home Drugs Free tests. Personality disorder, mental disorder: Ammon structural test Borderline mental disorders - symptoms

Free tests. Personality disorder, mental disorder: Ammon structural test Borderline mental disorders - symptoms

Dear visitors, psychological assistance office psychologist-psychanalyst Oleg Matveev, you are offered a complex Ammon Self-structural test to determine whether a person has a personality disorder or mental disorder. (treatment of personality disorders Matveev O.V.)

Simply put, by taking the Ammon Personality Disorder Test, you can determine whether a person is mentally healthy, borderline, or ill.

If you want to change yourself, your personality and life, you can undergo psychoanalytic consultations online,

Ammon's self-structural test: personality disorder, mental disorder determines constructiveness, destructiveness, deficiency of aggressiveness, fear (anxiety), self-delimitation, narcissism and sexuality

There are 18 scales in total: constructive, destructive, deficit aggression, fear (anxiety), external and internal self-separation, narcissism, and human sexuality in general make up the whole personality structure.

Instructions for the Ammon Self-structural test - personality disorder, human psyche

Below, in the Ammon structural test, you will see a number of statements about certain ways of behavior and attitudes of a person, and you will find out whether you have any personality or mental disorders.

You can answer: agree - disagree (true - false).
Please note: There are no right or wrong answers in the I-structure test, because Every person has the right to their own point of view.
Answer as you think is right for yourself, without adjusting to someone else's opinion.
Otherwise, you will not be able to accurately determine what personality and mental disorders you have, and accordingly, it will be difficult to choose methods of psychocorrection.

Be sincere and honest with yourself.
Don’t think for a long time, answer quickly, preferring the first answer that comes to mind.

Questions, statements of the Ammon test for determining personality disorders and human psyche

Why Borderline Personality Disorder is Difficult to Diagnose

Borderline personality disorder is a relatively recent addition to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) of the World Health Organization. Accordingly, most practitioners in the field mental health who completed their training before 2000 were not trained in the diagnosis and treatment of this complex disorder as part of their professional curricula.

Additionally, the clinical definition of Borderline Personality Disorder is very broad. The DSM-IV defines it in terms of nine criteria, of which 5 or more are indicative of a disorder. This results in 256 criterion groups

ev, of which any group is diagnostic for BPD. Within these constellations there are high functioning borderlines who function well in society and whose disorders are not very obvious to new acquaintances or the casual observer. Also within these constellations there are low functioning borderlines who are more obvious as they cannot hold down a job and are prone to self-harm. Suicidal attempts or suicidal ideation and anorexia/bulimia are among the most serious aspects of this disorder - yet many carriers of the disorder do not exhibit this.

Correct diagnosis and treatment borderline disorder personalities are at best simply known in the community of medical professionals, family counselors and family therapists who are often hesitant to diagnose or treat this disorder. As a result, most borderlines are diagnosed or treated for other illnesses, such as depression or PTSD. If you suspect borderline personality disorder, it is best to use a professional.

Below we have listed available resources for how BPD is defined, as well as several characteristics of the disorder by professional organizations.

The Diagnostic Interview for Borderline (DIB-R) is the best known “test” for diagnosing BPD. The DIB is a semi-structured clinical interview that takes 50-90 minutes to complete. Designed to be administered by experienced clinicians, the test consists of 132 questions and observations using 329 summary statements. The test examines areas of activity associated with borderline personality disorder. The four areas of operation include:
-impact (chronic/major depression, helplessness, hopelessness, worthlessness, guilt, anger, anxiety, loneliness, boredom, emptiness),
-cognition (strange looks, unusual sensations, non-delusional paranoia, quasi-psychosis),
-impulsive actions (substance abuse/addiction, sexual deviations, manipulative suicide attempts, other impulsive behavior),
-interpersonal relationships (intolerance of loneliness, abandonment, absorption, fears of destruction, -anti-dependence, stormy relationships

behavior, manipulativeness, dependence, devaluation, masochism/sadism, demandingness, entitlement).

The test is available free of charge by contacting John Gunderson M.D. McLean Hospital in Belmont Massachusetts (617-855-2293).

