When people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) drink alcohol, it often intensifies their core symptoms like emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and relationship instability, leading to heightened mood swings, increased risk-taking (reckless driving, unsafe sex), and a greater risk of self-harm or suicidal behavior, as alcohol lowers inhibitions and disrupts brain function, complicating recovery and treatment efforts. Alcohol can temporarily dull intense emotions, but ultimately worsens the underlying issues, creating a cycle of self-medication and increased distress.
The physical and mental health impact of this disorder is so severe that life expectancy among people who have BPD is about 20 years less than the national average.
People with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) split as a subconscious defense mechanism to cope with overwhelming emotions, particularly fear of abandonment and intense feelings of anxiety, by viewing themselves, others, or situations in black-and-white, all-or-nothing terms (good vs. bad) instead of integrating complex, contradictory qualities. This protects them from pain by simplifying a confusing world, but it leads to rapid shifts between idealizing someone as perfect and devaluing them as terrible, often after minor perceived slights or triggers.
If Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is left untreated, symptoms worsen, leading to severe emotional instability, chaotic relationships, chronic emptiness, and a significantly higher risk of self-harm and suicide, alongside developing co-occurring mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, severely impacting daily functioning and overall quality of life.
This is because alcohol interferes with the brain's ability to regulate emotions and control impulses. As a result, individuals with BPD may behave in ways that are out of character when they are drinking. This can include engaging in impulsive and risky behavior, lashing out at others, or engaging in self-harm.
Unstable Behaviour
Borderlines are already impulsive and have a high risk of self-harming behaviour. Alcohol makes people lose their inhibitions just the same and increases the risk of suicide. Combined, the two make things worse.
Drinking alcohol can increase blood pressure and strain the kidneys. It also dehydrates the body. This makes it significantly harder for the kidneys to effectively filter waste. If you have kidney disease, alcohol can make it worse by damaging kidney cells.
BPD symptoms often start to emerge in early adolescence. 5 Symptoms may worsen through adolescence, particularly if risk factors like low socioeconomic status, stressful life events, family adversity, and exposure to abuse are present.
Clinicians may be apprehensive about the level of risk associated with symptoms of BPD, such as non-suicidal self-harm,and suicidal behavior, Shannon Sauer-Zavala, PhD, a research assistant professor at Boston University and director of the Unified Protocol Institute, told Psychiatry Advisor.
To qualify for SSDI or SSI benefits based on BPD, an individual must meet the SSA's definition of disability, which requires: The inability to engage in substantial gainful activity (SGA) The inability to perform previous work or adjust to other work due to the medical condition.
Why BPD Symptoms Peak in Early Adulthood. In the 20s, identity formation and independence conflict with emotional vulnerability. Research shows impulsivity and mood swings occur most frequently between the ages of 18-25.
Patients with BPD showed significantly reduced volumes of both brain structures (left hemisphere hippocampus reduced 15.7%, right hemisphere hippocampus reduced 15.8%, left hemisphere amygdala reduced 7.9% and right hemisphere amygdala reduced 7.5%).
How can I help myself in the longer term?
Don't…
Investigators found a disproportionately higher risk for suicide and nonsuicidal death in patients with BPD who did not achieve recovery.
While a marriage can potentially survive BPD, it takes a lot of trust, patience, understanding, and willingness to work together through the issues.
Fear of Abandonment & Being Alone
For many with BPD, the fear of abandonment represents one of the most challenging aspects of living alone. This core symptom can trigger intense emotional responses when physically separated from others for extended periods.
A common misdiagnosis and coexisting disorder with BPD are bipolar disorders. Both conditions have crossover traits that can be difficult to distinguish from one another. However, both disorders are conceptualised differently: BPD as a personality disorder and bipolar disorders as a brain disease.
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a type of therapy specifically designed to treat people with BPD. DBT is based on the idea that 2 important factors contribute towards BPD: you are particularly emotionally vulnerable – for example, low levels of stress make you feel extremely anxious.
Every person is different, but here are some of the most common triggers for people with BPD:
Living with borderline personality disorder can be difficult, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. If you have been diagnosed with BPD, there are ways for you to manage your symptoms and lead a happy, fulfilling life.
The condition is most serious in young adulthood. Mood swings, anger and impulsiveness often get better with age. But the main issues of self-image and fear of being abandoned, as well as relationship issues, go on.
As Dave found out, taking other drugs, including alcohol, may cause your HPPD symptoms to get worse.
The liver can develop new cells, but prolonged alcohol misuse (drinking too much) over many years can reduce its ability to regenerate. This can result in serious and permanent damage to your liver.
Researches also indicate positive impacts in treating diabetic nephropathy and renal ischemia/reperfusion injury. The findings suggest that ginger phenolics could be effective in slowing down the progression of chronic kidney disease by targeting multiple aspects of kidney function.