Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a complex condition. It affects how a person feels about themselves and others. BPD is characterized by intense, unstable emotions and relationships as well as insecurity and self-doubt. Borderline personality disorder is a mental illness that severely impacts a person’s ability to regulate their emotions. This loss of emotional control can increase impulsivity, affect how a person feels about themselves, and negatively impact their relationships with others.
Symptoms may include:
- A strong fear of abandonment. This includes going to extreme measures so you're not separated or rejected, even if these fears are made up.
- A pattern of unstable, intense relationships, such as believing someone is perfect one moment and then suddenly believing the person doesn't care enough or is cruel.
- Quick changes in how you see yourself. This includes shifting goals and values, as well as seeing yourself as bad or as if you don't exist.
- Periods of stress-related paranoia and loss of contact with reality. These periods can last from a few minutes to a few hours.
- Impulsive and risky behavior, such as gambling, dangerous driving, unsafe sex, spending sprees, binge eating, drug misuse, or sabotaging success by suddenly quitting a good job or ending a positive relationship.
- Threats of suicide or self-injury, often in response to fears of separation or rejection.
- Wide mood swings that last from a few hours to a few days. These mood swings can include periods of being very happy, irritable or anxious, or feeling shame.
- Ongoing feelings of emptiness.
- Disturbed patterns of thinking or perception – "cognitive distortions" or "perceptual distortions".
- Inappropriate, strong anger, such as losing your temper often, being sarcastic or bitter, or physically fighting.
It's common for people with BPD to feel suicidal with despair, and then feel reasonably positive a few hours later. Some people feel better in the morning and some in the evening. The pattern varies, but the key sign is that your moods swing in unpredictable ways.
People with BPD tend to be extremely sensitive. Some describe it as like having an exposed nerve ending. Small things can trigger intense reactions. Once thye are upset, they have trouble calming down.