Posted by Racer on December 16, 2008, at 16:14:10
In reply to Anyone Good Definition Or Description Of Borderlin, posted by Phillipa on December 16, 2008, at 13:01:28
Here's the diagnostic criteria for DSM-IV 301.83: Borderline Personality Disorder
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, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
(1) frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
(2) a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.
(3) identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.
(4) impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, Substance Abuse, reckless driving, binge eating).
(5) recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior.
(6) affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days).
(7) chronic feelings of emptiness.
(8) inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights).
(9) transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms.
**********************************************************************Here are two links that might help. If you still have trouble understanding aspects, maybe you could post specific questions? It's such a vast topic, it's hard to know what to include in a nutshell summary.
The ever-popular Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality_disorderNational Institute of Mental Health:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/borderline-personality-disorder.shtml
poster:Racer
thread:869095
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20081205/msgs/869123.html