Posts Tagged ‘Self Mutilation’
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is the most common Personality Disorder and it is extremely painful to live with; for the sufferer and the sufferer’s loved ones. This is because Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms not only affect the sufferer, but they also end up affecting their loved ones. People suffering from BPD experience intense emotional pain. There is unrelenting chaos in relationships with other people; they feel empty, alone and desperate.
BPD is not widely recognized. There are several possibilities as to why. Among the possibilities it has been said that rightly or wrongly, issues such as eating disorders, domestic violence, AIDS,and breast cancer don’t end up on the media forefront until they affect someone famous. While many celebrities show the traits, none have come forward and admitted to having this disorder.
There are nine Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms. To be diagnosed with BPD, you must exhibit five out of the nine symptoms:
- Desperate attempts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
- Unstable interpersonal relationships characterised by alternating between extreme idolization and extreme hatred.
- Identity Disturbance: the constant feeling of ‘faking it’. It is typical of a Borderline sufferer to have a different personality around all of their acquaintances.
- Destructive Impulsivity: destructive impulsive behaviors that are done in large quantities. Impulsive shopping, binge eating, binge drinking etc.
- Suicidal behaviours and Self Mutilation Characterised by harm towards ones self such as cutting, burning, binge eating and/or purging, anorexia, suicidal threats etc.
- Mood Instability: radical, extremely difficult to control mood swings.
- Emptiness: a deep emotional void that evokes a strong sense of meaninglessness and can cause behaviours such as self harm, suicide, identity crisis and severe mood swings.
- Anger: unlike other emotions that happen, anger is categorized all on its own because it tends to be spontaneous and uncontrollable. People with BPD tend to be described by loved ones as a ticking time bomb.
- Reality Distortions: These can include anything from auditory to visual hallucinations, skewed perceptions of reality etc. Unlike reality distortions with other mental illnesses such as Schizophrenia etc, reality distortions with Borderline Personality Disorder tend to be sudden but quick lived and accompanied by rage.
Today, there is quite a stigma that goes hand in hand with a mental illness diagnosis. Some important things to remember about Borderline Personality Disorder are:
- Typically, people who exhibit Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms are not psychotic. Their behaviour may seem slightly ‘crazy’ to the people around them while they have quite rapid and extreme mood swings, but they are not psychotic.
- Typically, women are more common to have Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms, but men can still exhibit them as well. It is a myth that woman are the only ones who struggle with this mental illness.
- People who exhibit Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms usually come across as completely normal to people who don’t know them well. Usually their symptoms only come out around those who know them the best.
- People with BPD tend to be highly intelligent. This can make it difficult to get the proper treatment as they often see themselves as too high functioning to have a problem.
- It is a myth that Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms are untreatable. Many people fully recover from this mental illness.
If you are wondering about a loved one or a friend and you need more information pick up the book called Stop Walking On Eggshells written by Paul T. Mason, M.S. and Randi Kreger. This book is helpful for a non BPD Sufferer to define this challenging mental disease and also to learn about methods and treatments for help. Also visit bpdfamily.com for very helpful chat forums and guidance for both the BPD sufferer and their loved ones. You can also follow BorderlineInfo on Twitter for treatment and other information.
Tags: binge eating, Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms, BPD, mental illness, Self Mutilation, Suicidal, suicidal threats
