Borderline Personality Disorder is probably something most people haven't heard of while many have probably heard of multiple personality disorder, depression, and other personality disorders. Borderline isn't as well known among the general population. According to the website bpdcentral, it comprises only 2% of the population, but 60% of all personality disorders. Of the 2%it comprises, 10% are mental health outpatients, 20% are psychiatric inpatients, 75% have been physically or sexually abused, and an astonishing 75% of those diagnosed are female.

What exactly is borderline personality dis

ugh self-knowledge, emotion regulation, and cognitive restructuring. It is an approach that is most often conducted within a group setting Personality disorders, by definition, are long-standing ways of coping with the world, social and personal relationships, handling stress and emotions, etc. that often do not work, especially when a person is under increased stress or performance demands in their lives. Treatment, therefore, takes a long time. It usually lasts at least a year for most. Other psychological treatments used to treat this disorder include those focusing on social learning theory and conflict resolution. These types of solution-focused therapies often neglect the core problem of people who suffer from this disorder which is difficulty in expressing appropriate emotions and emotional attachments to significant people in their lives because of faulty cognitions. Providing a structured therapeutic setting is important no matter which therapy type is undertak!

s that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating. They also have recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior, affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days). They have chronic feelings of emptiness and express inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger such as frequent displays of temper, constant anger and recurrent physical fights. They also have stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms. Dissociation is "the state in which, on some level or another, one becomes somewhat removed from "reality," whether this be daydreaming, performing actions without being fully connected to their performance ("running on automatic"), or other, more disconnected actions. It is the opposite of "association" and involves the l!

Another fact that makes the diagnosis of bpd difficult is that no one is really sure what causes it. It is believed that both psychological and biological factors are involved. Researchers have consistently found a higher rate of sexual abuse in borderline patients. About one third may be victims of incest, while 50-60 percent have suffered some form of sexual abuse. Prior physical and verbal abuse also appears linked to higher rates of occurrence. Some studies have shown that certain patterns of over involvement between parent and child may also be causes, parents may have difficulty allowing their child to grow up and become separate and causing borderline patients usually fear situations where they must be independent and autonomous. However, it would be incorrect to link this disorder to any one type of parent-child interaction. Some studies have found that neglect is as common. While some research has attributed the cause to parental failure, more recent studies sug!

gest that blaming the parents is too simple. Borderline patients appear to have internal difficulties that affect brain functioning. With testing, they are consistently found to have higher rates of neuropsychological abnormalities. In addition, studies point to a problem with the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Serotonin can be viewed as the "brakes" of the central nervous system. In other words, normal levels of serotonin control impulsive aggression directed either at oneself or other people. Low levels of serotonin appear related to more impulsive and destructive behavior.(Gabbard 1995)

order? Therapists use a book called Diagnostic and Statistical Manual(DSM) to make mental health diagnoses and they use nine characteristics to define what it is. It should also be said that everyone has these traits to a certain extent and do not try and diagnose yourself or anyone else. The definition of borderline personality disorder is "a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, se

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