Personality Disorders

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mood disorder that impacts a person's long term mood, behavior, and self-image. People with BPD often struggle with their emotions and relationships. They might have intense feelings of anger, feel sad, or have anxiety that can change quickly. The symptoms can negatively impact one's quality of life.

Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms.

Understanding the symptoms of BPD is crucial for recognizing the disorder and seeking appropriate help. Key BPD symptoms include:

Intense mood swings: Feeling very happy one moment and very sad or angry the next. Negative thoughts are common.
Fear of abandonment: Worrying that friends or family will leave them.
Unstable relationships: Having relationships that are intense but can quickly become troubled.
Impulsive behavior: Making hasty decisions, such as spending too much money or binge eating.
Low self-esteem: Feeling worthless or like they don't know who they are.
Self-harm: Engaging in behaviors like cutting or other forms of self-injury or suicide attempts.
Intense anger: Having trouble controlling anger and sometimes acting out.

Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment Options

While BPD can be challenging to manage, there are effective treatments for BPD available that can help individuals lead more stable and fulfilling lives.

Psychiatry: Visiting a medical professional can help to review your signs and symptoms, discuss short term goals, go over medication side effects, review risk factors, and help you rule out other mental health disorders and medical conditions.
Therapy: Therapy is a cornerstone of BPD treatment. Working with a therapist can provide individuals with the tools they need to manage their symptoms and develop improved problem solving skills. Common therapeutic approaches include different types of psychotherapy: At the Ivy Center, LLC we are committed to helping stabilize the brain and achieving maximum results with treatment for BPD.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): This type of therapy focuses on teaching skills to cope with stress, regulate emotions, and improve relationships.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT helps individuals change negative thinking patterns and behaviors.
Schema-Focused Therapy: This approach combines elements of CBT with other forms of therapy to address deeply held patterns and beliefs.
Medications: While there are no medications specifically approved for BPD, medications can be used to treat symptoms such as depression, anxiety, or mood swings. Commonly prescribed medications include antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers.
Marriage Counseling: For those in relationships, marriage counseling can help improve communication and resolve conflicts.
Neuropsychological Testing: This can help understand how BPD affects brain function and guide treatment plans.

Genetics and Facts About BPD

Genetics: Research suggests that BPD runs in families. If a close family member has BPD, there is a higher likelihood that another family member might develop it. However, genetics is just one factor; environmental influences also play a significant role.
Prevalence: Approximately 1.6% of adults in the United States have BPD, though some estimates suggest the figure could be as high as 5.9% due to underreporting and misdiagnosis.
Gender: BPD is diagnosed more frequently in women than men. However, this may be due to the fact that women are more likely to seek treatment.

Prognosis

With proper treatment, many people with BPD see significant improvements. Early diagnosis and intervention can lead to better outcomes. Over time, many individuals learn to manage their emotions more effectively and build more stable relationships. However, without treatment, BPD symptoms can persist and negatively impact various aspects of life.

Autism

The range of autism characteristics varies greatly. One individual may experience mild anxiety or avoid eye contact, whereas another may have much difficulty communicating and engage in severe tantrums. Knowing the common symptoms of autism can be helpful.

What are some Characteristics of Autism?

While autism can only be diagnosed by a healthcare professional, this list of common symptoms associated with autism can help parents and caregivers know what to watch for.

Communication and Social Traits

Pragmatic Language – Most individuals on the autism spectrum have difficulty communicating with other people. This often becomes apparent during early childhood. Any delays in speech development and nonverbal communication should be evaluated by a qualified specialist.
Eye Contact and Nonverbal Communication – Poor and avoidance of eye contact are common symptoms among those with autism. Other non-verbal communication difficulties may include recognizing and using facial expressions, physical gestures, and overall body language.
Tone of Voice – Some people with autism may have difficulty regulating or modulating their tone of voice. As a result, they may speak too loudly, too quietly, and/or with a monotone voice.

Behavioral Traits

Repetitive Behaviors – Many people with autism may perform the same behaviors repetitively. This may include rocking, spinning, or flapping of the hands and arms, or flickering their fingers in front of their eyes. They may also play with toys or other objects in unusual ways, such as spinning coins or plates tirelessly and repeatedly flipping light switches.
Ritualistic Behaviors – This may include eating the same foods at every meal or watching the same videos over and over again. They may even become quite upset soon after any slight changes in plans.
Self-Injury – Some individuals on the autism spectrum bang their head against the ground or wall, bite their hands, or excessively rub or scratch their skin. There are many ways to treat these behaviors including medical, sensory, nutritional, and behavioral approaches. Talk to your doctor as soon as possible if your child engages in any form of self-injurious behavior.

Conditions that can occur with autism

Several medical conditions are associated with autism, and they are often referred to as comorbidities or co-occurring conditions. These can include seizures, sensory sensitivities, anxiety, and sleep disturbances as well as gastrointestinal, metabolic, and immune dysregulation.

Talk with your doctor to identify and treat such conditions.

When do signs of autism appear?

Autism traits in children may be recognized as early as 18 months. More recently, adults are being diagnosed with autism, and this is likely due to increased awareness and screening during medical appointments.

If you suspect that your son or daughter may have autism, it’s time to talk to your doctor. Interventions can make a big difference for both your child’s health and development.

Personality Disorders

People have unique personalities made up of a complex combination of different traits. Personality traits affect how people understand and relate to the world around them, as well as how they see themselves.

Ideally, people's personality traits allow them to flexibly adapt to their changing environment in ways that lead to more healthy relationships with others and better coping strategies. When people have personality traits that are less adaptive, this leads to inflexibility and unhealthy coping. For example, they may manage stress by drinking or misusing drugs, have a hard time managing their anger, and find it hard to trust and connect with others.

