borderline personality disorder

borderline personality disorder (BPD), mental illness characterized by chronic instability in the affected individual’s mood, relationships, and sense of identity. The term borderline was first brought into psychiatric terminology in 1938 by American psychoanalyst Adolph Stern. Stern used it to describe patients who were “on the border” of psychosis and neurosis, individuals who displayed particular symptoms under stress but then soon became relatively functional again. The term has since been used to define alternately a clinical entity, a syndrome, or a personality organization. The diagnosis of BPD has been and remains a subject of intense debate.

The clinical presentation of BPD can vary widely. Afflicted individuals, however, typically are impulsive, have unstable interpersonal relationships, and are prone to anxiety and feelings of abandonment. Antisocial behaviour, an affinity for psychoactive substance abuse, an erratic lifestyle, a tendency for self-mutilation, and suicide attempts are common, and a sense of emptiness and meaninglessness prevails all along. BPD is diagnosed only in persons over age 18. In younger individuals, symptoms may be diagnosed as identity confusion.

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Studies have indicated that the prevalence of borderline personality disorder ranges from 1 to 6 percent in the general population and from 10 to 20 percent among psychiatric patients. Although once thought to be more common in women than men, the disorder appears to affect both sexes equally. Alcohol and substance abuse and eating disorders are commonly co-diagnosed.

Etiologic explanations for BPD vary. Some hypotheses focus on constitutional defects in the brain’s various neurotransmitter systems, such as the adrenergic, cholinergic, dopaminergic, and serotonergic systems. Other hypotheses examine the association of the disorder with a past or present history of head trauma, epilepsy, encephalitis, severe hyperactivity, distractibility, anomalies in various brain structures, and learning disabilities. From a developmental perspective, arrest in normal development, excessive frustrations in early childhood, constitutional predisposition (weak ego structure prone to regression), a disturbed separation-individuation process, early parental loss, traumatic separation from parental figures, and childhood physical or sexual abuse leading to ongoing post-traumatic stress disorder are all considered to be possible contributing factors.

Long-term analytic or reality-oriented supportive psychotherapy is a therapeutic mainstay for BPD along with the use of a wide range of pharmacologic agents, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers for specific symptoms, often used in low dosages.