Susan phoned her boyfriend John. She wanted to talk to him badly. But he said he was out shopping and would call her back in an hour. Susan was not happy. But she waited for the hour to be over. An hour and half passed and he had not called her back. She called him back and gave him a mouthful, telling him how callous he was, not caring for her, burst into tears, and threatened to break off their relationship. John said sorry and explained what had happened. On the way back from shopping, he witnessed a bike accident and had stopped to help and had forgotten to call her. Susan continued to be angry, insisting he could still have called her. John apologized. Now Susan began to feel guilty for the way she behaved. To soothe her feelings, she began to cut herself—something she would do whenever she felt hurt.
Susan was suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
BPD CHARACTERISTICS
The Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterised by the following:
- Intense emotionality characterised by frequent and fast mood changes;
- Uncontrolled, intense anger and rage; sadness and irritability;
- Intense craving for intimacy, accompanied by fear of abandonment triggered by the slightest suspicion of lack of interest on the part of the other and frantic efforts to prevent it;
- Intense idealisation (admiration or love) followed by equally intense devaluation (dislike and deprecation) in quick succession;
- Relationships characterised by passionate attachments, but also frequent and intense conflicts;
- Self-harming (cutting, bruising, burning) and suicidal behaviour;
- Impaired or distorted cognitive processes;
- Underlying fragile sense of self and resulting insecurity and feelings of emptiness.
FR JOSE PARPPULLY SDB
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