Personality forms early in life. It is shaped through a blend of your:

Genes — Your parents may pass down some personality traits to you. Sometimes these traits are called your temperament.
Environment — This includes your surroundings, events that have happened to you and around you, and relationships and patterns of interactions with family members and others.

A personality disorder is a mental health condition where people have a lifelong pattern of seeing themselves and reacting to others in ways that cause problems. People with personality disorders often have a hard time understanding emotions and tolerating distress. And they act impulsively. This makes it hard for them to relate to others, causing serious issues, and affecting their family life, social activities, work and school performance, and overall quality of life.

Symptoms

In some cases, you may not know that you have a personality disorder. That's because how you think and behave seems natural to you. You also may think others are responsible for your challenges.

There are many types of personality disorders, each with important differences. These disorders are organized into three groups, or clusters, with shared features and symptoms:

Group A personality disorders

Group A personality disorders have a consistently dysfunctional pattern of thinking and behavior that reflects suspicion or lack of interest in others. They include:

Paranoid personality disorder

Lacks trust and is suspicious of others and the reasons for their actions.
Believes that others are trying to do harm with no reason to feel this way.
Doubts the loyalty of others.
Is not willing to trust others.
Hesitates to confide in others for fear that others will use that information against them.
Takes innocent remarks or situations that are not threatening as personal insults or attacks.
Becomes angry or hostile to what are believed to be slights or insults.
Has a habit of holding grudges.
Often suspects that a spouse or sexual partner is unfaithful with no reason to feel this way.

Schizoid personality disorder

Appears to be cold to or not interested in others.
Almost always chooses to be alone.
Is limited in how emotions are expressed.
Cannot take pleasure in most activities.
Cannot pick up typical social cues.
Has little to no interest in having sex with another person.

Schizotypal personality disorder

Has unusual thinking, beliefs, speech or behavior.
Feels or thinks strange things, such as hearing a voice whisper their name.
Has flat emotions or emotional responses that are socially unusual.
Has social anxiety, including not being comfortable making close connections with others or not having close relationships.
Responds to others in ways that are not proper or shows suspicion or lack of interest.
Has "magical thinking"— the belief that their thoughts can affect other people and events.
Believes that some casual incidents or events have hidden messages.

Group B personality disorders

Group B personality disorders have a consistently dysfunctional pattern of dramatic, overly emotional thinking or unpredictable behavior. They include:

Borderline personality disorder

Has a strong fear of being alone or abandoned.
Has ongoing feelings of emptiness.
Sees self as being unstable or weak.
Has deep relationships that are not stable.
Has up and down moods, often due to stress when interacting with others.
Threatens self-harm or behaves in ways that could lead to suicide.
Is often very angry.
Shows impulsive and risky behavior, such as having unsafe sex, gambling or binge eating.
Has stress-related paranoia that comes and goes.

Histrionic personality disorder

Always seeks attention.
Is overly emotional or dramatic or stirs up sexual feelings to get attention.
Speaks dramatically with strong opinions but has few facts or details to back them up.
Is easily led by others.
Has shallow emotions that change quickly.
Is very concerned with physical appearance.
Thinks relationships with others are closer than they are.

Narcissistic personality disorder

Has beliefs about being special and more important than others.
Has fantasies about power, success and being attractive to others.
Does not understand the needs and feelings of others.
Stretches the truth about achievements or talents.
Expects constant praise and wants to be admired.
Feels superior to others and brags about it.
Expects favors and advantages without a good reason.
Often takes advantage of others.
Is jealous of others or believes that others are jealous of them.

Antisocial personality disorder

Has little, if any, concern for the needs or feelings of others.
Often lies, steals, uses false names and cons others.
Has repeated run-ins with the law.
Often violates the rights of others.
Is aggressive and often violent.
Has little, if any, concern for personal safety or the safety of others.
Behaves impulsively.
Is often reckless.
Has little, if any, regret for how their behavior negatively affects others.

Group C personality disorders

Group C personality disorders have a consistently dysfunctional pattern of anxious thinking or behavior. They include:

Avoidant personality disorder

Is very sensitive to criticism or rejection.
Does not feel good enough, important or attractive.
Does not take part in work activities that include contact with others.
Is isolated.
Does not try new activities and does not like meeting new people.
Is extremely shy in social settings and in dealing with others.
Fears disapproval, embarrassment or being made fun of.

Dependent personality disorder

Relies on others too much and feels the need to be taken care of.
Is submissive or clingy toward others.
Fears having to take care of self if left alone.
Lacks confidence in abilities.
Needs a lot of advice and comforting from others to make even small decisions.
Finds it hard to start or do projects due to lack of self-confidence.
Finds it hard to disagree with others, fearing they will not approve.
Endures poor treatment or abuse, even when other options are available.
Has an urgent need to start a new relationship when a close one ends.

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

Focuses too much on details, orderliness and rules.
Thinks everything needs to be perfect and gets upset when perfection is not achieved.
Cannot finish a project because reaching perfection is not possible.
Needs to be in control of people, tasks and situations.
Cannot assign tasks to others.
Ignores friends and enjoyable activities because of too much focus on work or a project.
Cannot throw away broken or worthless objects.
Is rigid and stubborn.
Is not flexible about morality, ethics or values.
Holds very tight control over budgeting and spending money.

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is not the same as obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is an anxiety disorder.

Many people with one type of personality disorder also have symptoms of at least one other type. The number of symptoms a person has may vary.