Is there hope for borderlines?

Borderline Personality Disorder is without question treatable. It takes time – healing is a marathon, never a sprint – but with early intervention, compassionate support, and appropriate treatment, individuals living with BPD can improve and ultimately thrive.


Do borderlines ever fully recover?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) cannot be cured, and anyone who enters treatment looking for a quick and easy fix is bound to be disappointed. However, with treatment the symptoms of BPD can be effectively managed, monitored, and ultimately reduced in intensity, or entirely eliminated.

Can borderlines ever be happy?

Also, many people achieve remission — their symptoms become much less intense, so much so that they no longer meet the criteria for diagnosis. The stigma around BPD is pervasive, but many people get better. With treatment, it's possible to go on to lead a happy and healthy life.


What percentage of borderlines recover?

Follow up studies of people with BPD receiving treatment found a borderline personality disorder treatment success rate of about 50% over a 10-year period. BPD takes time to improve, but treatment does work.

Are borderlines hopeless?

Part of their surprise almost surely stemmed from an uncomfortable truth: people with BPD are often regarded as hopeless individuals, destined to a life of emotional misery. They are also frequently viewed as so disturbed that they cannot possibly achieve success in everyday life.


Hope and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)



Why borderlines Cannot be alone?

One explanation for the intolerance of being alone in BPD may be that individuals experience annihilation anxiety [10]. This is a traumatic anxiety based on an actual experience of danger and psychic helplessness [11], reflecting a fear of impending psychic or physical destruction [12].

Do borderlines get worse with age?

Borderline personality disorder usually begins by early adulthood. The condition seems to be worse in young adulthood and may gradually get better with age. If you have borderline personality disorder, don't get discouraged.

Can borderlines live a normal life?

Know that you can live a normal life with BPD.

People with BPD often have risk-taking behaviors, such as overspending, drug use, reckless driving, or self-harm due to a lack of inhibition. Although these behaviors can be dangerous, and potentially life-threatening, many people with BPD are high-functioning individuals.


Does BPD get forever?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has historically been seen as a lifelong, highly disabling disorder.

Can you outgrow borderline personality disorder?

BPD in adulthood

Studies found that most patients with BPD improve with time. After 2 years, 1/4 of patients experience a remission (less than 2 symptoms for a period of 2 months or longer) of BPD diagnosis. After 10 years, 91% achieved remission of at least 2 months and 85% achieving remission for 12 months or longer.

What is a good career for someone with borderline personality disorder?

Many people with BPD feel emotions deeply and find working in a caring role fulfilling. If you are an empathetic person, consider jobs such as teaching, childcare, nursing and animal care.


Will I ever have a healthy relationship with BPD?

Outlook for relationship

People with BPD are good and compassionate, and they can have healthy relationships. It takes work, and lifelong challenges will remain. Therapists and doctors can work with you or your partner to develop a treatment plan.

How hard is life with BPD?

Living with borderline personality disorder (BPD) poses some challenges. Intense emotional pain and feelings of emptiness, desperation, anger, hopelessness, and loneliness are common. These symptoms can affect every part of your life.

Does BPD count as a disability?

The Social Security Administration placed borderline personality disorder as one of the mental health disorders on its disabilities list. However, you'll have to meet specific criteria for an official disability finding. For example, you must prove that you have the symptoms of the condition.


What are the benefits of BPD?

8 positives of BPD / EUPD
  • Loyalty. Those with BPD tend to be extremely loyal and trustworthy. ...
  • Empathy. People with BPD are extremely sensitive to their own, and others' emotions and feelings. ...
  • Resilience. ...
  • Courage. ...
  • Elation. ...
  • Creativity. ...
  • Resourcefulness. ...
  • Intuition.


Is BPD a serious disorder?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious, long-lasting and complex mental health problem. People with BPD have difficulty regulating or handling their emotions or controlling their impulses.

Do most people with BPD recover?

Background. Recovery in borderline personality disorder (BPD) has predominantly been viewed in the context of symptom improvement and no longer meeting diagnostic criteria. Longitudinal studies have demonstrated that symptom remission is a common occurrence, with remission rates ranging between 33 and 99% [1].


Why do borderlines hurt the ones they love?

Often, the borderline person is unaware of how they feel when their feelings surface, so they displace their feelings onto others as causing them. They may not realise that their feelings belong within them, so they think that their partner is responsible for hurting them and causing them to feel this way.

Are people with BPD misunderstood?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is an often misunderstood condition. To reduce the stigma around this complex condition, it's important to separate the myths from the facts. Historically, BPD has been linked with negative stereotypes.

What is BPD life expectancy?

Results: People with Borderline Personality Disorder have a reduced life expectancy of some 20 years, attributable largely to physical health maladies, notably cardiovascular. Risk factors include obesity, sedentary lifestyle, poor diet and smoking.


Can borderlines be smart?

Learn About Borderline Personality Disorder

Many individuals with BPD are highly intelligent and are aware that their reactions may seem strong. These individuals often report feeling that emotions control their lives or even that they feel things more intensely than other people.

How long does an average BPD relationship last?

Results found in a 2014 study found the average length of a BPD relationship between those who either married or living together as partners was 7.3 years. However, there are cases where couples can stay together for 20+ years.

What does severe borderline look like?

A pattern of intense and unstable relationships with family, friends, and loved ones. A distorted and unstable self-image or sense of self. Impulsive and often dangerous behaviors, such as spending sprees, unsafe sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, and binge eating.


When does BPD peak?

Findings from community samples have demonstrated that BPD symptoms and features peak during mid-adolescence and decline during late adolescence and young adulthood [11–14].

How can you tell if a woman is borderline?

There are a handful of medically recognized symptoms of borderline personality disorder.
  • Instability in Relationships. ...
  • Extreme Emotional Swings. ...
  • Explosive Feelings of Anger. ...
  • Self-Harm. ...
  • Lingering Feelings of Emptiness or Worthlessness. ...
  • Feeling Out of Touch With Reality.