Provided by the National Institute of Mental Health
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness characterized
by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and
behavior. This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term
planning, and the individual's sense of self-identity. Originally thought to be
at the "borderline" of psychosis, people with BPD suffer from a disorder of
emotion regulation. While less well known than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder
(manic-depressive illness), BPD is more common, affecting 2 percent of adults,
mostly young women.1 There is a high rate of self-injury without suicide intent,
as well as a significant rate of suicide attempts and completed suicide in
severe cases.2,3 Patients often need extensive mental health services, and
account for 20 percent of psychiatric hospitalizations.4 Yet, with help, many
improve over time and are eventually able to lead productive lives.
Symptoms
While a person with depression or bipolar disorder typically endures the same
mood for weeks, a person with BPD may experience intense bouts of anger,
depression, and anxiety that may last only hours, or at most a day.5 These may
be associated with episodes of impulsive aggression, self-injury, and drug or
alcohol abuse. Distortions in cognition and sense of self can lead to frequent
changes in long-term goals, career plans, jobs, friendships, gender identity,
and values. Sometimes people with BPD view themselves as fundamentally bad, or
unworthy. They may feel unfairly misunderstood or mistreated, bored, empty, and
have little idea who they are. Such symptoms are most acute when people with BPD
feel isolated and lacking in social support, and may result in frantic efforts
to avoid being alone.
People with BPD often have highly unstable patterns of social relationships.
While they can develop intense but stormy attachments, their attitudes towards
family, friends, and loved ones may suddenly shift from idealization (great
admiration and love) to devaluation (intense anger and dislike). Thus, they may
form an immediate attachment and idealize the other person, but when a slight
separation or conflict occurs, they switch unexpectedly to the other extreme and
angrily accuse the other person of not caring for them at all. Even with family
members, individuals with BPD are highly sensitive to rejection, reacting with
anger and distress to such mild separations as a vacation, a business trip, or a
sudden change in plans. These fears of abandonment seem to be related to
difficulties feeling emotionally connected to important persons when they are
physically absent, leaving the individual with BPD feeling lost and perhaps
worthless. Suicide threats and attempts may occur along with anger at perceived
abandonment and disappointments.
People with BPD exhibit other impulsive behaviors, such as excessive spending,
binge eating and risky sex. BPD often occurs together with other psychiatric
problems, particularly bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders,
substance abuse, and other personality disorders.
Treatment
Treatments for BPD have improved in recent years. Group and individual
psychotherapy are at least partially effective for many patients. Within the
past 15 years, a new psychosocial treatment termed dialectical behavior therapy
(DBT) was developed specifically to treat BPD, and this technique has looked
promising in treatment studies.6 Pharmacological treatments are often prescribed
based on specific target symptoms shown by the individual patient.
Antidepressant drugs and mood stabilizers may be helpful for depressed and/or
labile mood. Antipsychotic drugs may also be used when there are distortions in
thinking.7
Recent Research Findings
Although the cause of BPD is unknown, both environmental and genetic factors are
thought to play a role in predisposing patients to BPD symptoms and traits.
Studies show that many, but not all individuals with BPD report a history of
abuse, neglect, or separation as young children.8 Forty to 71 percent of BPD
patients report having been sexually abused, usually by a non-caregiver.9
Researchers believe that BPD results from a combination of individual
vulnerability to environmental stress, neglect or abuse as young children, and a
series of events that trigger the onset of the disorder as young adults. Adults
with BPD are also considerably more likely to be the victim of violence,
including rape and other crimes. This may result from both harmful environments
as well as impulsivity and poor judgement in choosing partners and lifestyles.
NIMH-funded neuroscience research is revealing brain mechanisms underlying the
impulsivity, mood instability, aggression, anger, and negative emotion seen in
BPD. Studies suggest that people predisposed to impulsive aggression have
impaired regulation of the neural circuits that modulate emotion.10 The amygdala,
a small almond-shaped structure deep inside the brain, is an important component
of the circuit that regulates negative emotion. In response to signals from
other brain centers indicating a perceived threat, it marshals fear and arousal.
This might be more pronounced under the influence of drugs like alcohol, or
stress. Areas in the front of the brain (pre-frontal area) act to dampen the
activity of this circuit. Recent brain imaging studies show that individual
differences in the ability to activate regions of the prefrontal cerebral cortex
thought to be involved in inhibitory activity predict the ability to suppress
negative emotion.11
Serotonin, norepinephrine and acetylcholine are among the chemical messengers in
these circuits that play a role in the regulation of emotions, including
sadness, anger, anxiety, and irritability. Drugs that enhance brain serotonin
function may improve emotional symptoms in BPD. Likewise, mood-stabilizing drugs
that are known to enhance the activity of GABA, the brain's major inhibitory
neurotransmitter, may help people who experience BPD-like mood swings. Such
brain-based vulnerabilities can be managed with help from behavioral
interventions and medications, much like people manage susceptibility to
diabetes or high blood pressure.7
Future Progress
Studies that translate basic findings about the neural basis of temperament,
mood regulation, and cognition into clinically relevant insights—which bear
directly on BPD—represent a growing area of NIMH-supported research. Research is
also underway to test the efficacy of combining medications with behavioral
treatments like DBT, and gauging the effect of childhood abuse and other stress
in BPD on brain hormones. Data from the first prospective, longitudinal study of
BPD, which began in the early 1990s, is expected to reveal how treatment affects
the course of the illness. It will also pinpoint specific environmental factors
and personality traits that predict a more favorable outcome. The Institute is
also collaborating with a private foundation to help attract new researchers to
develop a better understanding and better treatment for BPD.
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For More Information
Please visit the following link for more information about organizations that
focus on borderline personality disorder.
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All material in this fact sheet is in the public domain and may be copied or
reproduced without permission from the Institute. Citation of the source is
appreciated.
NIH Publication No. 01-4928
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9Zanarini MC. Childhood experiences associated with the development of
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10Davidson RJ, Jackson DC, Kalin NH. Emotion, plasticity, context and
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11Davidson RJ, Putnam KM, Larson CL. Dysfunction in the neural circuitry of
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