Borderline Personality Disorder
Biosocial Theory
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How Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Develops
A common misconception is that individuals are born with BPD and that they will never get better/change however this is not necessarily true. It’s important to understand that BPD is developed through factors contributing to the person’s environment, genetic sensitivity, and more people than not might actually qualify for this diagnosis.
To understand how this can occur it’s important to first understand how it can develop. The biosocial theory generally explains that:
We are all born with a level of sensitivity that impacts how we process the world around us which influences how we regulate ourselves.
So if you experience emotions intensely and perceive the way the people around you react/respond to your expression as bad, wrong or not okay then you learn to try and cope with that to prevent from feeling that way again. Let me give you an example:
“Erika is born a sensitive child and one day while at the dinner table she drops her favorite cup and it shatters everywhere. Unable to process the intense sadness this causes her she began to scream at the top of her lungs because of how painful this loss is. Her parents tell her to stop crying that they will get her a new one but that doesn’t make her feel better. She continues to cry and scream and her parents respond by pleading with her, telling her to stop crying but Erika can’t stop the pain. She throws herself on the floor and while wailing she hits herself. The shock from that pain makes her forget the broken cup and somewhat feels relieving. The next time she feels these intense emotions she’s met with being sent to her room because her parents can’t deal with it so they tell her once she’s done crying she can come out. Not knowing what else to do to make the intense feelings stop she hits herself more.”
The important thing to note about the biosocial theory is that it is a no blame model.
In this example Erika was too young to have the language or understanding to express to her parents how she was perceiving their reactions. And her parents had no idea what she was experiencing or how she was thinking. When we are emotionally sensitive we experience life differently. Our emotions are much more intense and because of that it takes a longer time for us to come back to feeling calm again. And how we view the world is very unique and different from those who are not as sensitive!
So to make it simple, being sensitive AND having an invalidating environment can increase the chances of an individual developing BPD. And BPD symptoms are usually categorized as under controlled coping styles.
The golden standard of treatment for these types of symptoms is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). If you think you have BPD and could benefit from DBT treatment, then feel free to contact me to learn more about how to get started.
However, if you identify with this but you lean more towards internalizing and suppressing your emotions then you might fall on the other end of the spectrum with over controlled coping styles. If you want to learn more about that then click this link: