Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder and its symptom

Borderline personality disorder is one kind of mental illness. It is generally known as BPD. Proper knowledge about BPD is very much important to survive it. Proper counselling proper care is the best solution for this disease.

Our studies at www.newspsychology.com revels that the borderline personality disorder is a serious mental health illness. It creates a poor self image. An affected person always finds him unfit for any kind of situation. BPD affected person ha rapid change in mood and personality which creates a lot of difficulties in social relationships.

Basic symptom of BPD

There can be ups n downs of feelings and mood. If a person feels confident in the first day can feel depressed also in very second day. They can often feel anger and emptiness.
Relationships can’t be stable in this stage. You can be confused about your relationships.
You can have lack of concentration and find himself unstable defining his own identity. They things make you feel like you are a different person. They started to think differently.
They can take risk without thinking anything about the consequences.
They have a tendency of harm themselves and attempt to suicide.
There is always a feeling of being rejected and abandoned. They find themselves lonely.
Sometimes they can see or feel the things that really don’t exist in reality.

A person needs proper diagnosis. They can’t be fit in any kind of situation easily. They should take several opinions in this regard. It is the most sensitive issue and contains a life risk of the person. It also causes several heath problems like eating disorder, alcohol addiction, relationship problems and so on. In this stage you need proper psychological consultation. Get proper information from our website www.newpsychology.com. So now you can get best solution from our website.

Reasons of having Borderline Personality Disorder and the treatment if it

Borderline personality disorder is a evil psychological problem. There can be several reasons behind it. Finding the right way to fight with it is essential. It needs a good psychological suggestion and consultation.

There is not any specific reason of having borderline personality disorder. It can be a resultant of biological vulnerabilities, social stress, different way of thinking etc. As per our research, it may not be genetically inherent problem but yet somehow family psychology matters a lot. Current studies say, brain function of a BPD patient is less active than a common individual person. These kinds of persons are vulnerable regarding their emotional condition. The main factors of BPD are:

Genetical reason: BPD may come in a person from genetically issues. Associated with any family member having any mental disorder causes BPD.
Some environmental factors: any social problem or environmental changes can affect a person badly. If a child is abused badly and a victim of social persecution can face BDD in his youth.
Brain abnormality: there are certain changes in brain construction of such person. The place where the emotion, impulsion produced in the brain is different comparison to a normal person.

How to get out of it

We at this website seen, these kinds of disorder can be diagnosed by several typical professional psychological tests. There can be a sudden change in the behaviour of affected person. A mental health professional can give the proper suggestion about this problem. Some circumstantial changes can be the help for such person. The persons around that person should give the proper care and follow their behaviour constantly. These kinds of person have tendency to hurt them which can causes life risk. If the situation can be handled properly and taking professional suggestion can be the best treatment for BPD.

Did Adolf Hitler have personality disorder?

The name Adolf Hitler is often associated with an image of madman, in part because most people are loath to accept such enormity of evil as anything other than the byproduct of psychosis. The shadow of the Holocaust he created continues to darken the 20th century. Surely only a madman could have wreaked such unspeakable horror.

Hitler came from a broken home. Hitler did not do particularly well in school, leaving formal education in 1905. Unable to settle into a regular job, he drifted. He wished to become an artist but was rejected from the Academy in Vienna. Drawing on the extensive medical diaries of Hitler's physician, Dr. Theodor Morell, Redlich systematically goes through the catalogue of diseases that had been diagnosed in Hitler. Hitler clearly had some mental issues, he had a narcissistic personality.

First, Hitler clearly had, but not officially diagnosed, narcissistic personality disorder.

Let's take a look at what indicators this site lists as symptoms for NPD.

