Hello I m Darren Magee and today s topic is looking at Impulsive Personality Disorder.
Now if you like this video, if you find it helpful, please click like and please
consider subscribing to my channel. But just as a reminder, this video is not a substitute for
support from a mental health professional nor is it a tool to be used to diagnose someone.
When we think of Borderline Personality, it's a condition that s often associated
with fluctuations in moods and behaviours and attitudes and so on. It's part of the Cluster
B personality group. Now that s characterised by erratic and unpredictable behaviour. People with
borderline personality tend to be very sensitive, so the slightest thing can bring about an intense
emotional reaction and that can be problematic not just to themselves but the others as well.
I have made a video on Borderline Personality Disorder and the diagnostic criteria if you
want to check that out if you think it would be helpful. But like a lot of personality disorders,
more often not we we tend to assume that it's like one size fits all. Once the diagnosis is there
everybody is the same, but Borderline Personality it's, it's like a lot of other personality
disorders. There's like a spectrum. There's many different shades, many different types. And at the
time of the making of this video there are four recognised types of borderline personality. There
is self destructive borderline, there's petulant borderline. There's quiet borderline and the
topic for today's video, Impulsive borderline. So typically someone with a borderline personality,
now they may feel a fluctuating sense of themselves. They may feel a, a fluctuating sense
of security and stability in themselves and the world around them. Their likes, their dislikes,
their opinions, they can change so often that life can sometimes seem very confusing for them.
There is also had difficulty in being able to regulate emotions, regulate their feelings,
and as a result of this,relationships can often be very unstable. The partner
indeed themselves, sometimes ,you know, they, they go from being either put on a pedestal
to being vilified. And the common behaviours associated with borderline personality is
overly dramatic behaviours, emotional outbursts. There's an intense fear of abandonment. There's
mood swings, a lot of anxiety and impulsiveness. And like all the types of borderline personality
people with impulsive borderline can find it difficult to regulate how they feel.
There's, there can be a lack of a sense of self worth, and there's a difficulty in being able to
self soothe and to self nurture. Everything can be processed, if you will, as being personal.
Everything is becomes personalised and can often come out as anger, resentment, even depression.
The personally out of the four different types of borderline personality I think impulsive
borderline can be the most charismatic and I think there are a lot of similarities between impulsive
borderline and Histrionic Personality Disorder. So to explain that, let's look at some of the common
characteristics of impulsive borderline. Firstly, as the name suggests, there can be a lot of
impulsive behaviours like this. This can involve thrill seeking behaviours, instant gratification,
risk taking behaviours. Doing things without really thinking through your perhaps not having
any regard for the consequences. Now these can involve things like, say, impulse spending,
gambling, binge drinking, drug misuse. In that moment to the person with impulsive borderline,
in that moment, it seems like it's a great idea. Secondly, there's a lot of attention seeking
behaviour, and this is one of the areas that make it very similar to histrionic personality.
Now this can involve showing off, telling heart breaking stories, wanting to outdo someone else's
story, experience. Being the funniest person in the room. In short, trying to be the centre
of attention. But with that can come quite a bit of manipulation. You know, as they
may be in order to put themselves at the centre of attention, that can sometimes mean discrediting
others. Then there are high levels of energy. This means they can become bored very easily.
Now this might involve being very passionate about a cause, you know, joining a group,
a cause of some kind. Getting involved going out with a lot of enthusiasm, but after a short
while losing interest, you know, breaking promises not following through with commitments, sometimes
not even turning up as they find something else to focus on next. Next they can be very charming.
They can be very charismatic. Have a captivating sense of magnetism about them, even be flirtatious
with others, but in some cases not necessarily realised that they're being flirtatious and
may feel very wounded or attacked if, say a partner were to point that out.
But having said that, even with the being flirtatious, a lot of relationships with
someone with impulsive borderline may involve them entertaining others one way or another, wanting to
be the focus of their world. But generally the relationships tend to be superficial.
They avoid meaningful interactions and connections of any real depth. Now I think that's because in a
lot of their relationships it's more like they're playing a role. It's something they do. You know,
that they play the role of partner, friend, rather than actually being part of something. But again,
can become quite bored in that role very quickly. But even in those roles they can be very dramatic.
There can be exaggerated gestures, huge acts of romance, huge acts of care, support, giving far
too much detail when explaining things, but feeling overly angry, overly crushed when
challenged or rejected somehow. Next, people with impulsive borderline can, can be quite mercurial
now, meaning they can be both eloquent and ingenious. That combined with rapid unpredictable
moods, opinions, behaviours means they can also sometimes be very elusive. They tend to think on
their feet a lot. Creating scenarios, finding clever ways to blame something or someone else
on the consequences of their actions. Now this can often lead to very strained relationships
with others, you know, be it with partners, with friends, or even at work. And lastly, it's not
uncommon for people with impulsive borderline to complain about recurring or chronic illnesses or
physical injuries or a disability of some kind, or even past traumas. Now, I'm not going to suggest
for one second that these things aren t real. They may well be, but there are times when these can
be exaggerated or created even. Remember the overdramatic behaviour, the attention seeking
behaviour, the elusiveness and the manipulation? Again, sometimes these conditions that they're
complaining about, they re roles that they're playing. And where there are genuine conditions,
genuine illness is genuine traumas, and soon it can be difficult to discern where that ends
on the impulsive borderline begins. And because it can also be comorbid with something else,
another personality disorder of some kind, or an addiction or, or whatever,
again that can make it very difficult to discern where one ends and the other begins. And it can
make it difficult to diagnose. So that's a brief outline of Impulsive Borderline Personality
Disorder. As always there may be examples I ve forgotten or something you'd like to add or ask.
Please use the comment box below. I am interested in some of the interesting conversations that are
starting around these videos. If you like this video, please consider subscribing to my channel
for future updates on mental health related topics and until next time. Thanks for watching.