What is Borderline Personality Disorder? | Signs of BPD in Teens

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines BPD as a cluster B personality disorder that involves long-term patterns of unstable emotions. Identifying bpd in teens early is essential, as the condition can make regulating emotions extremely difficult for adolescents. That inability to control your emotions can lead to impulsivity, chronic feelings of doubt, low self-esteem, and poor relationships.

What Are Cluster B Personality Disorders?  

BPD is classified as a Cluster B personality disorder. When diagnosing borderline personality disorder in teens, professionals look for this group’s signature dramatic and impulsive behaviors. BPD is just one of a number of common personality disorders in this group. They all have similar traits.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Antisocial personality disorder focuses on social norms and the rights of others. Like with BPD, there is a pattern of behaviors, but they involve violating the rights of others and having no remorse afterwards. The behaviors can be reckless and even violent.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Histrionic personality disorder features attention-seeking behaviors. For example, a teen with this disorder may dress inappropriately or be overly dramatic in public. Due to this need for attention, they often struggle to develop healthy relationships.

Is BPD the Same as Cluster C Personality Disorders? 

Like all personality disorders, those that fall into the Cluster C category involve long-term patterns of behaviors and thinking different from those of most people. The characteristics of Cluster C include thoughts that make you anxious and fearful.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

This is one example of a Cluster C personality disorder. People with this mental health condition are extremely shy. They will typically avoid meeting people or developing relationships because they fear rejection.

oth groups of personality disorders are long-term and lead to unhealthy patterns of behavior and thinking. The symptoms of borderline personality disorder in teens build stress for everyone around the adolescent and impact their social relationships.

Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms 

Adolescents with BPD struggle with their identity, which is critical during the formative years. Understanding the specific signs of borderline personality disorder in teens is vital during this period when a sense of individuality is still forming.

Some common BPD symptoms include:

  • Chronic feelings of emptiness
  • Risky behaviors, including unsafe sex and substance misuse
  • Being impulsive
  • Self-harm
  • Repeated crises
  • A distorted view of themselves
  • Fears of abandonment
  • Do not like to be alone
  • Inappropriate anger
  • Recurring thoughts of suicide
  • Unstable relationships
  • Moodiness
  • Dissociation

Not everyone with BPD will have all these symptoms, which may occur at different severities and frequencies; however, comprehensive teen personality disorder treatment is designed to address the specific combination of symptoms each individual faces. Mental health professionals tend to break down the symptoms into four broad groups. It is important to remember that the presentation of bpd in teens may vary, with symptoms occurring at different severities and frequencies:

  • Emotion instability: One of the hallmark signs of bpd in teens is intense negative emotion, such as rage or shame. Their moods may swing up and down within just hours, causing them to appear overly emotional.
  • Distorted thinking: Some bpd symptoms in teens involve cognitive distortions, where they experience negative thought patterns or feel like people are ignoring or lying to them. In severe cases, they may even hear voices.
  • Impulsive behavior: Impulsive behaviors will include either self-harm or something irresponsible. Examples might be binge drinking, cutting, drug misuse, or unprotected sex.
  • Unstable relationships: Those with BPD are often either desperately clingy or feel like they are being smothered in a relationship. They have a fear of abandonment, so they may panic at the idea of losing someone, but then push them away if they get too close. They struggle to find balance in a relationship or their personal lives.

Those with BPD might develop other mental disorders like depression, substance use disorder, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCD). These mental health disorders are related directly to the BPD.

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What Causes Borderline Personality Disorder? 

The exact cause is unknown, but there are potential risk factors that might play a role.

Family History

Genetics can play a significant part in personality disorders. Someone with a close family member with BPD is at risk.

Brain Structure

Research indicates that the brain structure of those with BPD and other personality disorders may be different in key areas. These include the parts of the brain that control impulses and regulate emotions.

Environmental Risk Factors Like Childhood Abuse and Trauma

People with BPD may have a history of child trauma, including abuse and abandonment.

The Benefits of Early Intervention in Borderline Personality Disorder 

BPD is a mental illness that is not always diagnosed correctly in young adults. There are benefits to early intervention, though.

Studies show that early intervention in BPD may prevent the full disorder from developing in adulthood, leading to more positive long-term outcomes. Early intervention allows mental health professionals to address the symptoms and potentially control the progression of the disorder. That, in turn, can reduce the risks of severe complications associated with it, such as self-harming behaviors, intense emotional dysregulation, and suicidal tendencies.

Reduced symptoms mean less risky behaviors and improved social and communication skills. Treatment during the teen years could mean enhanced mental health and self-image. That would allow the teen to build positive personal relationships throughout their lives.

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Diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder

Diagnosing BPD will often start with a thorough medical exam, with possible imaging and blood tests. This helps to rule out other potential causes of the symptoms. It will also include a family medical history since personality disorders tend to be genetic.

Diagnosing borderline personality disorder requires a mental health evaluation, interview, and close look at the signs. A counselor will review the symptoms to analyze and create a treatment plan. They will look for symptoms that occur for at least one year and meet the criteria established in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

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Treatment For Teens With Borderline Personality Disorder 

Adolescent borderline personality disorder treatment centers like Elevate Mental Health provide evidence-based treatment options for mental illness in teens. The professionals there create individualized care plans based on the teen’s evaluation and personal needs, and diagnose other mental health conditions like obsessive compulsive personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder, or bipolar disorder at the same time.

Psychotherapy

Most treatment plans for young people include psychotherapy or talk therapy. Psychotherapy uses communication to build a relationship and better understand the symptoms. It allows teens to explore thoughts and feelings and see how they relate to behaviors. A number of these therapies can be effective for BPD.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT is a treatment for BPD that helps teens manage intense emotions and reduce the risk of impulsive actions using distinctive skill sets, such as:

  • Mindfulness: Staying in the present and fully engaging in whatever you do
  • Distress tolerance: Coping with intense emotions without engaging in risky behaviors
  • Emotion regulation: Identify and understand emotions
  • Interpersonal effectiveness: Improving communication skills and establishing personal boundaries

This combination can enhance interpersonal relationships and help create control over behavior.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT combines two evidence-based treatments to help identify negative thought patterns and the behaviors they trigger. Cognitive therapy focuses on negative or false thought processes and patterns. Teens with BPD may have unstable self-esteem that promotes these fictitious thought patterns.

Behavioral therapy helps to control behavior. BPD can lead to impulse or sometimes harmful behavior in response to false thinking.

CBT allows the therapist to make a connection between risk factors, thoughts, the feelings they evoke, and the behaviors that result from them. This helps people with a mental health disorder better understand why they do things and how distorted thoughts play a role in their actions. CBT also helps them develop strategies to better cope with their negative feelings and avoid destructive behaviors like alcohol or drug abuse.

Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT)

MBT helps teens with BPD learn to regulate their often-intense emotions. The therapy uses mentalization to recognize how they can influence behavior by exploring their mental states to understand it better.

MBT can be especially effective for BPD because it allows sufferers to regulate their emotions better and to identify their risk factors. This can lead to stronger relationships.

Schema Therapy

Schema therapy focuses on thought patterns and behaviors that stem from childhood experiences. It aims to find healthier ways to meet emotional needs and break free from negative patterns.

Family Therapy

Family plays a significant role in supporting people with personality disorders. Family therapy allows family members to understand behaviors and risk factors better and support positive ways to cope with strong feelings. It also provides a safe space for families to discuss issues that might impact treatment for BPD.

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Get Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder in Teens

The mental health professionals at Elevate Mental Health will often create a combination care plan that includes talk therapy, family therapy, and medication management to reduce risk factors and improve control. Contact us today.