Main Features of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
If you’ve been following along on my Instagram, you know by now that we have been closely watching the Depp/Heard trial unfold, and Amber Heard’s diagnoses have us all talking a little more about personality disorders. Let’s start off by defining what BPD is.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD for short) is a personality disorder that causes long patterns of quickly shifting moods, relationships, behavior, and self-image. People with BPD are more likely to have experienced childhood abuse and trauma.
The cause of BPD is still unknown, but some factors correlated with BPD are:
History of trauma and/or abuse.
Childhood neglect, or being raised by a parent with a serious health condition (like BPD) or alcohol or substance misuse problem
Family history of BPD
Unique brain structure/chemical imbalance in the brain that affects mood regulation
Problems with brain development
Here are some of the main features of BPD.
Unstable sense of self: Have a hard time understanding themselves outside of the context of relationships. Their sense of self can change quickly based on the feedback they are getting within a relationship.
Quickly changing mood states: Different from bipolar. These are quick changes in mood that can happen moment to moment.
Deeply worried about being rejected or abandoned: This is the main driver of BPD— to avoid rejection and abandonment. This can cause erratic behavior, begging, or searching for reassurance in relationships.
Enmeshment and mimicking: Can start to mimic to like to the same thing as the person you are dating or friending. Dressing, talking, or doing the same times as the new person.
Splitting: Idealizing and then hating the same person is a short period of time
Bouts of rage (and sometimes violence— heavy on the sometimes here). Because the internal world feels unstable, rage is a common response to a sense of abandonment or rejection.
Sound familiar, or feel like you may have experienced some of these features? We also offer testing for psychological and mood disorders. Are you interested in getting professional support from a therapist specializing in trauma, you can book a free 15-minute consultation with me or one of our other amazing trauma-informed therapists. We provide online therapy and also offer many different types of trauma therapy groups including our Women’s Trauma, Religious Trauma, and Queer Trauma groups. All of our therapists specialize in trauma informed care, and informed trauma therapy.