The Structured Clinical Interview (now SCID-II) was formulated in 1997 by First, Gibbon, Spitzer, Williams, Benjamin. It is close to the language of the DSM-IV Axis II personality disorder criteria. There are 12 groups of questions corresponding to these 12 personality disorders. Features, their absence, subthreshold value, reliability or unreliability of information are calculated. Questionnaire available from American Psychiatric Publishing ($60.00).

The Personality Disorder Beliefs Questionnaire is a short, self-administered test that identifies tendencies associated with a personality disorder. People with borderline disorder are more likely to answer questions positively.

Other commonly used tests are the Zanarini Rating Scale for Borderline Personality Disorder (ZAN-BPD), the McLean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder (MSI-BPD). There are several free, unofficial, but useful tests available.

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder according to the National Institutes of Health

People with borderline personality disorder often have very unstable patterns of social relationships. While they may develop intense but

intense attachment, their attitude towards family, friends and loved ones can suddenly shift from idealization (intense admiration and love) to devaluation (intense anger and hostility). Thus, they may form a quick attachment and idealize the other person, but when a slight separation or conflict occurs, they suddenly go to the other extreme and angrily accuse the other person of not caring about them at all.

People with borderline personality disorder are very sensitive to rejection, even from their own family members, reacting with anger and experiencing stress even during mild events such as vacations, business trips, or sudden changes in plans. These fears of abandonment seem to be related to difficulties in experiencing feelings of attachment in relation to significant people at a time when loved ones are physically absent, and a person with borderline disorder feels abandoned and useless. Suicide threats and attempts may occur along with anger when perceived rejection and disappointment.

People with borderline personality disorder also tend to exhibit other forms of impulsive behavior, such as excessive spending, binge eating, and risky sexual behavior. Borderline personality disorder often co-occurs with other psychiatric problems, e.g. bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, drug addiction and other personality disorders.

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder - Mayo Clinic

People with borderline personality disorder often have an unstable sense of who they are. That is, their self-esteem and self-image changes frequently and quickly. They usually see themselves as evil or bad, and sometimes they may feel as if they don't exist at all. This unstable self-esteem can lead to frequent changes jobs, friendships, goals, values and gender identity.

Relationships are usually chaotic. People with borderline personality disorder often experience love-hate relationships with others. They can

idealize someone at one moment, and then abruptly and radically move to rage and hatred against the backdrop of resentment or even misunderstanding. This is because people with borderline disorder have difficulty perceiving “gray” areas—things in their perception may be either black or white. For example, in the eyes of a person with borderline personality disorder, someone can be either good or bad. The same person can be good one day and evil the next.

In addition, people with borderline personality disorder are often prone to impulsive and risky behavior. This behavior often results in harm - emotional, physical and financial. For example, they may drive riskily, engage in unsafe sex, take illegal drugs, spend money, or gamble. People with borderline personality disorder are also often prone to suicidal behavior or intentionally self-harming behavior for the purpose of emotional relief.

Other signs and symptoms of borderline personality disorder may include:

Strong emotions that often increase or decrease.
Intense but brief episodes of anxiety or depression.
Inappropriate anger, sometimes escalating into physical confrontation.
Difficulties associated with self-control - managing your emotions and impulses.
Fear of loneliness.

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder - American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5)

Individuals who fit this type of personality disorder have an extremely fragile self-concept that is easily destroyed and fragmented under stress and leads to the experience of a lack of identity or a chronic feeling of emptiness. As a result, they have an impoverished and/or unstable self-structure and difficulty maintaining stable intimate relationships. Self-esteem is often associated with self-loathing, rage and despair. People with this disorder experience rapidly changing, intense, unpredictable and reactive emotions and may become extremely anxious or depressed. They may also become angry, hostile, and feel unappreciated, mistreated, or victimized. They may engage in verbal or physical acts of aggression when angry. Emotional reactions typically occur in response to negative interpersonal events associated with loss or disappointment.

Relationships are based on fantasies of needing others for survival, excessive dependence, and fear of rejection and/or rejection. Dependency includes both insecure attachment, which involves difficulty experiencing loneliness and intense fear of loss, abandonment, or rejection by significant others; And urgent need in contact with significant others in a state of stress or grief, sometimes accompanied by very submissive, submissive behavior. At the same time, the intense, close involvement of another person

This leads to fear of loss of identity. Thus, interpersonal relationships are highly unstable, alternating between overdependence and escape from involvement. Empathy is seriously impaired.