Believing that you're better than others
Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness
Exaggerating your achievements or talents
Expecting constant praise and admiration
Believing that you're special and acting accordingly
Failing to recognize other people's emotions and feelings
Expecting others to go along with your ideas and plans
Taking advantage of others
Expressing disdain for those you feel are inferior
Being jealous of others
Believing that others are jealous of you
Trouble keeping healthy relationships
Setting unrealistic goals
Being easily hurt and rejected
Having a fragile self-esteem
Appearing as tough-minded or unemotional

Beside narcissistic personality disorder, the most important psychopathology found by Fritz Redlich was Hitler's paranoid delusions, particularly the threat of world domination by the Jews. Hitler's dominant ego defense was projection, which regularly interfered with his evaluation of his adversary's intentions.

In a review of The Mind of Adolf Hitler for The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Martin Waugh concluded that Langer's work is important "because of its value to the historian; because it was a 'first' for this country's intelligence services; and because of the official recognition of psychoanalysis the assignment implied.

These two severe personality characteristics — paranoia and narcissism — were joined in his eliminationist anti-Semitism. Hitler is the exemplar of the destructive charismatic who unifies his wounded people by identifying and attacking an enemy.

And while the Nazi leader was afflicted with a variety of physical ills, both real and psychogenic, he suffered from nothing severe enough to take the blame for his crimes.

Traumatic childhood may increase the risk of drug addiction

Previous research has shown that personality traits such as impulsivity or compulsiveness are indicators of an increased risk of addiction. Now, new research from the University of Cambridge suggests that these impulsive and compulsive personality traits are also associated with a traumatic upbringing during childhood. The study was published August 31, in the journal American Journal Psychiatry.

Led by Dr Karen Ersche, the Cambridge researchers aimed to identify risk factors that make a person vulnerable to developing drug dependence. They examined 50 adults with cocaine dependence together with their biological brothers and sisters who have never abused drugs. All participants underwent extensive assessments of their personalities, including their ways of feeling and thinking. The researchers were also interested in negative experiences that participants may have had during childhood (to include physical, emotional or sexual abuse).

Dr Ersche, of the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute (BCNI) at the University of Cambridge, said: "It has long been known that abusive experiences during childhood have long-lasting effects on behaviour in adulthood and this was confirmed by our results. The siblings had more troubled childhoods compared to healthy peers in the community, and we also found a direct relationship between traumatic childhoods and their personalities."

She added: "This relationship is interesting because impulsive personality traits are known to increase the risk of becoming addicted to drugs but it is not an excuse for drug-taking."

The childhoods of the brothers and sisters of the cocaine-dependent individuals were also traumatic, and they also exhibited higher-than-normal levels of impulsive and compulsive behaviours, but they did not abuse drugs.

The researchers next intend to explore how the siblings who do not abuse drugs managed to deal with their traumatic childhoods and their highly impulsive and compulsive personalities. The scientists want to understand what makes the siblings resilient against addiction. A better understanding of what protected the brothers and sisters from drug abuse may provide vital clues for developing more effective therapeutic interventions for those trying to beat their addiction.

Dr Ersche added: "Not all individuals with these personality traits would have had a traumatic upbringing. Nor does everyone with these traits develop an addiction. However, our findings show that some people are particularly at risk and their upbringing may have contributed to it."

The study was funded by the Medical Research Council and conducted within the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cambridge, which is co-funded by the MRC and the Wellcome Trust.

Adolescents' personalities and coping habits affect social behaviors

Infants innately relieve stress by crying, turning their heads or maintaining eye contact. Adults manage emotional tension using problem-solving or by seeking support. A new study by a University of Missouri human development expert describes how adolescents' developing personalities and coping habits affect their behaviors toward others.

"We're each born with some personality tendencies; for example, we see that babies are fussy or calm," said Gustavo Carlo, the Millsap Professor of Diversity in the MU Department of Human Development and Family Studies. "Those characteristics can change over time as people experience certain events or as a result of their parents, peers or communities. At the same time, as we get older, our personalities become more stable."

Carlo and his colleagues surveyed 1,557 students ages 12-15 years old in Valencia, Spain, to measure the adolescents' feelings toward others, their past prosocial and physically aggressive behaviors, their emotional stability, and how they manage stress.

