When ever you hear about borderline personality disorder or BPD, it's almost always in the worst or most extreme of situations.

This leads to a lot of stigma surrounding the diagnosis.

If you're curious about the actual criteria for BPD and if there are effective treatments for it, you'll want to listen to this episode.

Welcome back to Savvy Psychologist. I'm your host Dr. Monica Johnson.

Every week on this show, I'll help you face life's challenges with evidence-based approaches, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

I have spent a lot of my career working with folks that have diagnosed personality disorders.

And I can tell you firsthand that there is a range of severity.

There are people with personality disorders that you would never guess, and it affects people from all walks of life.

I have worked with individuals who are incarcerated, homeless, wealthy, and famous, and regardless of your station and life, untreated mental illness can steal joy and peace from you.

As always, if anything I speak about here sounds familiar to you, seek professional services.

Now we're going to hit up the DSM-5TR and explore the criteria for BPD.

The first criteria is frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.

Individuals with BPD often experience intense fears of being abandoned or rejected, leading to desperate attempts to prevent it.

These abandonment fears are related to an intolerance of being alone and a need to have other people with them.

They may go to extreme lengths to maintain relationships, even when they are unhealthy or detrimental.

In popular culture, we most often think of Glenn Close in fatal attraction or recent celebrity news.

These behaviors can also present themselves as extreme people pleasing.

Many of the folks I've worked with that have BPD will put up with more unhealthy behaviors from partners, friends, and family members than anyone would ever suggest.

What's worse is that those with BPD often look at abandonment or being mistreated as being deserved because they are inherently bad or unlovable.

The second criteria is a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships, alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.

Individuals with BPD may have difficulty maintaining stable and healthy relationships.

They may idealize others initially, viewing them as perfect, but later devalue them, perceiving them as entirely negative or unworthy.

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