Basic emotional traits and interpersonal behavior may be associated with cognitive dysregulation, that is, cognitive functioning may be impaired during moments of interpersonal stress, leading to information processing in a concrete, black-and-white, uncompromising way. Quasi-psychotic reactions, including paranoia and dissociation, may progress to transient psychosis. People of this type are characterized as impulsive, acting on the spur of the moment, and often engaging in activities with potentially negative consequences. Intentional self-harm (eg, cutting, burning), suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts typically occur in the context of intense distress and dysphoria, especially in the context of feelings of abandonment, when an important relationship is destroyed. Intense stress can also lead to other forms of risky behavior, including including abuse psychoactive substances, careless driving, gluttony or promiscuous sex.

1. Negative emotionality: emotional lability
Having unstable emotional experiences and mood changes; having emotions that arise due to high excitability, intensity and/or under the influence of events and circumstances.

2. Negative emotionality: self-harm
The emergence of thoughts and behaviors associated with self-harm (eg, deliberate cutting or burning) and suicide, including suicidal ideation, threats, gestures, attempts.

3. Negative emotionality: unsafe separation
Fear of rejection and/or separation from significant others; stress when significant others are absent or unavailable.

4. Negative emotionality: anxiety
Feelings of nervousness, tension, and/or being on edge; worry about past unpleasant events and future negative possibilities; feeling of fear and

uncertainty.

5. Negative emotionality: low self-esteem
Having a low opinion of yourself and your abilities; conviction of one's own uselessness and that one is worthless, self-dislike and a feeling of dissatisfaction with oneself, the conviction that one is not capable of anything and cannot do anything well.

6. Negative emotionality: depression
Frequent experiences of decline/unhappiness/depression/hopelessness; difficulties in getting out of such states, the belief that loneliness leads to depression.

7. Antagonism/resistance: hostility
Irritability, impulsiveness; unkindness, rudeness, unfriendlyness, spiteful, angry responses to minor insults and insults.

8. Antagonism/resistance: aggression
Tendency to stinginess, cruelty and heartlessness; verbal, sexual or physical violence, humiliation of others, willing and conscious participation in acts of violence against persons and objects; active and open belligerence or vindictiveness; dominance and intimidation for the purpose of control.

9 Disinhibition: Impulsivity
Acting on the spur of the moment in response to immediate stimuli, without a plan or anticipation of results, difficulty planning, inability to learn from experience.

10 Schizotypy: predisposition to dissociation
Tendency to experience interruption in the flow of conscious experience; loss of time intervals (“loss of time”, for example, a person does not know how he ended up in this place); experiencing what is happening around you as strange or unreal.

Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder - American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV)
Personality disorder is diagnosed based on symptoms and careful psychological assessment. To be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a person must meet the criteria described in the DSM. DSM criteria note that people with borderline personality disorder have a pattern of unstable relationships, self-esteem and mood, as well as impulsive behavior. They usually begin in early adulthood. This guideline is published by the American Psychiatric Association and is used by mental health professionals to diagnose mental states and insurance companies to reimburse the cost of treatment.

Borderline personality disorder is a profound pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships, self-esteem and emotional sphere, and is characterized by impulsivity beginning in early adult life and present in different contexts. For diagnosis, five or more of the following symptoms must be identified.

1. Desperate efforts to avoid real or imagined rejection. Note: (not including suicide or self-harm - these are covered in criterion 5).

2. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships, characterized by alternating extremes - idealization and devaluation.

3. Identity disorders - obvious and persistently unstable self-esteem and sense of self.

4. Impulsivity at least in two areas that are potentially harmful (eg, spending money, sex, drug addiction, careless driving, overeating). Note: (not including suicide or self-harm - these are covered in criterion 5).

5 Repeated suicidal behavior, gestures, threats, self-harming actions.

6. Emotional instability

and due to marked mood reactivity (eg, intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety, usually lasting several hours, and only in in rare cases more than a few days).

