| The fact that the Borderline personality | | | | Exactly like the narcissist, the |
| disorder is often found among women | | | | borderline patient elicits constant |
| makes it a controversial mental health | | | | narcissistic supply (attention, |
| diagnosis. | | | | affirmation, adulation, approval) to |
| Some scholars say that it is a | | | | regulate her gyrating sense of |
| culture-bound pseudo-syndrome invented | | | | self-worth and her chaotic self-image, |
| by men to serve a patriarchal and | | | | to shore up serious, marked, persistent, |
| misogynistic society. Others point to | | | | and ubiquitous deficits in self-esteem |
| the fact the lives of patients diagnosed | | | | and Ego functions, and to counter the |
| with the disorder are chaotic and that | | | | gnawing emptiness at her core. |
| the relationships they form are stormy, | | | | The Borderline Personality Disorder is |
| short-lived, and unstable. Moreover, not | | | | often co-diagnosed (is comorbid) with |
| unlike compensatory narcissists, people | | | | mood and affect disorders. But all |
| with the Borderline Personality Disorder | | | | borderlines suffer from mood reactivity. |
| often display labile (wildly | | | | From an entry I wrote for the Open Site |
| fluctuating) sense of self-worth, | | | | Encyclopedia: |
| self-image and affect (expressed | | | | "(Borderlines) shift dizzyingly between |
| emotions). | | | | dysphoria (sadness or depression) and |
| Like both narcissists and psychopaths, | | | | euphoria, manic self-confidence and |
| borderlines are impulsive and reckless. | | | | paralyzing anxiety, irritability and |
| Like histrionics, their sexual conduct | | | | indifference. This is reminiscent of the |
| is promiscuous, driven, and unsafe. Many | | | | mood swings of Bipolar Disorder |
| borderlines binge eat, gamble, drive, | | | | patients. But Borderlines are much |
| and shop carelessly, and are substance | | | | angrier and more violent. They usually |
| abusers. Lack of impulse control is | | | | get into physical fights, throw temper |
| joined with self-destructive and | | | | tantrums, and have frightening rage |
| self-defeating behaviors, such as | | | | attacks. |
| suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, | | | | When stressed, many Borderlines become |
| gestures, or threats, and | | | | psychotic, though only briefly |
| self-mutilation or self-injury. | | | | (psychotic micro-episodes), or develop |
| The main dynamic in the Borderline | | | | transient paranoid ideation and ideas of |
| Personality Disorder is abandonment | | | | reference (the erroneous conviction that |
| anxiety. Like codependents, borderlines | | | | one is the focus of derision and |
| attempt to preempt or prevent | | | | malicious gossip). Dissociative symptoms |
| abandonment (both real and imagined) by | | | | are not uncommon ("losing" stretches of |
| their nearest and dearest. They cling | | | | time, or objects, and forgetting events |
| frantically and counterproductively to | | | | or facts with emotional content)." |
| their partners, mates, spouses, friends, | | | | Hence the term "borderline" (first |
| children, or even neighbors. This fierce | | | | coined by Otto F. Kernberg). The |
| attachment is coupled with idealization | | | | Borderline Personality Disorder is on |
| and then swift and merciless devaluation | | | | the thin (border) line separating |
| of the borderline's target. | | | | neurosis from psychosis. |