Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental health illness, that causes you to have difficulties with how you think or feel about yourself and others; leading to problems functioning in everyday life. It causes severe mood swings, difficulty managing emotions and relationship issues. People suffering from borderline personality disorder can behave impulsively.

Borderline personality disorder is most common in early adulthood, but often improves with age. People who suffer with borderline personality disorder have an intense fear of abandonment, or rejection. They often compete for social acceptance, yet self-destructive behaviour and mood swings can result in them pushing people away.

Symptoms of borderline personality disorder can include fear of abandonment, leading to extreme measures to avoid rejection. Self-injury or suicidal thoughts or attempts, can result from poor self-image and rapid changes of self-identity. Extreme mood swings, lasting up to a few days; that include feelings ranging from extreme happiness to extreme and inappropriate anger, shame, guilt and self-loathing. Periods of psychotic-like paranoia and distortions of reality can last from minutes to a few hours. Feelings of emptiness or loneliness are common, and often culminate in reckless behavior.

Although there is no clear understanding of what causes borderline personality disorder; it is thought to be caused by factors such as genetics, brain abnormalities or even environmental factors.

Evidence suggests that you are more likely to be given the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder if a member of your family has also received the same diagnosis. However, it is hard to distinguish if the mental illness has been influenced from environmental factors such as child abuse, neglect; or even if traumatic life experiences can cause borderline personality disorder.

Left untreated borderline personality disorder can have many complications. It can damage personal relationships, school or work life, socialisation and self-image; culminating in the possibility of self-harm or suicide.

The treatment for borderline personality disorder is psychotherapy, but Doctors may feel medication such as antipsychotic, antidepressant or mood stabilizing drugs can complement therapy. Hospitalization may also be recommended if it believed the patients safety to be at risk.