Thursday 17-03-2022 - 09:00

Step Forward Together is an awareness campaign by Carmarthen Campus President Becky Bush to break the stigma of mental health conditions. An overview of the campaign can be found here.  

 

Borderline Personality Disorder 

By: Anonymous 

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is the most commonly recognised personality disorder. It affects around 2.4 people out of every 100 in the United Kingdom. However, often people do not fully understand what it entails. Due to the lack of knowledge of BPD, often there is a lot of judgement and misunderstanding about it. Mental health conditions are “invisible” and often people do not know how to deal with the symptoms that present themselves.  

Typically, a person with BPD will think differently to others and have different perceptions and feelings from an “average” person. There is no direct cause of BPD – but genetic and environmental factors may influence the chances of a person being diagnosed with BPD. Often, a traumatic experience in childhood can trigger the symptoms.  

 

Symptoms of BPD 

There are 4 main symptomatic areas that BPD can be broken down into: 

• Emotional instability  
• Disturbed patterns of thinking/perception 
• Lack of impulse control  
• Unstable relationships with others 

Personality disorders tend to present during adolescence and carry on into adulthood. The feelings and behaviours associated with BPD make it difficult to live with and people who have been diagnosed with BPD deserve to be understood and supported.  

 

Diagnosing BPD 

Diagnosing BPD is not a quick process. Those who are presenting symptoms must have experienced them for a long time and they must be affecting their every-day life. The symptoms professionals look for include: 

• Extreme fear of abandonment 

• Intense emotions that change very quickly 
• Finding it difficult to create and maintain relationships  
• Feeling “empty” 
• Acting impulsively and doing things that could cause harm (substance abuse, developing an eating disorder, driving dangerously) 
• Paranoia or disassociation  

Professionals look for at least 5 of these symptoms before considering a BPD. However, due to the similarity in symptoms with other mental health conditions, it is often misdiagnosed. Similar mental health conditions consist of: 

• Bipolar Disorder 
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder 
• Depression 
• Psychosis 
• Antisocial Behaviour Disorder 

Additionally, BPD often is accompanied by another mental health condition – making it even harder to diagnose.  

 

Treatment of BPD 

Following a diagnosis of BPD, there are a range of treatments available ranging from medical to psychological. 

 

Talking Therapies 

These are considered to be the most helpful form of treatment for BPD. Examples include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) and Mentalisation-Based Therapy (MCT). These all focus on teaching coping mechanisms when symptoms present themselves. 

 

Medication 

This is only advised when BPD is accompanied by another mental health issue. This is because there is a lack of evidence to prove that medication benefits the individual. Professionals may prescribe sleeping tablets or a mild tranquiliser to help someone feel calm if they are going through a particularly difficult time, but this would be a short term solution.  

 

Therapeutic Communities 

These are specially designed programmes to support a group of people suffering from mental health issues. This offers individuals the opportunity to meet and support others in a similar situation. Often, these groups of people will live together, or they will meet up on a regular basis. 

It is important that people understand BPD – and realise that it is difficult for the individual to control their symptoms without ongoing support and understanding from friends and family. If we all stick together, we can give people the best chance of coping with their symptoms and even lead to reducing them significantly!  

Borderline Personality Disorder: the common misconceptions - STICK IT TO THE STIGMA 

Treatment and support - Mind 

Overview - Borderline personality disorder - NHS (www.nhs.uk)