Okay so firstly, lets tap into the more clinic definition of BPD and what characterises diagnoses via the mainstream system. Then go into the link to trauma and possible root causes for these presentations. 

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) can be a severe disorder characterised by chronic instability, with episodes of severe impulse control, interpersonal difficulties (particularly maintaining healthy relationships) and identity disturbances. 

Along side this disorder is often multiple comorbidities (meaning other diagnoses/symptoms additionally to BPD…(e.g. mood, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, eating, dissociative, addictive, psychotic, and somatoform disorders). 

Those diagnosed with BPD show emotional sensitivity with the inability to modulate intense emotional responses and inadequate return to emotional baseline. BPD does not abruptly emerge during adulthood, there will always be a symptoms present in childhood for someone to be diagnosed with BPD. The prevalence rate of BPD in general population is around 5%, while in clinical settings reaches 10- 20% of patients. 

Is also worth noting that, BPD is characterized by intense use of health services, medications, and a suicide rate of 10–50 times higher than the rate in the general population. 

This is an interesting connection because what other mental health condition do we know to be similar to the above stats? PTSD…. 

Trauma symptoms lead to very high rates of medication use, health services need and suicide rates. 

Now… why do I think this is linked? 

Traumatic events are known to impair the ability of mentalising or symbolising emotions, especially in early phases of life. Meaning trauma is the most common reason for the inability to regulate emotions. 

A recent study on this focus suggested that the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) involving emotional and physical trauma, parental mental illness, and exposure to poverty in early stages of life were the strongest predictor of BPD symptoms in 14–19-year-old subjects, even when parental psychopathology and poverty were excluded from the analysis. The evidence for the link between BPD personality disorder and trauma is growing with scientific evidence. 

Okay… so why does this link matter? 

For me personally I’m very disappointed in the medical system for how BPD patients are treated. Instead of supporting these patients who are EXTREMELY likely to have experienced trauma, we label them as BPD and they are told is a very difficult condition to treat, medications are not effective and there isnt much the system can do for them. To me that sounds like labelling THEM as the problem, instead of addressing the ROOT, which is very likely TRAUMA… NOT them, their personality or who they are. Of cause their trauma has likely shaped who they are, but IT DOES NOT have to shape and limit who they become. Who YOU become, if this is you. 

You are CAPABLE and WORTHY of healing from your trauma. A BPD diagnosis doesn’t have to limit you. Don’t let it. Reach out to me for trauma therapy to begin to feel connected to yourself and others again. 

Some studies for you to explore further: 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.721361/full

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0193953X18300820

https://doi.org/10.1080/10640260701454345