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
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yours now but let's jump into this very
exciting topic now when I ask those 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
want to briefly describe what BPD is to
those 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 going
to 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 we will
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 their
sex life spending like overspending
binge eating reckless driving etc 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 it can feel
really out of control and 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 that 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 DB T 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's why I wanted to 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 year relative with BPD we
are ten 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 this 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 percent of
our BPD so a little like living round of
that'd be like about 50% of it is
related or caused by genes and the
remaining like 50% they say 58 percent
to 31 percent 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 got to be
something else going on oh and the
article where I got all this information
and the statistics is gonna be linked in
the description if you want to
read more cuz it's actually pretty cool
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 in
these parts of our brain that I'm
talking about our areas like our
amygdala do you remember it's like kind
of like a little bean shape and 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 we don't know what
to do we like see red or we're just
super emotional just want to cry that's
our amygdala it's firing they also find
our prefrontal cortex which is
responsible for decision-making in
relation to our emotions that's kind of
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 are
many other parts of the brain that we
collectively call the limbic system and
I want to get to 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
symptoms right so if they're finding
irregularities in those areas
no wonder someone with BPD will struggle
to manage all 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 kind of
getting a double whammy where part of
our brain isn't like formed in the same
way or it's an 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 C PTSD 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 C PTSD 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 each other or we had to
move a lot because our dad or mom got
transferred at work or we didn't really
know if mom or dad was gonna come back
because they leave for about sometime
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 are 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 want to demonize those of us who
have it but neuroplasticity 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 check
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 air
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