Borderline Personality Disorder Characteristics (2)

Borderline Personality Disorder Characteristics

Name

Institution

Date

Borderline Personality Disorder Characteristics

People with borderline personality disorder are unable to properly regulate emotion. They experience extreme emotion and for protracted periods and find it difficult to return to a stable emotional state. This problem leads to strong emotional reactions to stressors. An individual with borderline personality disorder encounters problems with controlling their impulse. By making hasty decisions, a person with BPD cause harm to themselves or people around them. Impulsive behavior is a characteristic that is used to diagnose borderline personality disorder especially when the behavior is pervasive or in other terms extreme. According to Milto & Odle, (2011), “array of unbalanced and intense personal relationships, characterized by interchanging between idealization and devaluation (‘‘love-hate’’ relationships).”

Impulsive Behavior

In the hobbling scene, after finding out that Paul Sheldon was attempting an escape, Annie conducts an operation she calls hobbling to prevent him from attempting the escape again. In this operation, she places a piece of wood between Paul’s both ankles and uses a sledge hammer to break them by hitting them against the piece of wood (TaraFyYou, 2013). What she does in this scene clearly demonstrates impulsivity as a hallmark of borderline personality disorder. Impulsivity is actions one conducts without foresight, premature expression, without properly conceiving the reason why and measuring it against the risk or appropriateness to the situation. With impulsivity, the outcome is always undesired. In this scene, Annie is rash, clearly mentally unstable, unpredictable and hot-headed in the sense that Paul cannot convince her otherwise. People with BPD as shown by the behavior of Annie in this scene are quick to lash out on something they perceive to be a mistake and will not realize how this reaction is unreasonable or excessive. As a characteristic of BPD, Annie behavior is pervasive, injurious and interferes with her ability to function like a normal person.

References

Milto, L. D., & Odle, T. G. (2011). Borderline personality disorder. GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MEDICINE, (4).TaraFyYou. (2013, October 16). Misery- Hobbling Scene [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pbfkNI2d_A