Borderline Personality Disorder

Question 1

What is a personality disorder?

Answer 1

an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that

• deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’sculture
• is pervasive and inflexible
• has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood
• is stable over time
• leads to distress or impairment

Question 2

What is the essential feature of borderline personality disorder?

Answer 2

a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity that begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts

Question 3

What are criteria 1 and 2 for borderline personality disorder?

Answer 3

1. frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment (not including suicidal or self-mutilating behavior)
2. a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation

Question 4

What are criteria 3 and 4 for borderline personality disorder?

Answer 4

3. identity disturbance; markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self
4. impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (ex. spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating) (do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior)

Question 5

What are criteria 5 and 6 of borderline personality disorder?

Answer 5

5. recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior
6. affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (ex. intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days)

Question 6

What are criteria 7 and 8 of borderline personality disorder?

Answer 6

7. chronic feelings of emptiness
8. inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (ex. frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights)

Question 7

What is criterion 9 of borderline personality disorder and how many of the criteria must be present for diagnosis?

Answer 7

9. transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms

Five or more of the nine criteria must be present for diagnosis.

Question 8

Do males or females get diagnosed with borderline personality disorder more frequently?

Answer 8

Women account for about 75% of the cases of borderline personality disorder.

Question 9

What are associated features of borderline personality disorder?

Answer 9

• undermining selves when goal is about to be realized (dropping out of school just before graduation, destroying good relationships, etc.)
• psychotic-like symptoms (hallicinations, body-image distortions, ideas of reference, etc.)
• suicidal ideation
• recurrent job losses, interrupted education, and broken marriages common
• childhood history of abuse, neglect, hostile conflict, early parental loss common
• frequent comorbidity w/axis I disorders and other personality disorders

Question 10

What axis I disorders are commonly co-occurring with borderline personality disorder?

Answer 10

• mood disorders
• substance-related disorders
• eating disorders (notably bulimia)
• PTSD
• AD/HD

Question 11

How can borderline personality disorder be differentiated from histrionic personality disorder?

Answer 11

borderline is distinguished by self-destructiveness, angry disruptions in close relationships, and chronic feelings of deep emptiness and loneliness

Question 12

How can borderline personality disorder be distinguished from schizotypal personality disorder?

Answer 12

paranoid ideas or illusions are more transient, interpersonally reactive, and responsive to external structuring in borderline personality disorder

Question 13

How can borderline personality disorder be differentiated from paranoid or narcissistic personality disorders?

Answer 13

paranoid and narcissistic personality disorders have a relative stability of self-image and a relative lack of self-destructiveness, impulsivity, and abandonment concerns

Question 14

How can borderline personality disorder be distinguished from antisocial personality disorder?

Answer 14

Individuals with antisocial personality disorder are manipulative to gain profit, power, or some other material gratification, instead of gaining gratification of the caretaker.

Question 15

What distinguishes borderline personality disorder from dependent personality disorder?

Answer 15

reaction to abandonment

Borderline: reacts with emotional emptiness, rage, and demands

Dependent: reacts with increasing appeasement and submissiveness and seeks replacement relationship