Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is one of the most controversial diagnoses in Psychology today. The concepts behind BPD are somewhat vague and unstructured. Psychologists have been trying to give BPD a concrete form since it was first introduced in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Borderline personality disorder appears in approximately 2 percent (6 million people) of the general population. The disorder is most common in women, with less than 25 percent of all cases occurring in men. While symptoms of the disorder may appear in childhood and adolescence, the full criteria necessary for the diagnosis are not commonly present until young adulthood.
Many believe that the term “Borderline Personality” is so misused, misinterpreted, and misunderstood that refining it is pointless. Regardless of whether or not BPD is believed to have a concrete form, its causes and effects are legitimate. There are numerous symptoms associated with BPD. As stated in the DSM-IV, “the essential features of Borderline Personality Disorder is a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsiveness that begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts...” (2004, p. 650) Personality disorders, in general, are characterized by a long-lasting, rigid pattern of maladaptive thought and behavior. In the case of Borderline Personality, that rigid form of thinking involves an unstable self-image, anger, emotional instability, and intense feelings of rejection or abandonment. This negative form of thinking and perceiving the world results in volatile personal relationships and a wide variety of self-destructive, impulsive behaviors, such as   self mutilation, drug use, sexual promiscuity, binge eating, and explosive violence. (Stanford, 2008 p. 197)
The unconscious assumptions of borderlines may be extremely different from those of non-borderlines. If I were a borderline, I may feel... [continues]

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