What is BPD?

In the past, numerous mental health experts deemed it challenging to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD), often believing there weren’t effective solutions. However, today’s understanding confirms that BPD is treatable. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is often misunderstood, leading many to question, “What is BPD?” both by those experiencing it and the general public. One of the most significant pieces of the disorder that is not well known is its origins.

The causes of BPD are often confused, mistaken, or entirely overlooked by individuals trying to learn about the disorder. Luckily, we will list them here to give you a better idea of what causes borderline personality disorder. By learning about its origins, you can begin taking steps in the proper direction to support your recovery.

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A brighter, informed future is just a call away.

Alta Loma is Texas’s leading Personality Disorder treatment center. If you or a loved one suffers from BPD, or any other personality disorder, contact us today!

For treatment options, call Alta Loma at (866) 457-3843

Factors Influencing Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder can be caused by various factors, including genetic, biological, and environmental. It is through understanding these factors that individuals struggling can take their first steps towards recovery. Alta Loma Transformational Services can support you during recovery from BPD through our expertly run programs. Our staff is trained to tailor treatment to each resident’s needs so you can be sure to acquire the tools needed for a successful recovery.

Genetic Factors

Experts believe there are three primary factors for causing BPD, the first being genetics. While they do not believe BPD runs in families, it is possible to have certain genes that make you more vulnerable to developing borderline personality disorder. More influences are needed to fully cause BPD, as genetics are not enough on their own.

Biological Factors

The second contributing factors to the origins of BPD are biological. MRI scans of individuals with BPD have found that three parts of the brain are either smaller or have a higher, more unusual number of occurring activities. These include the amygdala, the orbitofrontal cortex, and the hippocampus. The rare occurrences in the three parts arise from how the brain forms during your upbringing, so these irregularities can contribute to BPD symptoms later on.

Environmental Factors

The third contributing factor to BPD is environmental factors. While experiencing these factors does not guarantee the development of BPD, they do increase your risk. This is especially true if you have the above genetic or biological factors listed.

Common environmental factors that may contribute to BPD include:

  • Experiencing physical, emotional, or sexual abuse
  • Experiencing unresolved fear, anger, and distress for an extended period during childhood
  • Experiencing neglect by one or both parents
  • Growing up surrounded by mental health or substance use disorders, such as bipolar disorder or alcohol use disorder

Signs and Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental health condition characterized by a range of emotional and behavioral challenges. While it affects individuals differently, there are several common signs that help in identifying this disorder. Recognizing these signs early can assist in seeking appropriate intervention and support.

  • Mood swings: Sudden and extreme changes in mood, which can last for a few hours to a few days.
  • Intense and unstable relationships: Often characterized by alternating between extreme closeness and intense conflict or dislike.
  • Fear of abandonment: Going to great lengths to avoid real or imagined separation from loved ones.
  • Impulsive behavior: Engaging in risky activities without considering consequences.
  • Chronic feelings of emptiness: Feeling persistently hollow or desolate.
  • Self-image issues: Rapidly changing self-identity or sense of self.
  • Difficulty being alone: Requiring constant company or reassurance from others.
  • Intense anger: Difficulty controlling anger, often followed by shame or guilt.
  • Paranoid thoughts: Temporary stress-related paranoia or disconnection from reality.

Don’t Battle Borderline Personality Disorder Alone

Alta Loma is Texas’s leading Personality Disorder treatment center. If you or a loved one suffers from BPD, or any other personality disorder, contact us today!

For treatment options, call Alta Loma at (866) 457-3843

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Types of Borderline Personality Disorders

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by a deficiency in emotional regulation. To a person with BPD, everything they feel is more intense. By knowing the four different types of BPD, you can have a better understanding of the symptoms associated with each to determine if they may apply to you.

Impulsive Borderline Personality Disorder

A person with BPD can act in impulsive and dangerous ways. People who are impulsive commit actions without thinking of the consequences of their actions and how they may affect others.

Spending a lot of money, becoming suddenly aggressive, or engaging in unnecessary risks may be some of the ways a person with BPD acts out. People with this type of BPD may appear energetic or engaging.

