What is Borderline Personality Disorder?
A personality disorder is generally characterized by a deeply ingrained and maladaptive pattern of feelings and behaviors that create long-term difficulties throughout day-to-day life and in personal relationships.
Common Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder
- Feelings of isolation, boredom, or emptiness
- A history of unstable relationships that can abruptly shift from intense feelings of love to extreme hate
- Difficulty feeling empathy
- Intense feelings of anxiety, worry, and depression
- Having a distorted sense of self or unstable or dysfunctional self-image
- A persistent fear of rejection or abandonment, including extreme emotional reactions to real or perceived abandonment
- Intense, highly changeable moods that may last anywhere from a few hours to a few days
- Hostility
- Instability in career plans, goals, and aspirations
- Impulsive, risky, self-destructive, dangerous behaviors that may include things like reckless driving and drug or alcohol abuse
Individuals with BPD typically experience many of these symptoms on a daily basis throughout adulthood. For example, an individual may regularly have intense mood swings, exhibit impulsive behaviors, have unhealthy relationships, and struggle with maintaining a stable job.