Carlo found that empathetic adolescents were more likely to use problem-focused coping, which aims to reduce or eliminate the source of the stress. These adolescents also were more likely to perform prosocial behaviors that benefit others, such as volunteering, donating money or helping friends with problems. Conversely, emotionally unstable, impulsive adolescents relied more on emotion-focused coping tactics such as venting, avoidance or distraction, and they showed more frequent signs of aggression.

"Empathetic kids are generally very good at regulating their emotions and tend not to lose their tempers," Carlo said. "When you're good at regulating your emotions, you're less concerned about yourself and more considerate of other people. On the other hand, impulsive children are more self-focused and have difficulty engaging in problem-focused coping."

Teaching adolescents multiple ways to handle stress will help them decide which coping techniques to use based on the unique situations, Carlo said. In some cases, people may use both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping, while in others, one might be more beneficial. For example, emotion-focused coping might be more constructive when children witness their parents' divorces because the kids cannot change those situations. On the other hand, planning ahead to study for tests or complete homework is a problem-focused coping technique that can help adolescents effectively ease academic stress.

"Sometimes we get stuck dealing with stress in one way because it was successful in the past; that coping style may not be effective with other stressors and in other situations," Carlo said. "There is more than one way to cope in situations, and people need to know when to apply which coping mechanisms."

The Department of Human Development and Family Studies is part of the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences. The study, "The interplay of emotional instability, empathy, and coping on prosocial and aggressive behaviors," was published in Personality and Individual Differences. Carlo's coauthors included researchers from Chatham University in Pennsylvania and the University of Valencia in Spain.

Journal Reference:

Gustavo Carlo, Maria Vicenta Mestre, Meredith M. McGinley, Paula Samper, Ana Tur, Deanna Sandman. The interplay of emotional instability, empathy, and coping on prosocial and aggressive behaviors. Personality and Individual Differences, 2012; 53 (5): 675 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.05.022

Genes Hold The Key To How Happy We Are, Scientists Say

Happiness in life is as much down to having the right genetic mix as it is to personal circumstances according to a recent study.

Psychologists at the University of Edinburgh working with researchers at Queensland Institute for Medical Research in Australia found that happiness is partly determined by personality traits and that both personality and happiness are largely hereditary.

Using a framework which psychologists use to rate personalities, called the Five-Factor Model, the researchers found that people who do not excessively worry, and who are sociable and conscientious tend to be happier.

They suggested that this personality mix can act as a buffer when bad things happen, according to the study published in the March issue of Psychological Science.

The researchers used personality and happiness data on more than 900 twin pairs. They identified evidence for common genes which result in certain personality traits and predispose people to happiness.

The findings suggest that those lucky enough to have the right inherited personality mix have an ‘affective reserve’ of happiness which can be called upon in stressful times or in times of recovery.

The researchers say that although happiness has its roots in our genes, around 50 per cent of the differences between people in their life happiness is still down to external factors such as relationships, health and careers.

Dr Alexander Weiss, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, who led the research said: “Together with life and liberty, the pursuit of happiness is a core human desire. Although happiness is subject to a wide range of external influences we have found that there is a heritable component of happiness which can be entirely explained by genetic architecture of personality.”

Teenage mind: First time evidence links over interpretation of social situations to personality disorder

Carla Sharp, an associate professor and director of the Developmental Psychopathology Lab in clinical psychology at the University of Houston (UH), became interested in the way people think, how they organize thoughts, execute a decision, then determine whether a decision is good or bad.