Discouraged Borderline Personality Disorder

This type of BPD is diagnosed in people who do whatever it takes to avoid being abandoned. Instead of pointing the finger at others for their actions, they tend to blame themselves. People who are discouraged can be perfectionists who feel lonely, empty, and alienated. This type of person may be very needy and dependent, with outbursts of anger if they get triggered by abandonment issues.

Self-Destructive Borderline Personality Disorder

People with this type of BPD struggle with intense self-hatred and bitterness. They may be prone to substance abuse to mask the pain they are in. They may also seek adrenaline-boosting activities and perform self-harming behaviors. These behaviors may escalate to threats of suicide. If you know someone is threatening suicide, take their words seriously, intervene, and call emergency services.

Petulant Borderline Personality Disorder

This type of BPD can make a person very unpredictable. Their emotions can range from annoyed to raging or sad to depressed. If this person does not feel worthy or loved, they may create relationship challenges in a quest for control. Examples of these behaviors might be passive-aggressivism, impatience, or stubbornness.

Having one of these four types of BPD means that this mental health disorder does not look the same in everyone. If you or someone you know is struggling with BPD, you can look into these subtypes to see how symptoms match up. No matter how extreme these symptoms are, treatment options are available to live a happier and healthier life.

Man anxiously waiting for a reply; lack of response can be a BPD trigger potentially leading to suicidal behavior

What Can Trigger Someone with a Personality Disorder?

For individuals struggling with mental health problems, triggers can be intimidating and frightening symptoms. Sometimes, triggers can surprise you and offset your symptoms. People with borderline personality disorder may exhibit self destructive behaviors and severe reactions without effective coping strategies, endangering themselves or others. Individuals with BPD may have severe symptoms and reactions without effective coping mechanisms, putting themselves or other people at risk. Therefore, identifying common BPD triggers and learning how to cope with them is necessary for a happy, healthy life.

Common BPD Triggers

Various kinds of triggers may offset BPD symptoms. However, relationship triggers are the most common ones because they are related to interpersonal tension and distress. Individuals with BPD have high fears of being rejected or abandoned; therefore, subtle perceived negative actions by friends and family can trigger these fears.

For example, a person with BPD may text a friend to hang out, but the friend leaves the message unread or “delivered.” As time passes, thoughts may spiral from thinking the person is mad at them to everyone hates them. Such thoughts can put the person at risk of self-harm or other severe consequences.

Cognitive triggers are also prevalent, but they typically only affect individuals with BPD related to traumatic memories or events. Flashbacks or seeing something that reminds someone of the memory can trigger BPD symptoms, resulting in spiraling thoughts, intense emotions, and the risk of self-harm.

Coping With BPD Triggers

BPD triggers can be overwhelming and leave you feeling helpless. However, there are things you can do to address them, cope with them, and overcome them. Working with an accredited facility that specializes in borderline personality disorder treatment can help you get the support you need.

At Alta Loma Transformational Services, we work with men of all ages to identify and overcome their triggers related to substance use and mental health disorders. We treat BPD specifically to help residents discover balance, manage symptoms, and relieve the stresses of everyday life.  

Working with therapists will also help because you will learn how to identify your triggers and develop coping mechanisms for when you experience them. This way, you learn healthy habits that keep you, your relationships, and the people around you safe. Over time, coping with triggers will become less challenging, and you will handle them like a pro.

Therapist working with a patient during a dialectical behavior therapy session, illustrating a practical application of 'How is borderline personality disorder treated

Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder comes in subtypes, where symptoms can range from fear of abandonment to self-destructive, impulsive, or unpredictable behavior. Borderline personality disorder can be caused by various factors, including genetic, biological, and environmental.

No matter what case of borderline personality disorder you have, you need to seek treatment to get better. At Alta Loma, the leading mental health facility in Texas, we understand what it is like to live with borderline personality disorder, and we are here to help you. Located in Georgetown, Texas, we can provide you with individualized therapy, coping skills, education, a long-term continuum of care, and much more. 

Give us a call at (866) 457-3843 for more information about our services.