Borderline Personality Disorder - Symptoms
Five of the following nine symptoms must be present in a person to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder:
- the person makes great efforts to avoid real or imagined rejection
- unstable and intense interpersonal relationships, along with alternation between extreme idealization and devaluation
- unstable self-esteem or feelings of impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-destructive, such as sex, alcohol and drug abuse, reckless driving, or binge eating
- repeated suicidal behavior, threats, or self-harm
- affective instability due to severe mood reactivity, such as intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety, usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days
- chronic feeling of emptiness
- inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger
- severe dissociative symptoms or transient, stress-related paranoid ideation
People with borderline personality disorder typically have a hypersensitive reaction to rejection. This means they react to rejection differently than people without the condition. This can lead to unstable relationships, self-esteem and behavior.
Research suggests that there is a genetic component to borderline personality disorder. Twin studies suggest that the influence of genetics on borderline personality disorder is even greater than on other mental disorders such as major depressive disorder.
Environmental factors that may also contribute to the development of this condition:
- experiencing physical, emotional or sexual abuse as a child
- if the child grew up without a mother
- parents abused drugs or alcohol
Causes of borderline state
If we talk about what a borderline state is, doctors often note the instability of the patient’s mood. He may be overly sociable or suddenly become withdrawn and seek solitude. It can also be theoretically assumed that the reasons are:
- imbalance of brain chemicals;
- genetic predisposition;
- low self-esteem can also provoke illness;
- Childhood is of great importance; if sexual abuse or emotional suppression of the individual has occurred, this can cause serious distress.
How might this affect relationships?
People with borderline personality disorder often have difficulty trusting other people. This, along with their fear of abandonment and tendency to idealize or devalue relationships, can negatively impact relationships. People with borderline personality disorder tend to look for signs of rejection.
In a 2020 paper, researchers concluded that people with this condition may experience intense feelings of rejection when they feel that people are not responsive to their feelings of sadness or resentment. People with borderline personality disorder tend to react to this perceived rejection with anger and fear.
The study also suggested that people with borderline personality disorder may respond to rejection with anger in order to strengthen their fragile sense of self. They may believe that reacting with anger can force the person who rejected them to admit their mistake. However, the reaction will cause the person to avoid further interaction.
There are three main interrelated factors that negatively affect relationships:
- fear of rejection
- sensitivity to perceived rejection
- the anger that results from this perceived rejection
Relationships through social networks
Social media is a part of modern life, and people with borderline personality disorder may interact differently on social media than those without the condition. For example, a 2020 study found that people with the condition tend to interact more with others on social media and are more likely to regret posting on social media. This regret may arise because they did not receive the attention (positive or negative) that they wanted. A person may also regret an action because he did it impulsively.
The study also found that people with borderline personality disorder are more likely to befriend or block other social media users. Despite having interpersonal problems, people with borderline personality disorder are able to maintain relationships on social networks. Scientists believe this may be because social media offers a greater chance of connecting with others online rather than face-to-face, which may be less anxiety-provoking.
How does the borderline state manifest in newborns?
Borderline conditions of newborns are manifested in a physiological decrease in their body weight in the first days after birth. It can decrease by 10% of the initial weight. These same phenomena also include changes in the condition of the child’s skin, which are expressed in its redness after wiping with vernix.
A third of newborns demonstrate the occurrence of toxic erythema, in which blisters with serous fluid appear on the baby’s skin, located in the area of the joints, on the buttocks or on the chest.
Exposure to maternal estrogen hormones leads to a hormonal crisis, and the restructuring of the intestines and the passage of original feces are accompanied by dysbiosis, which disappears by the end of the first week of life.
Borderline personality disorder - treatment
People can cope with borderline personality disorder through psychotherapy. There are three types of therapy that are particularly effective in treating this condition.
- Mentalization-based psychotherapy
: helps people manage their emotions and feel understood. It also helps you understand other people's behavior. - Dialectical Behavior Therapy
: Uses mindfulness techniques along with interpersonal skills training. This can help them understand and control their emotions. - Transference-focused psychotherapy
: uses the relationship between therapist and patient to make the latter aware of interpersonal skills that need work. This technique teaches them strategies to better understand their condition.
Medicines such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, and mood stabilizers are not very effective in treating the symptoms of borderline personality disorder.
Medicines that doctors prescribe to treat anxiety may also not be effective because a person with the condition typically experiences anxiety about being alone. Traditional anxiety medications do not treat this type of disorder.
