Borderline Personality Disorder

Hello Friends Hermina, Threshold Personality Disorder, or what we also know as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a form of personality disorder, which is characterized by an emotional instability. Emotions happy, sad, anxious, empty / empty, can quickly change in people with borderline personality disorder. When we talk about emotional swings, we probably also think about bipolar disorder. Borderline personality disorder is different from bipolar disorder. Emotional changes in borderline personality disorder can occur very quickly, and can even change within minutes to hours. This is in contrast to bipolar disorder, where there are episodes of changing feelings from one another. Some describe changes in feelings / emotions in borderline personality disorder, likened to changes in the weather, which can change just like that quickly. In contrast to bipolar disorder, which changes in feelings/emotions are like changing seasons, where the season is likened to an episode of certain feelings, which can last for months.

If we refer to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the symptoms of borderline personality disorder that can occur, such as:

1. Panic attempts to avoid actual or imagined abandonment.
2. An unstable and intense pattern of interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.
3. Identity disorder: a very unstable and persistent self-image or feeling of self.
4. Impulsivity in at least two potentially self-destructive areas (eg, spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating).
5. Repetitive suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-destructive behavior.


6. Affective instability due to marked mood reactivity (eg, intense episodic unpleasant feelings, irritability, or anxiety that usually lasts a few hours and rarely more than a few days).
7. Chronic feeling of emptiness.
Unnatural, intense anger, or difficulty controlling anger (eg, frequent tantrums, persistent anger, repeated physical fights).
8. Paranoid ideas related to temporary stress or severe dissociative symptoms

In one study, it is known that when someone feels sad, anxious, or other feelings, it turns out that the stressor only affects about 10% of a person's feelings. So what affects these feelings the most? From this study, it is said that feelings are most influenced by a person's genetics, which is about 50%. Of course, this genetic issue is very difficult to change. So what is the remaining 40%? A person's internal response affects 40% of a person's mood. If we see something in everyday life, for example, there is someone who does not pass the exam, of course the feelings and behavior of someone with other people will be different. There's something relaxed about it. There are also those who experience severe stress, have no appetite and are reluctant to do activities for days. There are also those who feel stressed, but use that stress as motivation, or a reference in the future to try to do better. Stress can have a positive or negative connotation. This is what is meant by internal response. With a good internal response, stress can be interpreted more positively than a bad internal response. In people with borderline personality disorder, this internal response often does not respond as expected, so it is important to be able to change the internal response in people with borderline personality disorder, to be more positive.

Treatment for borderline personality disorder includes pharmacotherapy (with drugs) as well as non-pharmacotherapy, for example with psychotherapy. There are various types of psychotherapy that can be used for borderline personality disorder, for example, Dialectical Behavior Therapt (DBT), Schema-focused Therapy, Transference-focused Psychotherapy (TFP), and also many other types of psychotherapy that can be used for borderline personality disorder. .

Examination and treatment of borderline personality disorder by a professional is expected to be carried out as early as possible, to avoid a worse condition.