and Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder(BPD)?

Some prevalent and commonly found symptoms of BPD are:

• Borderline personality disorder patients may suffer strong mood fluctuations and be unsure about how they view themselves.
• Their sentiments towards people might shift suddenly, from great intimacy to severe hate.
• These shifting emotions can lead to strained relationships and emotional distress.
• Borderline personality disorder patients also frequently perceive events in polarities, such as all good or all terrible.
• Their interests and ideals can shift abruptly, causing them to act rashly or impulsively.

Other indications or signs could include: 

• A passionate and unstable pattern of connections with relatives, mates, and family members.
• Self-image or feeling of self that is skewed and unstable.
• Spending binges, hazardous sex, substance misuse, negligent driving, and disordered eating are all examples of impulsive and frequently harmful activities.
• Suicidal thoughts or threats that reoccur.
• Moods are intense and very varied, with periods ranging between a few hours to several days.
• Feelings of emptiness that persist.
• Anger that is inappropriate, severe, or difficult to manage.
• Dissociative feelings, such as being cut off from oneself, viewing oneself from outside one’s body, or sensations of unreality.

Please note that not everyone suffering from borderline personality disorder will exhibit all of these symptoms. The degree, incidence, and extent of symptoms vary according to the individual and their condition.

Read our article: Know about BPD

How is Diagnosis Done for Borderline Personality Disorder?

• Borderline personality disorder can be identified by a comprehensive interview and discussion of symptoms by a qualified mental health professional with experience in assessing and treating mental illnesses, including a psychiatrist or psychologist.
• A comprehensive medical examination can also aid in excluding other potential causes of symptoms. Providers will talk about a person’s symptoms and inquire about their family’s medical histories, including any history of mental illness.
• Early adulthood or late youth are the typical diagnosis times for borderline personality disorder.
• Occasionally, if symptoms are severe and persist for at least a year, a person under the age of 18 may be identified as having a borderline personality disorder.

What are the Treatment Options Available for Borderline Personality Disorder with Therapy?

The cornerstone of BPD treatment is psychotherapy. To best suit your requirements, your therapist could modify the type of therapy. The purpose of psychotherapy is to:

• Concentrate on your present level of functioning
• Learn to control unpleasant feelings.
• By encouraging you to examine your sensations rather than act on them, you might lessen your impulsivity.
• Be conscious of your own sentiments as well as those of others to work on strengthening connections.
• Become familiar with borderline personality disorder.

The following psychotherapy modalities have been shown to be successful:

• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): DBT consists of both group and one-on-one therapy intended specifically to address BPD. DBT teaches you how to control your emotions, endure discomfort, and strengthen relationships through a skills-based approach.

Watch the video: To help you understand the basics of DBT and how it is used for emotion regulations and BPD, we created this playlist which is filled with information.

• Behavioral treatment using dialectics: DBT consists of both group and one-on-one therapy intended specifically to address BPD. DBT teaches you how to control your emotions, endure discomfort, and strengthen relationships through a skills-based approach.
• Schema-focused therapy: Either an individual or a group can perform it. It can assist you in identifying unmet needs which have given rise to unhealthy life habits that, though they may have once been necessary for survival, are now destructive in many aspects of your life. The goal of therapy is to support healthy ways for you to meet your needs in order to encourage good life patterns.

Read our blog: What is Schema Therapy?

• Mentalization-based therapy (MBT): MBT enables you to recognize your sentiments and ideas at any given time and develop a different viewpoint on the circumstance. Thinking before acting is a key component of MBT.
• Training systems to be emotionally stable and problem-solving (STEPPS): Working in groups, STEPPS is a 20-week therapy program that includes your loved ones, carers, friends, or significant others. In conjunction with other forms of psychotherapy, STEPPS is employed.
• Psychotherapy focused on transference (TFP): TFP, which is also known as psychodynamic psychotherapy, attempts to improve your understanding of your feelings and interpersonal difficulties by fostering a close bond between you and your therapist. You then use these realizations in ongoing circumstances.