What is a borderline mental state in psychiatry?
Borderline psychiatry believes that mental pathology is a complex disease that provokes disturbances in the perception of reality. The patient’s behavior changes greatly, anxiety, distrust of the environment, emotional behavior, and mood changes arise.
Borderline state causes personality disorder. Psychiatrists consider this phenomenon in the middle of normal and disorder. Pathology can be identified by a number of signs:
- depression;
- high anxiety;
- changes in behavior;
- isolation from the environment;
- distorted perception of reality;
- panic attacks;
- indiscriminate choice of partners;
- bulimia and anorexia.
All symptoms require specialist research.
When to see a doctor
People should see a doctor if they believe they have symptoms of borderline personality disorder and these symptoms significantly affect their ability to work, enjoy life and form relationships.
It is important to remember that seeking help for mental illness is just as important as seeking help for physical illness, as both can cause negative consequences.
It is important to seek medical help immediately if a person experiences any suicidal thoughts or self-harm. These people require inpatient hospitalization to receive the care and support they need.
K. Jaspers: the concept of a border situation.
The philosophy of K. Jaspers was noticeably different from other varieties of existentialist philosophy, for example Heidegger's, in its commitment to rationalism, science, and democracy.
Jasperian philosophy energetically paved the way for a new metaphysics, which was charged with focusing on three main problem areas, delineated by the categories “everything” (das All), “primordial” (das Urspriingliche) and “one” (das Eine). “Everything” of existence is a myth, our “originality” is existence, “one” is transcendence. According to Jaspers, the main task of philosophy is to explain these categories, the spheres they cover and their unity. At the same time, its implementation has a practical, life-meaning character. The world must be understood in order to navigate it. “Highlighting existence” (Existenzerhellung) is necessary for us individuals in order to find our essence.
Under the auspices of the word “existence” we are talking about problems that have a deep life meaning for the individual and humanity. The existentialist philosopher tells a person: your truly human existence is only “present” when you act as a free being, when you do not allow yourself and other people to turn yourself into an object of manipulation; existence is associated with the search for the enduring meaning of existence, with concern for existing existence
He himself noted (for example, in his “Philosophical Autobiography”) that, starting from his early works, he developed existential philosophy, its main themes and concepts - questions about the world given to man, about borderline situations inevitable for man (death, suffering, guilt, struggle), about the main features of the era.
Existence is highlighted in situations of care and suffering, and especially in borderline situations. A borderline situation is precisely one in which “I cannot live without struggle and suffering,” in which I “inevitably take the blame upon myself” and think about the “inevitability of death.” This situation, according to Jaspers, is like an unbreakable wall - we run into it, we are unable to change anything; the wall becomes one with our existing existence. The situation in which a person is placed always has some definite boundaries: the individual is a man or a woman, a young or old person; his life chances and circumstances are unique, but also limited. And the certainty of boundaries, Jaspers emphasizes, sharply contrasts with the idea of a person in general, of the unlimitedness of his strengths and capabilities, which causes anxiety and concern in the individual. Here - through death, suffering, struggle, guilt - the “specific historicity” of individual borderline situations manifests itself. Concern and anxiety, dictated by specific historicity, develop into an open general question about the existence of the world and my existence in it. “The universal, which always remains so, is fused into the consciousness of existence; all world existence - as what has become, is in the process of becoming and is possible in the future - is visible in absolute historicity. The consciousness of being in a borderline situation, based on the historical existence of the individual, deepens to the consciousness of historically appearing being as such.”
But such “existential depth of existence,” according to Jaspers, in a borderline situation is not at all given to the individual simply and directly.
Special clarification is needed, highlighting the historicity of the situation. But here the most important thing is not to delegate “highlighting” to someone else, not to “delegate” to others purely individual, situational, my and your guilt, pain and suffering. This is where it is necessary to preserve the unique freedom, as well as the “anxiety associated with the ability to choose.” It is necessary to take into account, Jaspers adds, that in every single situation communication with other people is unique and inimitable. When considering existence, Jaspers emphasizes its historicity. At the same time, the historicity of an individual is manifested in the fact that he is constantly in a certain situation. Jaspers considers various situations that may arise in political economy and history. He distinguishes general, typical, and historically specific one-time situations. The most important, according to Jaspers, situations are historical, and among them are borderline situations, namely: death, struggle, guilt, suffering. A borderline situation is characterized by the fact that for a person everything that filled his daily life is unimportant. A person comprehends his essence.
