Emotionally unstable personality disorder, BPD, BPS, self-injury, parasuicidality English: borderline
Definition
The borderline disorder is a so-called personality disorder of the “emotionally unstable” type. Here, personality is understood to be the characteristics and behaviour of a person with which he or she reacts and will react to certain situations. Emotional instability means that the borderline disorder leads to difficulties in regulating the mood, the so-called “affect”. Small stimuli, be they situations from outside or one’s own straining thoughts, are often enough to trigger a very high level of arousal (positive or negative). Moreover, after this arousal it takes a very long time until the mood returns to the level it was at before the event or thought.
Is it curable?
With mental illnesses, as with many somatic (i.e. physical) illnesses such as cancer, the term “remission” is used in the technical jargon rather than “curability”. The definition of remission in the case of a borderline personality disorder is measured by the fact that no symptoms typical of the disease have occurred for so many years. In the case of borderline personality disorder, studies have meanwhile provided numerous indications that the disease often lasts for several years after its onset, but then remits in many patients, i.e. no symptoms occur.
This remission occurs after very different periods of the disease. One study, for example, found remission in just under 50% of patients after 4 years, and another two years later 70% of patients were already in remission. A more recent study showed remission in almost 90% of patients 10 years after diagnosis.
In comparison to many other mental illnesses, borderline personality disorder can therefore be considered a possible cure in the broadest sense. It is noticeable, however, that many patients who have no symptoms of the disease for many years still have more problems in certain areas of everyday life than mentally healthy people. Especially the social integration (stable partnerships, friendships, general contact to other people) is often worse in patients with a borderline personality disorder than in others.
However, studies indicate that social integration improves the more years have passed since remission (i.e. “healing”). Furthermore, patients who suffered from a borderline personality disorder in adolescence and early adulthood have a much higher incidence of so-called affective disorders in the course of their lives. These include depression or manic-depressive illness. Anxiety and eating disorders as well as substance abuse also occur more frequently in remitted borderline patients than in the normal population.
Is it hereditary?
Whether borderline disease is hereditary has been discussed and researched for many years. So far, however, there is no evidence that this is a disease that is inheritable in the true sense of the word. It seems, however, that certain characteristics, such as a tendency to emotional instability, are more likely to occur in children of ill parents. According to the current state of research, an outbreak of the disease, however, only occurs when other factors are added, such as certain living conditions or behavioural patterns. For example, it has been proven that people suffering from a borderline disorder have had above-average experience of sexual abuse or violence in the past.
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