Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Borderline Personality Disorder

So I was reading an article in this week's LA Times, and my intuition alert started going off big-time. Bingo! Bingo! Bingo!

"What?" I asked myself, a bit annoyed. "This doesn't apply to me or anyone."

Still, I couldn't shake that nagging sense that this might mean something I should pay attention to. I do have a bit of an interest in mental illnesses and their effects on people's lives and interpersonal relationships.

Who knows? Maybe this is research I'll need for a story some day. Or maybe it's something helpful to you, and that's why I was moved to post it here, where I can always find it again.

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Borderline personality disorder often can be difficult to distinguish from bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety.

But the essential feature of BPD is a pattern of unstable personal relationships, self-image and emotions and impulsivity.

Traits (at least five of which must be present for a diagnosis) include:

* Efforts to avoid abandonment * Unstable, intense interpersonal relationships * Identity disturbance * Impulsivity * Suicidality * Mood instability * Chronic emptiness * Inappropriate, intense anger * Paranoid ideation or dissociation -- Shari Roan

Source: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, American Psychiatric Assn.

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

For help in coping with BPD, check this article and resources through NAMI.

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