Sharp will explore that interest by serving as primary investigator for a new research study titled, "Theory of Mind and Emotion Regulation Difficulties in Adolescents with Borderline Traits," featured on the cover of the June edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

The research study covers a two-year period and included 111 adolescent inpatients between the ages of 12 to 17. This is the first time a research study provides empirical evidence to support the relationship between borderline personality disorder (BPD) traits and "hypermentalizing" in adolescents according to Sharp. Mentalizing is the social intelligence that refers to the ability to infer and attribute thoughts and feelings to understand and predict another person's behavior. The results of the data can be used for early intervention, treatment and identification of BPD in adolescents to improve strategies for treatment, such as putting the brakes on "hypermentalizing"; and to encourage the BPD patient to stick to the facts. The data also will support further research in this area.

"Why does someone with borderline personality disorder key a car, if doing so will not lead to good consequences? What compels her to make that decision?" Sharp said. "I am trying to understand the development of the disorder and what happens in the brain, and what happens in the minds of these children as they develop to put them on a different trajectory compared to their peers.

"Borderline personality disorder is a condition in which people have long-term patterns of unstable or turbulent emotions about themselves and others. These inner experiences often cause them to take impulsive actions and have chaotic relationships. The criteria for BPD includes: excessive anger, affective instability, a clear pattern of self-harm over two years — burning, cutting, suicide attempts, abandonment fears, relationship problems, significant impulsivity — drinking alcohol, drug abuse, eating, anorexia, overeating and illegal activities.

"Clinicians have been reluctant to diagnose BPD in adolescence because there is the notion that personality is not fully developed in childhood and adolescence. We know that the brain is only fully developed by age 25, so how can we diagnose a personality disorder in someone if they don't have a fully developed brain yet?" said Sharp. "On the one hand, we are finding in our research that kids do have a stable pattern of interaction with others. Parents will describe their kids to you in terms that remain stable over time.

"Therefore, personality researchers have highlighted the point that teens do not wake up at 19 and have a personality disorder on the first day of their 19th year, so there must be some precursors to the disorders. There's been a group of people, including myself, advocating that we not necessarily diagnose borderline personality disorder in adolescence, but that we assess for it to make sure that we don't miss these children."

The UH research team used an innovative approach to assess the social cognition process with children, through a newly developed tool called the Movie for the Assessment of Cognition (MASC), alongside self-report measures of emotion regulation and psychopathology.

The research subjects were presented with actual movie scenes. They were introduced to the characters in the movie: Sandra, Michael, Betty and Cliff, by showing a photo of each. They were instructed to watch the 15-minute film carefully to understand what the characters are feeling and thinking. They are then asked what the character in the movie might be feeling or thinking, with four options to choose from, forcing a single response prompt for one of the following categories: no mentalizing, less mentalizing, hypermentalizing or accurate mentalization.

The UH research team's findings from the study found 23 percent of the adolescents in the inpatient setting met the criteria for BPD. The young adults who met criteria for BPD had a higher frequency of these overmentalizing responses. The second part of the finding was the hypermentalizing interacted with emotional regulation. The individuals with BPD misread people's thoughts, upsetting the adolescent and creating a challenge with emotion regulation that leads to an increase in borderline personality disorder symptoms.

"This research study is groundbreaking in that it's the first to provide empirical evidence of the link between BPD and mentalizing in adolescents. By identifying precursors and treating BPD early in adolescence, we can use validated treatments to help these children," Sharp said. "The danger of not recognizing precursors of BPD in adolescents is that it can lead to years of confusion and pain for family members and the individual with misdiagnosis and lack of appropriate treatment. These families often go through years of assessment, and people might think it's bipolar disorder, depression, conduct disorder or comorbidity."

They are often relieved when they get to their mid-'20s and get to the right treatment facility that can actually diagnosis them and give a name to the cluster of symptoms they've been experiencing for so long, Sharp said.

"The next step is to try to do this work while neuroimaging the teen's brain, so that we can look at the biological correlates of this. Such research could potentially lead to pharmacological intervention in addition to the talk therapy," she said.

The UH research team included Carla Sharp, Heather Pane, Carolyn Ha and Amanda Venta. Collaborators included Amee Patel, Baylor College of Medicine; Jennifer Sturek, University of Virginia; and Peter Fonagy, University College London. Funding for the research was provided by the Child and Family Program at the Menninger Clinic.

