BPD is marked by persistent patterns of instability in relationships, mood, and self-image. BPD is also characterised by marked impulsivity, particularly in relation to behaviours that are self-damaging. The main characteristics of BPD include:
- Extreme efforts to avoid rejection or abandonment (these threats of rejection may be real or imagined).
- A pattern of unstable and intense relationships, whereby the person alternates between idealising a person and completely devaluing him/her.
- Unstable self-image or sense of self (e.g., the individual may suddenly change his/her goals or values in life, jobs or career aspirations, sexual identity, friends).
- Impulsivity, particularly in relation to behaviours that are self-damaging (e.g., spending money irresponsibly, binge eating, substance abuse, unsafe sex, and reckless driving).
- Recurrent suicidal behaviour, gestures, threats, or self-mutilating behaviour (e.g., cutting or burning) are also common.
- Unstable mood (e.g., intense dysphoria, irritability, or anger usually lasting only a few hours).
- Chronic feelings of emptiness.
- Inappropriate intense anger or difficulty controlling anger.
- Transient, stress-related paranoid thoughts or severe dissociative symptoms (i.e., where the person temporarily loses touch with where he/she is in time and/or space).