7. Chronic feeling of emptiness.

8. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty managing anger (eg, frequent temper tantrums, constant anger,

repeated physical collisions).

9 . Transient stress-related paranoid ideas or severe dissociative symptoms.

Borderline personality disorder is characterized by emotional instability, impulsivity, high degree anxiety, unstable connection with reality, problems with building relationships with other people.

An increased level of desocialization is accompanied by low self-control, sudden changes moods. A person can behave aggressively and recklessly, but at the same time have an acute need for support close people and be afraid of loneliness. As a rule, borderline personality disorder manifests itself in childhood, has a stable course and accompanies a person throughout his life.

Borderline personality disorder - description of pathology

Psychiatrists qualify borderline personality disorder as a mental illness bordering on neurosis and psychosis, and classify it as a form of psychopathy. In fact, this definition is controversial, since personality disorder is a mixed condition that manifests itself by building psychological defenses against changes at the neurotic level.

This mental disorder is difficult to attribute to any specific disease, so it is highlighted in separate category. Disputes regarding the classification of borderline disorders in the scientific community have been going on for a long time, and the similarity of symptoms with other mental illness leads to common mistakes in making the correct diagnosis.

According to statistics, people with borderline personality disorder make up up to 3% of the adult population, and in the vast majority of cases, this type of disorder is diagnosed in women. In reality, this percentage is even higher, since diagnostic errors by clinicians distort the data downward. But even such statistical percentages are a high indicator that requires the close attention of specialists.

Borderline personality disorder is accompanied by other mental disorders, a tendency to,. Failures in personal life, social and professional unfulfillment, fear of loneliness - all this leads to depression, causes suicidal tendencies and pushes a person to commit rash acts.

Causes of the disease

Experts still do not have a consensus on the reasons causing this pathology. Many are inclined to think that borderline disorder develops under the influence of a number of provoking factors, and put forward several main hypotheses that explain the origins of mental deviation:

Like most mental disorders, this disorder is more common in families where close relatives or previous generations had borderline mental disorders.

Biochemical factor

Followers of this theory believe that the deviation is caused by an imbalance in the balance of brain neurotransmitters. As you know, human emotional reactions are regulated by three main substances: serotonin, dopamine and endorphin. Deficiencies or excess production of one of them upsets the balance and leads to mental disorders.

Thus, depressive, depressed states develop with a deficiency of serotonin, a lack of endorphin leads to a decrease in resistance to stress and increased psycho-emotional stress, and insufficient production of endorphins deprives a person of the joy of life, turning it into a meaningless existence.

Social factor

Researchers have noticed that this type of mental disorder is more common among those who grew up in disadvantaged social environment. Parents who abuse alcohol or drugs, demonstrate antisocial behavior, practically do not care for the child, who copies their behavior on a subconscious level and subsequently cannot adapt to normal life.

Against the backdrop of such unfavorable conditions, personality deformation occurs, self-esteem decreases, generally accepted norms of behavior are distorted, and a person has difficulty fitting into society.

Defects in education

A full-fledged personality is formed only when proper education, in which a balance is maintained between rigor, love and respect for the little person. If a healthy, friendly microclimate is maintained in the family, then the child receives plenty of love and support.

In cases where a child is faced with the oppressive dictates of his family, an anxious personality may eventually develop. And, on the contrary, against the background of permissiveness and the absence of restrictive frameworks, a demonstrative personality grows up, who does not take into account the people around him and puts his own interests above all else.

Many experts believe that important role A traumatic situation experienced in childhood plays a role in the development of the disease. This could be the departure of one parent from the family, the loss of loved ones, physical, emotional or sexual abuse.

Representatives of the fairer sex suffer from borderline disorders much more often than men. Experts explain this pattern by a more subtle mental organization, low resistance to stress, increased anxiety and low self-esteem.

Symptoms

Borderline personality disorder has no specific symptoms and can manifest itself in different ways, which makes diagnosing the disease much more difficult. Psychiatrists identify the following signs that may indicate the presence of a mental disorder:

decreased self-esteem;
fear of change;
impulsiveness, loss of control and lack of “brakes” in behavior;
manifestations of paranoia bordering on psychosis;
life according to the principle “I want here and now”;
instability of mood, problems with building interpersonal relationships;
categoricalness in judgments and assessments;
fear of loneliness, depressive or suicidal feelings.

