Common signs of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

borderline personality disorder

People with BPD tend to feel intense emotions that they struggle to manage and cope with in healthy ways. In particular they can experience intense emotions in relationships, and may find it difficult to maintain healthy relationships with others. BPD can cause a range of symptoms, although they can be broadly grouped into four categories:

1) Emotional (with frequent, typically negative, mood swings)

2) Cognitive (experiencing upsetting or paranoid thoughts or hallucinations)

3) Impulsive behaviour (typically behaviors which are damaging to you, such as self-harm, bingeing, gambling etc)

4) Intense but unstable relationships with others

Not everyone will have all of these symptoms, but you may experience:

  • Intense, highly changeable moods

  • Long lasting feelings of emptiness or being abandoned

  • Unstable relationships with others

  • Confused feelings about who you are; feeling “unreal”

  • Being impulsive in ways that could be damaging (spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, and binge eating)

  • Regular self-harming, suicidal threats or behaviour

  • Acting in desperate ways to try and avoid feared abandonment (e.g. repeated texting or calling; threatening to hurt yourself if they leave; pushing others away before they can leave you)

  • Difficulty controlling your anger

  • Paranoid thoughts when you’re stressed

If you experience a lot of these symptoms, it is worth talking to a professional about what help is available. Historically, there was a belief that BPD could not be cured. However, there is growing evidence that it can be treated successfully. It is particularly important to talk to your health care professional if you are also struggling with an eating disorder - as they can feed into each other.

One consideration is whether the eating disorder or BPD should be treated first. This is often decided on a case by case basis, depending on whether any of the eating disorder or BPD symptoms are life threatening, and then by making sense of how they interact with one another.

There are different treatment options for BDP, many of which are also useful treatment for eating disorders. They include dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), schema therapy and mentalisation based therapy (MBT).