Boderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder is common among adolescents. It’s associated with long-term harm to a young person’s mental health and relationships. Adolescents with BPD are also some of the most likely people to have a BPD diagnosis as adults, with BPD traits that persist stably through time. Early diagnosis matters because it facilitates access to appropriate

Interpersonal difficulties are central to borderline personality disorder. Many of the core traits of BPD relate to interpersonal relationships – and in clinical settings, people with BPD often focus on their desires and fears in relationships. For example, people with BPD may experience a fear of abandonment, patterns of unstable relationships, and the tendency to

Parenting a child with BPD can involve distressing experiences – especially if they are not receiving treatment. These might include incidents of self-harm or suicide attempts or tensions between family members. Parents also sometimes struggle to balance offering support while not reinforcing behaviours.

There’s a lot of stigma associated with borderline personality disorder. People with BPD are often categorised as reactive, angry, volatile, and manipulative while their strengths, empathy, and courage are overlooked. This stigma can be internalised by those with BPD, damaging the self-worth of a group of people who already have very low self-esteem.