Journal Reference:

Carla Sharp, Heather Pane, Carolyn Ha, Amanda Venta, Amee B. Patel, Jennifer Sturek, Peter Fonagy. Theory of Mind and Emotion Regulation Difficulties in Adolescents With Borderline Traits. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2011; 50 (6): 563 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2011.01.017

Quitting smoking enhances personality change

University of Missouri researchers have found evidence that shows those who quit smoking show improvements in their overall personality.

"The data indicate that for some young adults smoking is impulsive," said Andrew Littlefield, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science. "That means that 18-year-olds are acting without a lot of forethought and favor immediate rewards over long term negative consequences. They might say, 'I know smoking is bad for me, but I'm going to do it anyway.' However, we find individuals who show the most decreases in impulsivity also are more likely quit smoking. If we can target anti-smoking efforts at that impulsivity, it may help the young people stop smoking."

In the study, MU researchers compared people, aged 18-35, who smoked with those who had quit smoking. They found that individuals who smoked were higher in two distinct personality traits during young adulthood:

impulsivity — acting without thinking about the consequences
neuroticism — being emotionally negative and anxious, most of the time

Littlefield found that those with higher levels of impulsivity and neuroticism were more likely to engage in detrimental behaviors, such as smoking. However, Littlefield also found that those who quit smoking had the biggest declines in impulsivity and neuroticism from ages 18 to 25.

"Smokers at age 18 had higher impulsivity rates than non-smokers at age 18, and those who quit tended to display the steepest declines in impulsivity between ages 18 and 25," Littlefield said. "However, as a person ages and continues to smoke, smoking becomes part of a regular behavior pattern and less impulsive. The motives for smoking later in life — habit, craving, loss of control and tolerance — are key elements of smoking dependence and appear to be more independent of personality traits."

Despite the evidence from this study, substance use is still a complex relationship of genetic and environmental factors, Littlefield said.

The study, "Smoking Desistance and Personality Change in Emerging and Young Adulthood," has been accepted by the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. The study was co-authored by Kenneth J. Sher, a professor in the MU Department of Psychology.

Littlefield says the tobacco use study will contribute to ongoing research on the relationship between personality and substance abuse. He recently received a $30,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study genetic influences on personality and alcohol drinking motives.

Personality plays role in body weight: Impulsivity strongest predictor of obesity

People with personality traits of high neuroticism and low conscientiousness are likely to go through cycles of gaining and losing weight throughout their lives, according to an examination of 50 years of data in a study published by the American Psychological Association.

Impulsivity was the strongest predictor of who would be overweight, the researchers found. Study participants who scored in the top 10 percent on impulsivity weighed an average of 22 lbs. more than those in the bottom 10 percent, according to the study.

"Individuals with this constellation of traits tend to give in to temptation and lack the discipline to stay on track amid difficulties or frustration," the researchers wrote. "To maintain a healthy weight, it is typically necessary to have a healthy diet and a sustained program of physical activity, both of which require commitment and restraint. Such control may be difficult for highly impulsive individuals."

The researchers, from the National Institute on Aging, looked at data from a longitudinal study of 1,988 people to determine how personality traits are associated with weight and body mass index. Their conclusions were published online in the APA's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

"To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to examine whether personality is associated with fluctuations in weight over time," they wrote. "Interestingly, our pattern of associations fits nicely with the characteristics of these traits."

Participants were drawn from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, an ongoing multidisciplinary study of normal aging administered by the National Institute on Aging. Subjects were generally healthy and highly educated, with an average of 16.53 years of education. The sample was 71 percent white, 22 percent black, 7 percent other ethnicity; 50 percent were women. All were assessed on what's known as the "Big Five" personality traits — openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism — as well as on 30 subcategories of these personality traits. Subjects were weighed and measured over time. This resulted in a total of 14,531 assessments across the 50 years of the study.