Self-destructiveness is an important trait characteristic of individuals with borderline personality disorders. Against the background of emotional instability, a person is prone to unjustified risks, alcohol or drug abuse. This type of personality can commit any actions associated with the destruction of health or posing a threat to life. For example, racing a car, participating in risky activities that could end fatally.

People with borderline personality disorder experience a fear of loneliness that dates back to early childhood. Hence impulsive behavior, low self-esteem, and instability in relationships. Fearing being rejected, a person is often the first to interrupt communication or, on the contrary, strives to be close at all costs, falling into psychological dependence. In this case, a person with pathological deviations either idealizes the partner and places unrealistic hopes on him, or becomes deeply disappointed and completely stops communication.

With borderline disorders, a person cannot cope with his emotions, often conflicts, gets irritated and angry, and then feels remorse and emptiness. He can start a quarrel out of the blue and even provoke a fight, and when exposed to strong stress factors, he can cling to paranoid ideas.

Characteristic statements with a borderline state

What are the characteristic statements of a person with borderline conditions describes your feelings? Here are the basic settings:

No one needs me and I will forever remain lonely. No one will protect or take care of me.
I'm unattractive, no one wants to know about me inner world and become a close person.
I cannot cope with difficulties on my own, I need a person who will solve my problems.
I don’t trust anyone, people can set me up and betray me at any moment, even those closest to me.
I have lost my individuality and have to conform to other people's desires to avoid being rejected.
I am afraid of losing control over my emotions; I cannot fully discipline myself.
I feel guilty for doing something bad and deserve to be punished.

Such attitudes are formed in early childhood and are consolidated in adulthood, first as stable patterns of thinking, which then turn into patterns of behavior. The world around them is seen as hostile and dangerous, therefore, people with borderline disorders experience fear and powerlessness in front of it.

Diagnostic methods

Diagnosis of borderline personality disorder is complicated by unstable and varied symptoms. An experienced psychiatrist makes a preliminary diagnosis after a conversation with the patient, based on his complaints and test results.

This takes into account the feelings that the patient characterizes as emptiness, resistance to change, and expectation of a special approach. A tendency to self-destructive behavior, feelings of guilt, and inappropriate reactions (anger, unreasonable anxiety) are revealed.

Good to know

The final diagnosis is made based on the results of a psychological test for borderline personality disorder, which takes into account 9 main signs of the disease:

fear of loneliness;
a tendency to enter into unstable, tense relationships, accompanied by sharp changes from devaluation to idealization;
instability of one’s own self and one’s image;
impulsiveness aimed at causing harm to oneself (bulimia, alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual promiscuity, dangerous antics associated with risk to life);
suicidal thoughts, threats or hints of suicide;
sudden mood swings;
feeling of emptiness, lack of joy in life;
Difficulties with self-control, frequent outbursts of anger;
paranoid ideas in stressful situations.

If 5 or more of the listed symptoms are observed and persist long time, the patient will be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

The patient’s condition with this disease may be complicated by additional disorders that are expressed panic attacks, depressive states, attention deficit disorder, eating disorders(overeating, anorexia). Sometimes these patients exhibit excessive emotional reactions, antisocial behavior, or anxiety disorders, which force you to avoid contact with other people.

Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder

Treatment for this condition is carried out on an individual basis and is symptomatic. That is medicines are selected taking into account the manifestations of the disease in order to stabilize the patient’s condition. The dosage of medications, the choice of a specific drug, the optimal regimen and duration of treatment should be dealt with by a psychiatrist.

With concomitant depression, suicidal thoughts or eating disorders, therapy is longer and can take several years. But even after a positive result has been consolidated, relapses of the disease often occur. First of all, the patient needs the help of a psychotherapist and psychological support from loved ones.

Psychological help

Conversations with a psychotherapist or psychologist are aimed at understanding and rethinking existing problems, as well as developing skills to control behavior and emotions. The main task of the doctor and the patient is social adaptation, establishing interpersonal relationships, forming protective mechanisms that help overcome panic fears, anxiety and develop resistance to daily stress.

