The good news: BPD is very treatable.
With appropriate therapy most people can recover and live a full, productive life.
A serious, complex condition, and not a life sentence.
People with BPD have difficulty regulating their emotions or controlling their impulses. They are highly sensitive to what is going on around them, and can react with intense emotions to small changes.
Behaviours that may be challenging to others are often a result of trying to cope with extreme emotional pain. An estimated 1 to 2% of the general population in the UK and US are affected, and there is no research yet on prevalence in Canada.
How BPD can show up.
Symptoms differ from person to person and can change over time. A physician, psychiatrist or registered psychologist can make a formal diagnosis, and the first step is often a family physician.
The DSM-5 criteria, in plain language
- Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment
- A pattern of unstable and intense relationships, moving between extremes of idealizing and devaluing
- Identity disturbance: a persistently unstable sense of self
- Impulsivity in areas that can be self-damaging
- Recurrent suicidal behaviour or self-harm
- Mood that shifts intensely, usually for a few hours and rarely more than a few days
- Chronic feelings of emptiness
- Intense anger, or difficulty controlling anger
- Stress-related paranoid thoughts or severe dissociation
What causes BPD?
What if I think I may have BPD?
Two well-researched therapies.
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and mentalization-based therapy (MBT) are increasingly available in Canada. DBT has the most research data, combining emotion regulation and reality-testing with distress tolerance, acceptance and mindful awareness.
Is it really DBT? Questions to askHow to support someone with BPD
- Validate their experience and listen without judgment
- Educate yourself about BPD
- Support their efforts to seek professional help
- Do not ignore threats of harm, and contact emergency services
- Remember to take care of yourself
Recovery has also been described as a process by which people recover their self-esteem, dreams, self-worth, empowerment, pride, dignity and meaning.
Some information on this page was compiled from CAMH.ca.
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