Overview - Borderline personality disorder and Bipolar Disorder

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a disorder of mood and how a person interacts with others. It's the most commonly recognised personality disorder.

In general, someone with a personality disorder will differ significantly from an average person in terms of how he or she thinks, perceives, feels or relates to others.

Symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD)
The symptoms of BPD can be grouped into 4 main areas:

• emotional instability - the psychological term for this is affective disregulation
  
• disturbed patterns of thinking or perception - cognitive distortions or >perceptual distortions
  
• impulsive behaviour
  
• intense but unstable relationships with others
  

The symptoms of a personality disorder may range from mild to severe and usually emerge in adolescence, persisting into adulthood.

Causes of borderline personality disorder (BPD)
The causes of BPD are unclear. But as with most conditions, BPD appears to result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

People with BPD come from many different backgrounds, but most will have experienced some kind of trauma or neglect as children.

Treating borderline personality disorder (BPD)
Many people with BPD can benefit from psychological or medical treatment.

Treatment may involve a range of individual and group psychological therapies (psychotherapy) carried out by trained professionals. Effective treatment may last more than a year.

Over time, many people with BPD overcome their symptoms and recover. Additional treatment is recommended for people whose symptoms return.

Symptoms - Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is characterised by extreme mood swings. These can range from extreme highs (mania) to extreme lows (depression).

Episodes of mania and depression often last for several weeks or months.

Depression
During a period of depression, your symptoms may include:

• feeling sad, hopeless or irritable most of the time
  
• lacking energy
  
• difficulty concentrating and remembering things
  
• loss of interest in everyday activities
  
• feelings of emptiness or worthlessness
  
• feelings of guilt and despair
  
• feeling pessimistic about everything
  
• self-doubt
  
• being delusional, having hallucinations and disturbed or illogical thinking
  
• lack of appetite
  
• difficulty sleeping
  
• waking up early
  
• suicidal thoughts
  
• Mania
  

The manic phase of bipolar disorder may include:

• feeling very happy, elated or overjoyed
  
• talking very quickly
  
• feeling full of energy
  
• feeling self-important
  
• feeling full of great new ideas and having important plans
  
• being easily distracted
  
• being easily irritated or agitated
  
• being delusional, having hallucinations and disturbed or illogical thinking
  
• not feeling like sleeping
  
• not eating
  
• doing things that often have disastrous consequences - such as spending >large sums of money on expensive and sometimes unaffordable items
  
• making decisions or saying things that are out of character and that others >see as being risky or harmful
  

Patterns of depression and mania
If you have bipolar disorder, you may have episodes of depression more regularly than episodes of mania, or vice versa.

Between episodes of depression and mania, you may sometimes have periods where you have a "normal" mood.

The patterns are not always the same and some people may experience:

• rapid cycling - where a person with bipolar disorder repeatedly swings from >a high to a low phase quickly without having a "normal" period in between
  
• mixed state - where a person with bipolar disorder experiences symptoms of depression and mania together; for example, overactivity with a depressed mood
  
• If your mood swings last a long time but are not severe enough to be classed as bipolar disorder, you may be diagnosed with a mild form of bipolar disorder called cyclothymia.
  

Living with bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder is a condition of extremes. A person with bipolar disorder may be unaware they're in the manic phase.

After the episode is over, they may be shocked at their behaviour. But at the time, they may believe other people are being negative or unhelpful.

Some people with bipolar disorder have more frequent and severe episodes than others.

The extreme nature of the condition means staying in a job may be difficult and relationships may become strained. There's also an increased risk of suicide.

During episodes of mania and depression, someone with bipolar disorder may experience strange sensations, such as seeing, hearing or smelling things that are not there (hallucinations).

They may also believe things that seem irrational to other people (delusions). These types of symptoms are known as psychosis or a psychotic episode.

Reference:
NHS Website