Cognitive-behavioral or dialectical therapy methods are the best way to change your way of thinking and develop optimal patterns of behavior in society. They are aimed at developing the ability to adapt to any unpleasant and uncomfortable situations. Good result provides family and psychodynamic therapy aimed at overcoming internal conflict and increasing self-esteem. The psychologist suggests that many patients attend classes in support groups. Basic psychotherapeutic techniques:

Dialectical behavior therapy. This direction is most effective in the presence of self-destructive symptoms in behavior. Helps get rid of bad habits, rethink behavior, avoid unjustified risk in actions. Therapeutic effect achieved by replacing negative attitudes with positive thinking patterns.
Cognitive-analytical method. It consists of creating a certain model of behavior that excludes manifestations of borderline disorder (anxiety, irritability, anger). During the treatment process, methods are developed to stop attacks of aggression and other antisocial habits. A person is taught to think critically about what is happening, control his behavior and independently deal with the symptoms of the disease.
Family therapy. This method is more often used in the rehabilitation process, after completing a course of treatment. The process involves the sick person’s relatives and friends, who take part in psychotherapy and jointly solve the accumulated problems.

Drug therapy

The following groups of medications are used in the treatment of borderline personality disorder:

Neuroleptics. Antipsychotics prescribed in combination with psychotherapy methods to control excessive impulsiveness, prevent attacks of anger and aggression. First-generation antipsychotics are now rarely used because they do not provide the required effectiveness. From drugs latest generation Risperidone or Olanzapine are more often prescribed.
Antidepressants. The action of medications is aimed at stabilization emotional background, relieving depression, improving mood. Of the broad group of antidepressants that are best suited to relieve the symptoms of borderline disorders selective inhibitors serotonin reuptake. The main representatives of this category are the drugs Sertraline, Paroxetine, Fluoxetine.

Taking such medications helps eliminate neurotransmitter imbalances and helps correct mood swings. Treatment with such drugs is long-term, therapeutic effect develops gradually, the dose of drugs must be adjusted taking into account many factors, starting with the most minimal. Such products have an extensive list of contraindications and can cause serious adverse reactions Therefore, treatment is carried out under the supervision of a doctor.

Normotimics- a group of drugs whose action is aimed at stabilizing mood in mental disorders. These include several groups of medications - based on lithium salts and carbamazepine derivatives. New generation drugs - valproate, Cyclodol, Lamotrigine are easier to tolerate by patients, cause fewer side effects and can be used for a long time without causing addiction. For borderline personality disorders, doctors recommend taking such medications from the first days of the disease.

Borderline personality disorder is a fairly common but rarely diagnosed pathology. The disease significantly complicates the patient’s life, creates difficulties with social adaptation and problems in personal relationships. Therefore, it is necessary to set as early as possible correct diagnosis and promptly begin comprehensive and effective treatment.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) most often develops in adolescence or in early youth. It manifests itself in emotional instability, impulsive behavior, a distorted perception of one’s personality, a tendency towards unstable relationships (both with people and with school or work) and suicidal tendencies. The latter often follows from a combination of previous factors, since living with all this (especially if the disorder manifests itself in a serious form) is quite difficult.

Borderline personality disorder has been little studied, and International classification diseases it is called “borderline type of emotionally unstable personality disorder.” The word “borderline” in this case means that the disorder itself is on the border between mental and emotional (mood disorder), and although the original meaning has already lost its relevance (BPD is included in the official list of mental disorders), the name remains. In Russian, there is even a slang name for people with this diagnosis - some call them “borderliners”, from the English term “Borderline Personality Disorder”.

It is believed that the causes of the development of borderline personality disorder may include genetic features, an unfavorable emotional environment (according to some researchers, psychological and physical violence suffered in the early years of life greatly increases the likelihood of developing this disorder) and disturbances in the production of serotonin - the so-called “happiness hormone”.

How is it shown?

In fact, any mental disorder is a kind of prism through which a person perceives the world. It distorts in one way or another what we feel and think, not only about the people around us, work or study, but also about ourselves. And the main feature of borderline personality disorder is instability, which affects all areas of life.

