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Borderline personality disorder case study
Borderline personality disorder case study
Personality disorders abnormal psychology
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Personality disorders are very defined and recognized in today’s society. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association provides common language and standards classifying mental disorders. The DSM is used by many people in varying disciplines in the USA as well as many other countries. In times past, people with disorders may have been outcast from a community or even persecuted. However, in our current culture the pendulum has swung in the other direction. It almost seems that there is a trend to explain all behavior by a mental disorder. This results in needing to disprove that certain people are not displaying a disorder, rather acting within a normal human emotion or behavior. People are tricky creatures to study due to the complexity and magical way our brain works. Very little is known, even less is understood about how and why we work the way we do. One of the disorders identified in the DSM is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). BPD was officially termed and recognized in 1980. BPD is a condition in which people display patterns of unstable or turbulent emotions, manifesting as feelings about themselves and others. These feelings can be positive but are more often recognized as negative. This inner turmoil can cause significant stress or hindrance in relationships and activities of daily living. A person with this disorder is often bright, intelligent, and appears friendly and competent. A stressful situation is often the catalyst to break down positive appearances of those who suffer from BPD. A romantic issue, death of someone close, or work trouble can wash aside developed coping ability, which may have taken years to build. With emotional or situat... ... middle of paper ... ...ne for help in determining appropriate action and strategies. Resources and agencies to assist those with and affected by BPD are very accessible and understanding of what help needs to be presented. As is the case with oft misunderstood conditions, there is a small but strong community of support ready to provide advice, strategies, and a listening ear. One of the larger BPD focused agencies is the Borderline Personality Disorder Resource Center in White Plains, NY (www.bpdresourcecenter.org). Further assistance and networking can be reached at the local district branch of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) (www.psych.org) or the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) (www.aacap.org). When contacting the APA or AACAP, ask for referral to psychiatrists or other clinicians in your community who are skilled in handling borderline disorder.
People with Borderline Personality Disorder tend to view the world as simple as possible. People who view the world like this, confuse the actions of others. (Hoermann et al, 2005) Recurrent thoughts about their relationships with others, lead them to experience extreme emotional reactions, great agony which they have a hard time controlling, which would result in engaging in self-destructive behaviors. Diagnosing a patient with this disorder can be challenging which is why is it is labeled as one of the difficult ones to diagnose. (Hoermann et al, 2005)
Borderline Personality Disorder in “Girl Interrupted” The movie, “Girl Interrupted,”is about a teenage girl named Susanna Kaysen who has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. People with Borderline Personality Disorder “are often emotionally unstable, impulsive, unpredictable, irritable, and anxious. They are also prone to boredom. Their behavior is similar to that of individuals with schizotypal personality disorder, but they are not as consistently withdrawn and bizarre” (Santrock, 2003).
This paper looks at a person that exhibits the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). In the paper, examples are given of symptoms that the person exhibits. These symptoms are then evaluated using the DSM-V criteria for BPD. The six-different psychological theoretical models are discussed, and it is shown how these models have been used to explain the symptoms of BPD. Assessment of
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been a disability surrounded by stigma and confusion for a long time, and the time to bring awareness and public understanding to this disability is long overdue. The disability itself often gets misdiagnosed as an other disability since the symptoms overlap with many other disabilities (NIMH, n.d, para 16), or worse case scenario, a medical professional refuses to diagnose or treat the disability due to the belief that these people are untreatable because of a negative schema about the disability and clinical controversies on whether BPD is a legitimate diagnosis (Hoffman, 2007) . However, after nearly three decades of research, it has come to light that BPD does indeed exist, does have a good prognosis for remission with treatment (BPD Overview, n.d, para 3), and that there are many treatment options available such as three different types of psychotherapy (Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Schema-focused therapy), omega-3 fatty acid supplements, and/or medications (NIMH, n.d, para 29, 30, 31, and 39, 41). Even though the disability started as a psychoanalytic colloquialism for untreatable neurotics (Gunderson, 2009), BPD is very treatable and doesn’t deserve the stigma it currently carries throughout society.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) affects about 4% of the general population, and at least 20% of the clinical psychiatric population. (Kernberg and Michels, 2009) In the clinical psychiatric population, about 75% of those with the disorder are women. BPD is also significantly heritable, with 42-68% of the variance associated with genetic factors, similar to that of hypertension. BPD can also develop due to environmental factors such as childhood neglect and/or trauma, insecure attachment, and exposure to marital, family, and psychiatric issues. (Gunderson, 2011)
In the past, BPD was believed to be a set of symptoms between problems associated with mood and schizophrenia. These symptoms were believed to be comprised of distortions of reality and mood problems. A closer look at this disorder has resulted in the realization that even though the symptoms of this disorder reveal emotional complexity, this disorder is more closer to other personality disorders, on the basis of the manner in which it develops and occurs in families, than to schizophrenia (Hoffman, Fruzzetti, Buteau &ump; Neiditch, 2005). The use of the term borderline has however, resulted in a heated controversy between the health care fraternity and patients. Patients argue that this term appears to be somehow discriminatory and that it should be removed and the disorder renamed. Patients point out that an alternative name, such as emotionally unstable personality disorder, should be adopted instead of borderline personality disorder. Clinicians, on the other hand, argue that there is nothing wrong with the use of the term borderline. Opponents of this term argue that the terms used to describe persons suffering from this disorder, such as demanding, treatment resistant, and difficult among others, are discriminatory. These terms may create a negative feeling of health professionals towards patients, an aspect that may lead to adoption of negative responses that may trigger self-destructive behavior (Giesen-Bloo et al, 2006). The fact however, is that the term borderline has been misunderstood and misused so much that any attempt to redefine it is pointless leaving scrapping the term as the only option.