Promotion: Enroll in our course: How to treat BPD with Schema Therapy

Self-Help Strategies/Tips to Manage Borderline Personality Disorder Effectively

A borderline personality disorder (BPD) sufferer may experience overpowering feelings. Unpredictable mood swings, self-harming behaviors, suicidality, acute emotional states, sensitivity to relational issues, and issues with impulsive conduct are all signs of BPD. The common denominator of emotion dysregulation may be the cause of all these symptoms.
One can have very powerful emotional reactions as a result of emotion dysregulation and struggle to control such reactions. Unfortunately, a lot of people with BPD engage in destructive behaviors like violence, self-harm, or drug misuse in an effort to deal with their emotional suffering. Coping mechanisms can lessen emotional distress and other BPD symptoms. A few of them are:

Keep track of your mood: Keeping note of your moods throughout time may be beneficial to you. You may try keeping a diary or recording your mood patterns on your phone.

Maintain a routine: A routine can help you feel calmer if your mood is high, motivated if your mood is low, and more steady in general.

Exercise: Gentle exercise might assist you in relaxing and managing stress. Exercise on a regular basis can assist by using up energy while you’re feeling high and When you’re down your brain releases endorphins, or “feel-good” hormones.

Eat a healthy diet: Eating a balanced and nutritious diet might help you feel better, think more clearly, and relax.

Attempt to get adequate sleep: Sleep disruption can be both a trigger and a symptom of episodes. Getting adequate sleep might help you maintain a steady mood or lessen an episode.

Recognize your danger signs: You may begin to see a pattern in your feelings before an episode. This might include modifications to your:

• Sleeping habits
• Eating habits or appetite
• Behavior

Recognize your triggers: It’s useful to understand what might cause mood swings. Triggers range from person to person. Here are a few examples:

• Feeling overburdened or pressed for time?
• Periods of stress
• Important life occurrences
• Periods of transition or uncertainty
• Sleep deprivation
• Other physical or psychological problems
• Changes or issues with your bipolar disorder treatment

Create a support system: Creating a support network may aid with mood management. This might be friends, relatives, or other individuals in your life in whom you have faith.

Stream Music: Play music that makes you experience the complete opposite of the feeling you are having trouble with. Play uplifting, joyful music, for instance, whenever you’re feeling particularly depressed. Play slow, calming music if you’re feeling worried.

Participate: The term “behavioral activation” is occasionally used to describe this coping mechanism. Take part in a really captivating activity. Television and computer use are not included because they are too passive. Instead, participate in some activity that keeps you moving and takes your mind off of your present feelings, like dancing, cleaning your house, or going for a stroll.

Learn for Yourself: It’s critical to understand the implications of your BPD diagnosis for you. Learning your condition’s symptoms can help you recognize and manage them more effectively. It will also help you understand how your doctor is treating you, which may help you identify areas of your life where you may use additional assistance.

Get distracted: When facing a crisis, sometimes the best course of action is to divert your attention away from the discomfort you are experiencing. It might be quite challenging, but the good news is that practice makes perfect.

Take care of your emotional well-being: Engage in emotional awareness exercises. Instead of attempting to block, stifle, or hold onto the feeling, you are experiencing, pay attention to it and let it to wash over you as a wave. Embrace the feeling as it is by trying to. To avoid bringing your past feelings with you, try to be present.

Inhale deeply: One of the easiest techniques for relaxing is deep breathing. Place yourself in a peaceful place to sit or lie down, then focus on your breathing. Breathe deeply, gradually, and evenly. Observe how your stomach changes position as you breathe. This might aid in keeping you rooted in the here and now.
Try a different relaxation technique, such as progressive muscle relaxation, if inhaling deeply isn’t enough to make you feel calm.

Watch video: Watch our video to identify ways to practice breathing exercises:

Take a Warm Shower or Bath: Try to let yourself be carried away by the warm water’s feelings or the soap’s aroma. Let the sensations draw your attention away from the issue you are unhappy about so that you may concentrate on calming your muscles.

Download our free worksheet to get started with the journey of speedy recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder.

To enrich your knowledge, we came up with comprehensive and informative courses designed and delivered by professionals. Enroll and open doors for a speedy recovery.

• How to treat BPD with Schema Therapy