BPD in people can be observe by instability of emotions in the first place, but as a result of that, instability of behaviors, self-image and all aspects of a personality is present. DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is used in the US, but BPD is also known as EUPD (Emotionally unstable personality disorder) according to ICD (International Classification of Diseases) which is used in Europe.
People with BPD feel terror of abandonment and they are overwhelming worry that their loved ones will leave. People fearing abandonment experience lingering insecurity. Intrusive thoughts about being left haunt them all the time. People with BPD are jealous, suspicious, argumentative, losing their temper and pushing away their partner in desire to not lose partners. BPD is more common in women according to diagnoses so far, but some clinicians argue that women are often misdiagnosed with BPD and that men are often misdiagnosed with Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), but they suffer from BPD.
Diagnosis
In DSM 5 BPD is diagnosed on the basis of (1) a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects (affect is the collection of outward expressions that help to interpret mood while, mood is the underlying feelings that an individual has or affect is the patient’s immediate expression of emotion and mood refers to the more sustained emotional makeup of the patient’s personality) and (2) marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by at least five of the following:
- Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment; this does not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in criterion 5
- A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation
- Markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self
- Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating); this does not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in criterion 5
- Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior
- Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood e.g., intense episodic dysphoria (dysphoria is a state of feeling very unhappy, uneasy or dissatisfied, irritability, or anxiety) usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days
- Chronic feelings of emptiness
- Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, or recurrent physical fights
- Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation – is characterized by the experience of feeling threatened, persecuted, or conspired against or severe dissociative symptoms.