Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) incorporates a severe emotional instability that
affects a person’s relationships with other people but also creates an uncertain, shifting
sense of their own identity amid continued feelings of emptiness. This often leads to a
pattern of intense but unstable relationships, impulsive and risky behaviour, and possibly to
self-injury. Those with BPD can be extremely sensitive, regularly causing severe reactions to
any negative events. They often want to be in a loving, long-term relationship but they fear
abandonment and their behaviour may cause people to leave them. Separation or rejection
can lead to self-destructive feelings encouraging self-harm or suicide. BPD usually appears in
early adulthood and often occurs alongside other conditions such as depression or bipolar
disorder, anxiety, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Debate continues about the causes
of BPD. There is a strong association with childhood abuse and suffering to the extent that
some clinicians consider BPD to be a severe form of PTSD that impacts upon a person’s
growing sense of self during a crucial stage of their development. However, a minority
diagnosed with BPD do not report childhood adversity.
affects a person’s relationships with other people but also creates an uncertain, shifting
sense of their own identity amid continued feelings of emptiness. This often leads to a
pattern of intense but unstable relationships, impulsive and risky behaviour, and possibly to
self-injury. Those with BPD can be extremely sensitive, regularly causing severe reactions to
any negative events. They often want to be in a loving, long-term relationship but they fear
abandonment and their behaviour may cause people to leave them. Separation or rejection
can lead to self-destructive feelings encouraging self-harm or suicide. BPD usually appears in
early adulthood and often occurs alongside other conditions such as depression or bipolar
disorder, anxiety, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Debate continues about the causes
of BPD. There is a strong association with childhood abuse and suffering to the extent that
some clinicians consider BPD to be a severe form of PTSD that impacts upon a person’s
growing sense of self during a crucial stage of their development. However, a minority
diagnosed with BPD do not report childhood adversity.