Typical expressions of impulsivity in individuals with the disorder include substance abuse, spending sprees, gambling, reckless driving, risky sexual behaviour, sudden relationship break-ups (e.g., treatment dropout), and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI, e.g., cutting or burning) [3,4,5,6, 8].
Impulsivity in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been defined as rapid and unplanned action. However, a preference for immediate gratification and discounting of delayed rewards might better account for the impulsive behaviors that appear to regulate emotional distress in BPD.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with a few different thinking-related problems. These cognitive problems often contribute to other symptoms, including relationship problems, emotional instability, and impulsive behavior. Some treatments for BPD focus on addressing these problems in thinking.
BPD makes people more likely to engage in impulsive or risky behaviors, such as: Speeding or other unsafe driving. Unprotected sex or sex with strangers. Binge eating.
Identifying Episodes
Intense angry outbursts. Suicidal thoughts and self-harm behavior. Going to great lengths to feel something, then becoming increasingly avoidant and withdrawn. Paranoia, feeling as if there is someone out to get you.
It's easy for teens and adolescents with borderline personality disorder (BPD) to feel like they are the victims of a very cruel curse. This personality disorder is often characterized by an intense fear of abandonment, unstable relationships and impulsive behavior that ultimately drives people away.
Instead of being honest and calmly expressing their needs, they turn to “manipulation” tactics like self-victimizing, blaming others, picking fights, making threats, etc. For instance, instead of saying “I've been feeling anxious.
For example, an adolescent with BPD might see two of his friends talking in the hallway and develop the paranoid belief that his friends all secretly hate him and are planning to humiliate him.
People with BPD see their favorite person as someone they can't live without. “People with BPD often find themselves placing their attention on one specific person. This person may be a friend, family member, or romantic partner.
These include (1) lack of premeditation, (2) sensation seeking, (3) lack of perseverance, and (4) urgency. Lack of premeditation, reflecting a failure to think or plan before acting, is the most common conceptualization of impulsivity and is strongly captured by a majority of self-report measures of impulsivity.
While those with BPD have intense impulsivity, anger outbursts, and episodes of anxiety and depression that are obvious to those around them, turning anger inward is more typical with quiet BPD.
Overeating, purchasing without checking your bank account, and emotional outbursts are all examples of impulsivity. It's normal to act occasionally without thinking, but frequent impulsive behaviors might be a symptom of a mental health condition.
The five traits that can lead to impulsive actions
For many years it was understood that impulsivity is a trait but with further analysis it can be found that there were five traits that can lead to impulsive actions: positive urgency, negative urgency, sensation seeking, lack of planning, and lack of perseverance.
Self-harming behavior, such as cutting. Recurring thoughts of suicidal behaviors or threats. Intense and highly variable moods, with episodes lasting from a few hours to a few days. Chronic feelings of emptiness.
Paranoia as a Symptom of BPD
Under the influence of non-delusional paranoia, people with BPD may see signs and symbols of hostile intent everywhere. They may detect hidden meanings in speech, body language, casual glances, and other behaviors that would seem non-threatening or perfectly benign to anyone else.
This fear of abandonment and high rejection sensitivity may relate to their insecure attachment history, early traumatic interpersonal experiences, and their neurobiological vulnerability may also play a role.
Your family member or loved one with BPD may be extremely sensitive, so small things can often trigger intense reactions. Once upset, borderline people are often unable to think straight or calm themselves in a healthy way. They may say hurtful things or act out in dangerous or inappropriate ways.
It is now universally recognized by mental health professionals as a debilitating illness that affects every aspect of a person's life. Borderline personality disorder causes a broad range of reactions that can be considered self-destructive or self-sabotaging.
People with borderline personality disorders are aware of their behaviors and the consequences of them and often act in increasingly erratic ways as a self-fulfilling prophecy to their abandonment fears.
Lying is a characteristic often linked to such emotions, as people with Borderline Personality Disorder are highly sensitive to perceived rejection by others, and therefore they lie to avoid upsetting and alienating those close to them,” says Ellen Golding, MFT.
With borderline personality disorder, you have an intense fear of abandonment or instability, and you may have difficulty tolerating being alone. Yet inappropriate anger, impulsiveness and frequent mood swings may push others away, even though you want to have loving and lasting relationships.
A fear of abandonment is central to BPD. That can present obvious problems in a relationship, especially when you're just getting to know someone and have no idea where things are heading. Unfortunately, intense fear can lead to your partner being clingy or making unreasonable demands on your time.