The causes of personality disorders are still unknown as of today. However, there are theories of the causes of personality disorders are but not limited as being neglect and heavy burden (Soeteman, Verheul, & Busschbach, 2008). Neglect can be bought on by a person that does not take care of him or herself. It is hard to diagnosis someone with a personality disorder unless it is companied by some other form of disease for instance diabetes (Soeteman, Verheul, & Busschbach, 2008). The person may not take care of him/her self causing symptoms to manifest. If the person allows this to happen, it is believed that the person may have other issues then just the disease.
Some of the most common actions or responses for individuals with borderline personality disorder are suicidal. Incorporating the teaching of problem-solving skills will hopefully, again, reduce the number of suicidal thoughts or behaviors an individual has that could result in serious self-injury (Van Goethem, A., et al.). Lastly, arguably the most important component of the dialectical behavior therapy is allowing those who have undergone the treatment to test what they have learned. The final stage of this therapy involves having the patients visualize themselves in certain scenarios and creating a response to what they are envisioning. The most important part of this process is having patients trust their responses without utilizing the help and opinions of other individuals (Van Goethem, A., et al.). Though there are several different components that make up the dialectical behavioral therapy, they are each crucial to the treatment for individuals with, not only borderline personality disorder, but many other psychological disorders as well. Some of the effects of how this treatment has worked can be observed in a couple of different
There are multiple criteria that come into play when determining a psychological disorder. One reason is because, it is hard to know for sure if an action is abnormal or not. Something could be abnormal in our country, but a custom in another.
Borderline Personality disorder is a commonly misdiagnosed mental illness. The symptoms of borderline personality disorder are so closely related to other mental illnesses, that it is most often under diagnosed or misdiagnosed altogether. This illness can be completely debilitating to effected person. They do not understand that it is their mental illness that is making them feel the way that they do. They feel hopeless, like their lives will never improve from this point. Which is a major factor into why borderline personality disorder has one of the highest rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.
There has been no change in the diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV to the DSM-5 with regards to diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder is defined by the American Psychiatric Association in the DSM-5 (2013) as “a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts” (Borderline Personality Disorder). There are nine criteria listed in the DSM-5 (2013) that are utilized as indicators that the individual meets the diagnostic definition of BPD. The individual must meet a minimum of five of the criteria
An estimated 1.6%-5.9% of the adult population in the United States has BPD, with nearly 75% of the people who are diagnosed being women. Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder include Frantic efforts to avoid being abandoned by friends and family, Unstable personal relationships that alternate between idealizations, Distorted and unstable self-image, Impulsive behaviors that can have dangerous outcomes, Suicidal and self-harming behavior, Periods of intense depressed mood, irritability or anxiety lasting a couple hours/days, Chronic feelings of boredom or emptiness, Inappropriate, intense or uncontrollable anger - often followed by shame and guilt, and Dissociative feelings. The three main factors that could cause this mental illness are Genetics, Environmental factors, and Brain function. This illness can only be diagnosed by a mental health professional after a series of interviews with the patient and family/friends of the patient. The patient must also have at least five of the nine symptoms of this illness in order to be diagnosed. The most common treatment for this illness is some form of psychotherapy. Some other treatment options are to prescribe medications and if needed a short-term
Are psychopaths like Alice, “mad or bad?” (page 21). The question whether psychopaths are mentally ill or just a bad seed has caused much debate. Dr. Hare explains that the problem is not only labeling them mad or bad, but who deals with them. “Does the treatment or control of the psychopath rightly fall to mental health professionals or to the correctional system?” (page 21). Not only are professionals confused on how to classify psychopaths, but the media also creates confusion. Psychopath means mental illness and the media uses the word to classify someone as, “insane or crazy”, (page 22). Dr. Hare explains that even though psychopaths, “cannot be understood in terms of traditional views of mental illness”, they, “are not disoriented or out of touch with reality, nor do they experience the delusions, hallucinations, or intense subjective distress that characterize most other mental disorders…psychopaths are rational and aware of what they are doing and why.” (page 22). Most professionals use the term psychopath and sociopath as one in the same. Since DSM-III, antisocial personality disorder has been used in place of psychopath and sociopath. Philippe Pinel was the first psychiatrist describe a psychopath and Harvey Cleckley was one of the first successful publish a book describing a psychopath to the general public . Pinel used the term, “insanity without delirium”, (page 25). Cleckley wrote The Mask of Sanity, which influenced researchers in North America. Dr. Robert Hare explained that WWII was the first time clinicians felt a need to diagnosis people with psychopathy. Due to the draft, there was a need to weed out the people could disrupt or harm the military structure. Dr. Robert Hare realized how hard it was to identify a true psychopaths from rule breakers and developed the Psychopathy Checklist. This checklist is used world wide to help clinicians identify true
Diana Miller, 25 was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder after being rushed to the hospital following another suicide attempt . Her symptoms and background are outlined in her vignette and will be examined in detail throughout the paper. The purpose of this essay will be to explore the possible additional diagnoses for Diana’s behaviour as well as look deeper into the feasible explanations of how and why her behaviour turned abnormal. Therefore through analyzing the diagnostic features, influence of culture, gender, and environment, in addition to outlining paradigm explanations and possible treatment methods, one can better understand Diana Miller’s diagnoses.
The history of BPD can be traced back to 1938 when Adolph Stern first described the symptoms of the disorder as neither being psychotic nor psychoneurotic; hence, the term ‘borderline’ was introduced (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15). Then in 1960, Otto Kernberg coined the term ‘borderline personality organization’ to describe persistent patterns of behavior and functioning consisting of instability, and distressed psychological self-organization (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2009, p. 15).