- Hey, everybody, today we're gonna talk about borderline personality disorder and what causes it. But before we jump into that, are you new to my channel? Welcome, I am a licensed therapist, and I make mental health videos. And I release those videos
on Mondays and on Thursdays, so make sure you're subscribed and have those notifications turned on (bell ringing) so that you don't miss out. Oh, and I also wrote a book. It's called Are u ok?,
and it's available now. So if you're interested in
learning more about mental health and how you can get the help you need when you need it most, click the link in the
description and order yours now. But let's jump into this
very exciting topic. Now, when I asked those of you on Patreon to pick what video topics
you wanted me to cover next, the votes for this one
were off the charts. I assume it's because BPD
always gets a bad rap, and it's so misunderstood, as well as those of us with it can feel so shitty much of the time. And it would be nice to know what causes this horrible thing
that we're experiencing. Am I right? But before we really get into the causes, I wanna briefly describe what BPD is to those of you who may not know that yet. Now, borderline
personality disorder or BPD is a mental illness that
is characterized by, and now, I'm just gonna read a little bit from the DSM, which if you don't know what the DSM is, it's a diagnostic and statistical manual that we use to figure out what
someone's struggling with. And it's not the end-all, be-all. But it does help us better
track and connect symptoms. But anyways, BPD is characterized
by a pervasive pattern, meaning it just runs through
our whole life, right? Pervasive means it's everywhere, so it's a pattern that's
been throughout our life of instability of
interpersonal relationships, where we usually love someone so intensely or hate them with all that we have in us, and it can really be hard for us to stop that from happening because we feel everything so intensely. And we can struggle with self-image. And those with BPD can
also be really impulsive with regard to self-harm
behaviors, sex or sex life, spending, like overspending, binge-eating, reckless driving, et cetera, and will constantly worry
about being abandoned. We also can have recurrent
suicidal behavior, a lot of mood instability, right? I was talking about
loving and hating people, so we can feel really out of control. We can have chronic feelings of emptiness, inappropriate and intense anger, and even dissociative symptoms. Now, I know that that's a lot to take in, and I have an older video where I go through the
whole diagnostic criteria of BPD and what it is, and I'll link that in the description so you can, you know,
watch that at your own pace and digest all the information. But just know that those with BPD feel everything around
them very intensely. And therefore, it can be
really hard to manage it all. And that's why our relationships
can be so tumultuous. And if you think that any of these symptoms I just discussed apply to you or your experience, please reach out to a
mental health professional in your area. And I would try to find
someone who practices DBT, which is dialectical behavior therapy. I'll link that in the description for more information on that. Now, obviously BPD isn't like PTSD, where we can track back to the incident that caused the mental illness, because BPD doesn't really work like that. But due to past and present research, we do have an idea of the factors that can contribute to
someone developing BPD. And the first thing that we know is that genetics definitely play a role. And I know this answer totally sucks, and that why I wanted to just
get it out of the way first, but research does show that those of us who have a first-degree
relative like sibling or parent, meaning it's just someone that's connected to us one way. It's not like a grandma,
it would be, like, separate by one, do you see what I mean? But those, if we have a
first-degree relative with BPD, we are 10 times more likely
to have it ourselves. Now, the research isn't
really that conclusive, because first-degree relatives also tend to live in the same home, therefore, also had the
same environment growing up, which makes it really hard
to, like, tease that out and state that genetics
are what's to blame. But they also did some twin studies and have determined that
42 to 69% of our BPD, so a little, like, if we rounded that, it'd be like 50% of it is related or caused by genes. And the remaining 50%, they
say 58% or 31% of our BPD, is caused by something else. So in a way, it's like nature and nurture, so genetics do play a role, but there's also gotta be
somethin' else going on. Ooh, and the article where I got all this information and those statistics is gonna be linked in the description if you wanna read more, 'cause that's actually
pretty cool and interesting. Now, another potential cause for BPD are irregularities in brain structure. They have found through research that the parts of our