Although weight tends to increase gradually as people age, the researchers, led by Angelina R. Sutin, PhD, found greater weight gain among impulsive people; those who enjoy taking risks; and those who are antagonistic — especially those who are cynical, competitive and aggressive.

"Previous research has found that impulsive individuals are prone to binge eating and alcohol consumption," Sutin said. "These behavioral patterns may contribute to weight gain over time."

Among their other findings: Conscientious participants tended to be leaner and weight did not contribute to changes in personality across adulthood.

"The pathway from personality traits to weight gain is complex and probably includes physiological mechanisms, in addition to behavioral ones," Sutin said. "We hope that by more clearly identifying the association between personality and obesity, more tailored treatments will be developed. For example, lifestyle and exercise interventions that are done in a group setting may be more effective for extroverts than for introverts."

Journal Reference:

Angelina R. Sutin, Luigi Ferrucci, Alan B. Zonderman, Antonio Terracciano. Personality and obesity across the adult life span.. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011; DOI: 10.1037/a0024286

Four kinds of compulsive gamblers identified

Disorganised and emotionally unstable, poorly adapted, suffering from alcohol problems, impulsive, or with a "globally adapted" personality. These are the features of the four diagnosed types of compulsive gamblers identified by researchers at the University Hospital of Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). According to the scientific team, only one of these four shows signs of a significant pathology.

"We need to use different treatments for each sub-group of pathological gamblers in order to respond to their specific therapeutic difficulties and needs," says Susana Jiménez Murcia, co-author of the study and coordinator of the Pathological Gambling Unit at the Bellvitge-IDIBELL Hospital in Barcelona.

The results of the study, which has been published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, show that it is possible to distinguish four groups of pathological gamblers based on their personality traits and associated psychopathology. Disorganised and emotionally unstable, poorly adapted, suffering from alcohol problems, impulsive, or with a "globally adapted" personality. These are the features of the four diagnosed types of compulsive gamblers identified by researchers at the University Hospital of Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). According to the scientific team, only one of these four shows signs of a significant pathology.

According to the researchers, who studied 1,171 people, types I and II are pathological gamblers who exhibit problems in controlling their responses, "but only type II shows signs of a significant concurrent psychopathology," with high levels of impulsiveness and sensation-seeking.

Resisting the urge to gamble

Pathological gambling has been defined as a progressive and chronic collapse in the ability to resist the urge to gamble. It is a kind of behaviour that damages and harms personal, family and career-related goals (APA, 2000). In mental illness manuals, pathological gambling is classified as a "disruption in the ability to control impulses."

"However, this classification has generated a certain degree of polemic among the scientific community, due to the high degree of heterogeneity that exists in this disorder," the researcher explains.

For this reason, the scientific community is now looking into the possibility of introducing a new diagnostic category called "behavioural and substance addictions" in the new editions of manuals such as the Quinto Manual Diagnóstico y Estadístico de los Trastornos Mentales (DSM-5) (Fifth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

Four kinds of compulsive gamblers

Type I, which could be called 'disorganised and emotionally unstable', is characterised by schizotypal personality traits, high degrees of impulsiveness, alcohol and substance abuse, psychopathological alterations and early onset age.

Type II, which is a schizoid type, exhibits high levels of harm avoidance, social distancing, and alcohol abuse.

Type III is reward-sensitive, and is characterised by high levels of sensation-seeking and impulsiveness, although without any psychopathological alterations.

Type IV is a high functioning, globally-adapted personality type, without any disorders relating to substance abuse, and no associated psychopathological alterations.

Journal Reference:

Eva Mª Álvarez-Moya, Susana Jiménez-Murcia, María Neus Aymamí, Mónica Gómez-Peña, Roser Granero, Juanjo Santamaría, José Manuel Menchón y Fernando Fernández-Aranda. Subtyping Study of a Pathological Gamblers Sample. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2010; 55 (8)