Happy BPD Awareness Month 💙💜 (Part 1)

Hello, everyone! I'm excited to share that May is dedicated to raising awareness for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). It's an amazing opportunity for us to shine a light on this often-misunderstood mental health condition. I'm sure many of you already understand the benefits that come with learning about stigmatized disorders, and I hope that by spreading knowledge about BPD, we can collectively raise awareness and build empathy for individuals living with this condition. 😊

Q1: You might be wondering: What exactly is BPD?
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a complex mental health condition characterized by intense and unstable relationships, emotional instability, self-destructive impulsivity, and identity disturbance. People with this condition often harbor an intense fear of being abandoned by their loved ones, suffer from chronic feelings of emptiness, often engage in harmful behavior or threats, and have difficulty controlling anger. It affects approximately 1-2% of the population and can significantly impact a person's daily life. 

Q2: When is BPD diagnosed?
You might be given a diagnosis if you experience at least five of the following symptoms: 
1) Emotional Instability:
~ Intense and highly changeable moods, with each episode lasting from a few hours to a few days, like you can't control your emotions and they fluctuate rapidly from extreme highs to deep lows. This emotional instability can make it challenging to maintain stable relationships and engage in daily activities properly.

~ Inappropriate, intense anger or problems with anger management, like you can't help but feel overwhelmed by anger even in situations that may not warrant such a strong reaction. This anger may be disproportionate to the triggering event and can lead to outbursts or aggressive behavior, causing further distress and difficulties in managing triggers. 

~ Chronic feelings of emptiness, like you can't escape a constant sense of inner void that persists regardless of external circumstances. This profound emptiness can lead to a search for external validation, stimulation, or a desperate attempt to fill the void through impulsive behaviors. 

~ Feelings of dissociation, such as feeling cut off from yourself or seeing yourself from outside your body, like you experience a sense of detachment from your body or can't fully connect with your sense of self. These dissociative experiences may create a sense of unreality where the world around you feels distant and distorted, like you are observing your life from a disconnected perspective. 

2) Disturbed Patterns of Thinking or Perception
~ Your friend may be considered as an enemy or traitor on different occasions, like you experience a rapid shift in perception and evaluation of other people's traits. The thought process, also known as black-or-white thinking or splitting, can be triggered by various factors, such as perceived rejection, criticism, or a threat to the relationship. This defense mechanism is often associated with childhood trauma and may have developed as a way to cope with inconsistent or unstable relationships during early development. 

~ Distrustful and suspicious thoughts that are unusual, or odd beliefs that are contrary to cultural norms and thoughts. They may include perceptual distortion and bodily illusions, like you harbor mistrust and suspiciousness towards others even when evidence may not support it, and hold unconventional beliefs that deviate from societal norms. These experiences may also involve distorted perceptions of reality, including perceptual distortions and bodily illusions.

3) Subjective Distortions: 
~ Identity disturbance, like your sense of self is constantly shifting and elusive. You may struggle to establish a clear and constant identity, leading you to adopt different personas or versions of yourself in different situations or with different people. This constant search for a stable sense of self can manifest as a fragmented or shifting identity and difficulty building a consistent idea of who you are. It is possible that you mirror the values and opinions of others in an attempt to gain a sense of identity. You might find it difficult to differentiate your own beliefs from others.

~ Impulsive Behavior, like you struggle to regulate your internal drives or impulses, which can lead to engaging in risky behaviors like uncontrollable spending sprees, binge eating, reckless driving, and others. Difficulties in emotion regulation can lead to an intense desire for immediate relief from stressful emotions, which prompts impulsive actions as a means of escape or temporary gratification. They may serve as maladaptive coping mechanisms by providing a temporary sense of control, distraction, or emotional numbing. Additionally, they can be driven by a yearning for connection, attempts to fill emotional voids, or a manifestation of self-destructive tendencies. 

Q3: What are the causes of BPD?

Further research is needed to determine the exact causes of the difficulties associated with BPD, as they are not yet well-defined. However, it is believed that BPD arises from a combination of various factors, including:
• Childhood neglect: frequently experiencing a lack of care, feeling invalidated, or living in fear.
• Unstable family environment: having parents who struggle with substance misuse or absence from the child's life. 
• Trauma: enduring different forms of mistreatment (physical, emotional, or hurtful behavior).
• Genetic factors: inherited traits or gene variations that may increase vulnerability for developing BPD.

REMINDER TO ALL PRECIOUS PEOPLE WITH BPD! 💜✨
You are incredible, strong, and capable of overcoming any challenge that comes your way! This is your time to shine, to share your stories, and to inspire others with your indomitable spirits! You are not alone in this journey, and you are valid just the way you are.

Now, I'd love to hear from you! If you've been diagnosed with BPD or have experience with the condition, feel free to share your thoughts and insights below. What strategies have helped you cope with the challenges of BPD? Did you find this post informative? Your experiences can provide support and encouragement to others going through similar obstacles. Let's come together to build understanding and foster a community of empathy! 🤗💚

(This is just the beginning of our BPD awareness journey this month. I will be sharing more valuable information about the disorder, so stay tuned!)



~ Xaverie ♡