Borderline symptoms

Are there different kinds of borderline?

There are no different kinds of borderline. The condition can however differ a lot between persons, as some are suffering more from it than others and the behaviour is more influenced by borderline. If someone is under the suspicion of having borderline it is often difficult to determine it as it can differ a lot between people.

What are the symptoms of borderline?

Here below you will find the most common symptoms of borderline:

• Mood swings: people with borderline often react with different emotions to something that happens. The one moment they can really be surprised and the other moment anxious. It can sometimes take hours before the person is able to relax again.
• Labile relationships: people with borderline often have troubles with maintaining relationships. This is because they judge situations but also people in a very black or white manner. As a partner you are either perfect or horrible, but no in between. It can be very difficult for people to understand this and to engage in relationships with people who suffer from borderline for this very reason.
• Seperation anxiety: relationships are often unstable and do not last long because people who suffer from borderline are often scared of being left alone. They are often scared to lose people in their lives and therefore try everything they can to prevent this, which can be seen  and experienced as irritating and annoying by others.
• Anger: people with borderline can often react very angrily whilst it is not fitting in the situation. Because of this anger the situations can escalate. Because often people do not realise that someone has borderline and because of this can not keep this in mind, fights can easily start.
• Suicidal tensions: a dangerous symptom of borderline is the showing of suicidal tensions. This is often paired with anger for only little things. The suicidal tensions often show themselves in damaging themselves and thinking of ways to end their lives. Often it is observed that people with borderline threaten to end their lives. 
• Impulsive behaviour: an often occurring borderline symptom is the showing of impulsive behaviour, for instance with buying of stuff, but also impulsive behaviour when taking risky decisions. Often money, drugs and food are dealt with in an unconscious fashion. 

How do you get borderline?

Borderline can arise because of two different causes, namely the character and genetics. The first one often comes from a symbiotic-problem from childhood. This can be caused by different things but often the child is raised being lonely and without a good tie to parents or someone else. This results in the child not receiving physical contact and attention during its youth what can finally become a problem for the rest of his or her whole life. This has the consequence that adult patients still look a lot like children on an emotional level and react to certain situations as a young child. Therefore most borderline patients are scared of the outside world and are always looking for a sense of security. At this moment there are about 180.000 borderline patients in the Netherlands for example (on a population of about 17 million people), it comes down to about 1% of the population.

Young people and borderline 

Borderline symptoms with adolescents are often confused with symptoms that adolescents often show during their puberty, because borderline symptoms are somehow similar to behaviour of teenagers. It is therefore important to take the above mentioned borderline symptoms seriously and go to the doctor and determine if there is a personality disorder apparent or not.

Is borderline more common with men than with women?

Borderline is indeed more common amongst men than women. Experts say that this is because women more often than men show self damaging behaviour or have a eating disorder and that men more often than women end up in criminal life or drug rehab. Because women are determined to have a psychological disorder this is not seen as borderline.

Is borderline curable

Unfortunately borderline is not curable, but because of different treatments the borderline symptoms can be reduced, which improves the quality of life. The most common therapy for borderline is behavioural therapy. In a group of borderline patients, they will then together look for solutions how to improve their lives. Doctors often recommend not taking medicines because this can have a negative influence on the behaviour of people because medicines can then be used as an excuse when not taking the medicines and showing bad behaviour.

Living with a person who is suffering from borderline

Being the partner or living in the same house as someone who is suffering from borderline can be quite difficult. It can feel like you are walking on eggshells the whole day. Any thing you say or do can be misinterpreted and make the borderline patient angry. Something really small, such as being in the shower for too long can cause 3 days of anger within a person with borderline. The best thing to do when problems arise is to allow them to cool down first and then talk about it openly or go and see a doctor or psychologist together.