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What is Borderline Personality Disorder?

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People with Borderline Personality Disorder deal with constantly unstable moods, impulsive actions, and chaotic relationships. They tend to view others as either all good or all bad. They switch between these with little warning or cause. Even though they dread abandonment and feel very uncomfortable when they are alone, they suddenly push people away after feeling just minor rejections. Their families and friends ride these waves of emotions with them.  They feel exhausted trying to support them when depressive moods strike. Their loved ones watch helplessly as these people endanger themselves with impulsive and risky behaviors. At the worst, families suffer the trauma of finding them injured or dead from suicide.

Signs of Borderline Personality Disorder usually first appear in the later teen years. By this point, about 40% have been previously misdiagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, which can delay access to the correct treatment. People in these early years struggle with the increased independence of being a teenager. Problems with self-control and regulating emotions come out as these adolescents seek unhealthy solace in self-injury as well as drugs and alcohol. These issues make the already difficult teenage years even harder, leading people to struggle socially and in school. The years between ages 20 and 30 are the most tumultuous part of the disorder. They are punctuated by strained relationships, hospital visits, and emotional crises.

On the bright side for most people, treatment is highly effective if people stick with it. Four years after being diagnosed, 65% of people who complete a full course of therapy no longer have for the disorder. After 10 years, the number jumps to 85%. With treatment, the most difficult years pass, and after age 30, most people function much better and with less severe symptoms than a decade prior.

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