Unstable self-perception

A person with borderline personality disorder is constantly searching for their identity, and this search may be accompanied by a feeling of fear. Such people often change jobs (and not just change one company for another, but radically change areas of activity), rush to learn different things, try on all possible religions, try to join certain social groups (in most cases, unsuccessfully). Sometimes in the process of searching it seems to them that they have finally hit the bull’s eye, but more often than not they end up disappointed, and euphoria gives way to despondency, self-loathing and real depression.

Inappropriate emotions

If you often hear from different people(precisely from different ones), that you perceive everything too acutely - perhaps you should think about it. If, because of some insignificant trifle, you can fall into melancholy for several days or even weeks, and nothing can “get you out” of this melancholy, you should think again. If the transition from Have a good mood something terrible happens at the snap of a finger - guess what is worth doing. If you constantly feel angry and easily “explode”, especially out of the blue, the same thing. And finally, if the emotional echoes of a “bad” event, especially a nonsense one, do not leave you for months, then yes, this is also a reason to tense up.

Feeling empty

And not just emptiness, but emptiness inside. People with borderline personality disorder often use this word to describe their feelings. They feel like there is nothing inside them. Not a single emotion. Not even a hint of emotion. “It’s like a black hole in the soul. You sit and try to feel at least something, but you can’t,” this is how one of the people with this diagnosis writes about his feelings.

Self harm

Cuts, burns, banging your head against the wall (literally) are one of the signs of this disorder (although it can also be a sign of many other things - we’ll clarify for those who are especially suspicious). “It’s better to feel physical pain than to feel nothing at all,” many people with BPD agree. It can also be used as a way to replace emotional pain. Physical pain attracts all the body's resources to itself, because at least at the subconscious level, the instinct of self-preservation is very strong. And at this moment, the emotional pain seems to recede and becomes less palpable and noticeable. At the same time, voluntary self-harm (even minor) in any case is extremely serious symptom, in which case we highly, highly recommend talking to someone. Better - with a specialist.

Fear of abandonment

People with borderline personality disorder have a very strong fear that a loved one will leave them. This thought is disheartening and a trigger for inappropriate behavior Any little thing can help, be it a delay at work for half an hour or a proposal to reschedule a meeting for another day. A person with BPD begins to frantically “cling” to a person dear to him (this can be not only a beloved man, but also a friend or girlfriend), check what he “really” does, get jealous out of the blue, and so on. The worst thing is that the other person, and in the end, exactly what scared the most happens: he leaves.

Unstable emotions in relationships

If you constantly swing from love to hate (and back again) in relation to all the significant people in your life, this may also be a sign of borderline personality disorder. Yesterday you praised a man to the skies, today you tell him with malicious delight what a scoundrel he is. Yesterday you admired his achievements, today you consider him a nonentity, tomorrow you admire him again. You fall in love in one second and so much that your head is literally spinning, but just as quickly and irrevocably you become disappointed in the person. You are like a child who tells his mother “I hate you” but still demands a hug. Which, in principle, is more or less ok for a child, but for an adult - well, how can I tell you. For most - not very much.

Feeling of unreality

In heavy stressful situation People with borderline personality disorder often have a feeling that what is happening is unreal. It’s as if they are in a film, and see themselves and their actions from the outside, without being able to influence anything. This is a rather scary feeling, and if you have ever experienced it, then you now understand exactly what it is about.

Impulsive behavior and self-destruction

No, not just impulsive behavior. Namely, one that potentially leads to self-destruction - psychological, physical, emotional, financial and anything else. If you have voluntarily gotten yourself into situations more than once or twice involving unprotected sex with strangers (or strangers), careless driving, drugs, large (very large) amounts of alcohol, losing large sums of money in gambling, etc. – perhaps borderline personality disorder has a lot to do with you.

Surely you have discovered at least one of the listed signs, but there is no need to panic. In order to theoretically set yourself “ increased risk» borderline personality disorder, you need to score at least five - no less. And even if you scored all eight, there is no need to panic either. But it’s very worth going to a psychotherapist. Because even if it’s not BPD, then you’re clearly not having much fun in your life, and it’s better to seek help. professional help. Well, if you still have BPD, don’t despair either. There are a lot of psychotherapeutic techniques - from cognitive behavioral therapy to medication - that can really help and make life not just bearable, but truly good. Verified.