Borderline Personality Disorder Diagnosis

(Also Known As: BPD Diagnosis, Borderline Diagnosis, Personality Disorder Diagnosis, Behavioral Disorder Diagnosis, Narcissist Diagnosis, Narcissistic Diagnosis)

(Reviewed by: Paul Peterson, Licensed Therapist)

How is Borderline Personality Disorder Diagnosed?

Based on the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) which is used by the American Psychiatric Association as a guide for diagnosing, a DSM diagnosis of BPD requires any five out of the nine listed criteria below to be present for a significant period of time.

  • Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. (Not including suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5)
  • A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.
  • Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.
  • Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., promiscuous sex, eating disorders, binge eating, substance abuse, reckless driving). (Again, not including suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5)
  • Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, threats, or self-mutilating behavior such as cutting, interfering with the healing of scars (excoriation) or picking at oneself.
  • Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days).
  • Chronic feelings of emptiness, worthlessness.
  • Inappropriate anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights).
  • Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation, delusions or severe dissociative symptoms

Could You Have Borderline Personality Disorder?

Borderline Personality Disorder Topics

Related Conditions

Bulimia Nervosa – Binge Eating, Purging, Excessive Eating, Uncontrolled Eating
Generalized Anxiety Disorder – Uncontrollable Fears, Irrational Worry, Anxiety, Negative Anticipations
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – Compulsive Behavior, Obsessive, Recurrent and Persistent Thoughts
Social Anxiety Disorder – Abnormal Distress, Excessive Social Anxiety, Impaired Ability to Function, Fear of Embarrassment and Humiliation