Borderline Personality Disorder is a complex diagnosis, characterised by a severe level of instability surrounding moods, behaviours and relationships. It is called ‘borderline’ because people presenting the condition are often considered to be on the brink of more severe psychotic presentations.

BPD is believed to be centred around a number of feelings and behaviours:

  • extreme and unrealistic fears surrounding loss and abandonment
  • idealisation of others
  • feelings of personal emptiness
  • reckless behaviour through sudden impulsivity such as excessive engagement in sex, drugs, eating or gambling without consideration of consequences
  • self-harm and suicidal behaviour
  • sudden and complete shifts in perspectives and views, often from one extreme to another
  • very intense but largely unstable relationships

Essentially the root problem underlying a Borderline presentation is understood to be the empty and underdeveloped ego, preventing the individual from finding, developing and nurturing their own fragile sense of self. Therapy can be an important engagement in uncovering the underdeveloped areas of the individual’s psyche that has led them to the behaviours they engage in.

Web resources

National Education Alliance

BPD Recovery