brain that are responsible for emotion regulation,
impulsivity, and aggression are different than those without BPD. And these parts of our
brain that I'm talking about are areas like our
amygdala, do you remember, it's like kind of like a little bean shape in the center of our brain, and it's our fire alarm. When we get really upset as
a kid or throw a tantrum, our amygdala is firing. When we get really angry as an adult and we're like, uh, we
don't know what to do, we see red or we're just super emotional, we just wanna cry, that's
our amygdala, it's firing. So we also find our pre-frontal cortex, which is responsible for decision making in relation to our emotions, that's kinda towards
the front of our brain. Also the hippocampus and the hypothalamus, they both send information
to the amygdala, so they're like the middlemen. And there many other parts of the brain that we collectively
call the limbic system. And I don't wanna get
too, like, nerdy on you, but that is really part
of our control center, how we feel what we
feel and do what we do. And so if you consider
what each of those parts of that system, the limbic system, do, it's really easy to see
how they can line up with a lot of BPD systems, right? So if they're finding
irregularities in those areas, no wonder someone with BPD will struggle to manage all that they feel, right? Their brain just isn't
working the same way as someone without. And on top of that,
they've even found evidence that shows the emotion
regulation chemicals like dopamine and serotonin in the brains of someone with BPD, those chemicals don't
work properly, either. So we're kinda getting a double whammy where part of our brain
isn't formed in the same way or it's irregular or misfiring, and those chemicals
aren't working, either. So no wonder we feel dysregulated and can feel overwhelming emotion. And I just find that really interesting because sometimes, it's nice to know that something else is going on and there's actually
something that's causing it. And it could be an irregularity
in our brain structure. Now, the third potential cause is trauma, or an intensely stressful childhood. We have talked about
this a lot on my channel, and many of you have already
asked me over and over, I've heard this about the differences between CPTSD, or complex PTSD, and BPD because you don't see any differences. And the truth is that they
are very much the same when it comes to looking at symptoms and some of the causes. However, not everyone with BPD has had a trauma in their life, whereas everyone with CPTSD has, okay? But we do find a strong correlation between growing up in an abusive home where we were sexually
or physically abused or even neglected in any way, that that can lead us to
developing BPD later in life. They also find that if our
home was super stressful, let's say our parents
always shouted at each other or we had to move a lot
'cause our dad or mom got transferred at work, or we didn't really know if Mom or Dad was gonna come back because they'd leave for bouts of time. Any consistent stress or
uncertainty can cause BPD. And some studies have
even gone as far as to say that bullying from a young age could lead to BPD, as well. So I think it's safe to say that any abuse, trauma, or extreme stress, while we're growing up, could be a factor that causes BPD. Now, there's still a
bunch of ongoing research, but I want you all to remember that you can overcome
borderline personality disorder. So many people online
talk so terribly about it and wanna demonize
those of us who have it. But neural plasticity is a real thing, and what that really
means, that fancy word, means that our brains can change and heal. And research does show
that if we use our tools and if it's part of our treatment plan, we take our medication, after 10 years, they checked
back up on people with BPD and found that they had no
signs or symptoms of it. And I know that 10 years
can feel like forever, but what excites me about this is the knowledge that we
can change and overcome. We know we can, they've seen it happen, people can overcome and heal from borderline personality disorder. And that at least gives us hope during some of those
shitty days or even weeks that we may be experiencing. And like I said before, if
you are struggling with BPD or some of the symptoms, please, please, please reach out to find a therapist in your area, preferably someone who's
a certified DBT specialist or even a therapist who
does attachment-based work, CBT or even a trauma specialist. All of those types of therapy
and therapists will work and can help you recover
from your symptoms of BPD. I hope you found this information helpful, and most importantly, hopeful. And I would love to
hear from you, as well. What treatment has helped
you with your BPD symptoms? Did I leave a cause out? Please let me know in
those comments down below, and I will see you next time, bye.
