9 Things you probably didn't know about BPD

1) Borderlines are more likely to have a stuffed toy (teddy bear) than people without the diagnosis they also reported more childhood trauma, rated their early caregivers as less supportive, and had more attachment problems as adults.

Teddy bears a BPD's best friend

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2)BPD patients suffered a significantly greater rate of nightmares, elevated levels of dream anxiety, and disturbed sleep quality than did controls. In the borderline group,
heightened dream anxiety was correlated with higher rates of early traumatic experiences and dissociative symptoms, and impaired sleep quality.
Furthermore, borderline patients with nightmare disorder exhibited greater psychopathology as compared to those without nightmare disorder in terms of several clinical characteristics.Individuals with borderline personality symptoms have poorer overall quality of sleep than those without these symptoms.Depression-like sleep abnormalities like reduced REM latency have been found in BPD subjects, even without comorbid major depression disorder.

High Emotional Lability/Dysregulation

Emotional Instability and family arguments in borderlines

3)Sadly the more BPD traits you have the more intensely your feelings will be and it will be harder to control your emotional responses.

4)Women with BPD become pregnant and have children, often during the period when BPD symptoms emerge and intensify. They are at increased risk of teenage pregnancies and unintended pregnancies compared with women with Axis I disorders.

Depression

5) Adolescents with BPD are more likely than their non-BPD counterparts to have a history of sexual trauma and to report sexual concerns.



6) Subjects with borderline personality disorder showed greater severity on both depression and anxiety rating scales than did patients with another personality disorder, who showed greater severity than did patients with no personality disorder. Axis I diagnosis was also associated with greater severity on depression or anxiety rating scales. These differences were found for both observer ratings and self-report. An interaction was also found for depression: Subjects with borderline personality disorder but without an Axis I diagnosis of depression rated themselves as more severely depressed on the Beck Depression Inventory than did subjects with another or no personality disorder who also had an Axis I diagnosis of depression.

Anxiety-VERA ON THE VERGE ~ ARTIST BETHANN SHANNON

7) Unpleasant words and scenes about rejection and abandonment are specifically able to trigger strong startle response in borderlines.Borderlines who also have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) when shown aversive (unpleasant) images and had stronger startle response than borderlines without PTSD.


8)The mechanism of active retrieval of memories and of improvement through repetition is impaired in BPD, particularly in those who experienced traumatic experiences. This impairment might play an important role, possibly resulting in the emergence of unwanted memories and dissociative symptoms

Image:cartoonchurch.com

9)Symptoms increase with hormonal changes see post BPD ,Menstruation & Estrogen

To end on a positive note,for most BPDs your symptoms will decrease with age,some really lucky people might have a spontaneous recovery or may have been misdiagnosed.Wish I had better news,but more research on treatment is being carried out.You can participate in various studies on different disorders ...such as Emotion Regulation & Digital Media here http://psychiatry.duke.edu/divisions/general-psychiatry/duke-cognitive-behavioral-research-and-treatment-program/ongoing-studie
More info can be found in the post Can't Afford Treatment/Want To Further Research

Sources: PubMed
VERA ON THE VERGE ~ ARTIST BETHANN SHANNON

http://veraontheverge.wordpress.com/