Personality disorders that affect how you interact with others and feel about yourself can be debilitating and overwhelming to manage. This is certainly true for those who have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD).

The mental and behavioral health experts at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, offer effective, evidence-based treatment for borderline personality disorder to help ease symptoms and improve relationships, self-confidence and overall well-being.

What is borderline personality disorder?

Borderline personality disorder is one of 10 recognized personality disorders. People with this complex condition have difficulty regulating their emotions, which can lead to mood swings, trouble with relationships or risky and dangerous behavior, such as suicide.

With these challenges related to emotion regulation, people with borderline personality disorder are often viewed as impulsive and unstable with intense responses to stressors. These symptoms often begin in early adulthood and are most serious in young adults.

Roughly 1.4% of adults in the United State have borderline personality disorder, and psychotherapy and other treatments can effectively manage the condition.

What causes borderline personality disorder?

There is no known cause of BPD. Like most mental health conditions, borderline personality disorder is most likely caused by a combination of factors, including your family medical history, changes to your brain, or environment, including childhood abuse or trauma.

BPD symptoms

People with borderline personality disorder often experience dramatic mood swings as well as feel unstable or insecure. Since BPD affects how you relate to others, feel about yourself or behave, you might experience these signs of the disorder:

• A strong fear of abandonment
• A history of unstable, intense relationships that can go from perfect in one moment to terrible in the next
• Unstable self-image that causes guilt or bad feelings about yourself as well as can lead to abrupt changes in self-image, such as shifts in goals, friends, careers or appearance
• Impulsive and risky behavior, such as gambling, reckless driving, substance use, unsafe sexual practice and sabotaging positive events
• Wild mood swings that can last a few hours or days
• Threats of suicide or self-harm
• Angry outbursts or even physical fighting
• Feeling empty, depressed or unfulfilled

Remember that for these symptoms to be related to borderline personality disorder, they’re pervasive throughout different situations in your life and longstanding.

If you have thoughts of harming yourself or someone else, or are in emotional distress, please call or text 988.

What can trigger someone with borderline personality disorder?

While triggers can vary from person to person, there are some stressors typically associated with borderline personality disorder. Symptoms of the condition can worsen when someone experiences one of these occurrences:

• Loss of a relationship or job
• Real or perceived abandonment
• Rejection of any kind
• Resurfacing of traumatic memories

How is borderline personality disorder diagnosed?

Borderline personality can be difficult to diagnose, since its symptoms are often similar to those of other common mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, or it occurs alongside those other conditions. That’s why it’s important to talk to your doctor or a licensed mental health professional about your symptoms.

To diagnose borderline personality disorder, we’ll use the following tools:

• A detailed medical record
• Family medical and mental health history
• Initial psychiatric evaluation
• An interview to go over symptoms

Generally, those under 18 aren’t diagnosed with personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, because these symptoms or behaviors in children or teenagers may dissipate as they get older and mature.

Borderline personality disorder treatment

The main treatment for borderline personality disorder is psychotherapy (talk therapy). At the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, we focus on evidence-based treatment methods to get you feeling better.

Psychotherapy can help you learn skills to cope with your emotions, recognize troubling behavior and reduce impulsiveness. It can improve your relationships and quality of life. There are several different types of therapy that can effectively treat BPD and they include:

• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Group therapy
• Psychoeducation for the individual and family

Medications for personality disorders

Currently, there are no medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for personality disorders, but several psychiatric medicines might help your symptoms. They include:

• Antidepressants
• Mood stabilizers
• Anti-anxiety medications
• Antipsychotic medications

Inpatient treatment for personality disorders

Sometimes symptoms of a personality can be so severe or even dangerous that you might require hospitalization to stabilize your condition. Ohio State Harding Hospital has a state-of-the-art inpatient program where we can keep you safe while we create a treatment plan that gets you back to independent living and enjoying life.

Can BPD be left untreated?

If BPD is left untreated, it can lead to a variety of complications, so it’s important to seek treatment from a mental health professional. Some possible complications include:

• Loss of job
• Relationships filled with conflict or abuse
• Legal issues
• Not finishing an education
• Sexual health issues or unplanned pregnancies
• Self-harm, such as cutting
• Suicide attempts or death by suicide

How can I help someone with borderline personality disorder?

It can be challenging to know or live with someone with borderline personality disorder, but there are some actions you can take to help that person manage their symptoms better. Those steps include:

• Learn more about the disorder – This can help you understand where these behaviors may come from and offer you perspective.
• Listen to and acknowledge their feelings – Validating their emotions can go a long way in relieving the stress your loved one might be feeling.
• Encourage and support treatment – This is important, because people with borderline personality disorder often don’t realize they need professional help.
• Set boundaries – It’s best to do this when you’re both calm and not in the heat of an argument.
• Take care of your own physical and mental health – If this means stepping aside at times or taking breaks, you need to do what you can to take care of yourself first.