Understanding Borderline Personality

In our class, Disease we chose to take a closer look on a mental disorder that we have chosen. I chose BPD, which is an abbreviation for Borderline Personality Disorder. We learned about the 5 different brainwaves that are present in different times of the day. Below is my project that will inform you what Borderline Personality Disorder is and how it can affect someones life.

In the DSM-V, BPD is defined as a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five of more of the following criteria. My definition of BPD is a personality disorder that causes constant shifts in views toward a person, unstable views in self-image, and impulsive behaviors that cause downfalls in relationships.

ALL, BPD Flier (2019)

Four distinctive symptoms of BPD include frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment, unstable views of self-image, extreme anger or difficulty controlling anger, and the inconsistent, changing view of a person in a relationship. This change of view is known as "splitting." When a borderliner begins splitting, they change their view of someone from idealization to devaluation, or vise versa.

Sammy is a woman who was misdiagnosed with Bi-polar Disorder and discovered later on that what she was really struggling with was BPD. The two disorders are constantly mixed together, which causes many misdiagnosis'. Sammy stated in a interview "I was super, super happy, at first, cause I was like, yes, I finally have something that I can try and fix. I can work towards, and go to therapy for."

The amygdala plays a huge role in differentiating those with BPD and those without it. In the brain of someone without BPD, the amygdala is more active and PFCs are more active. The PFCs are not effective, and causes the impulsive behavior in someone with BPD. To better understand where this impulsive behavior feels like, I have created a simulation of BPD for the audience members below. This is the result of the Simulation.

This is a Lesson Plan of the simulation above, as well as the brainwaves that are most active during the simulation.

Minutes into Activity	What the Student is Doing	Materials Needed	Dominant Brainwave
0	Explain that after one minute and 30 seconds into the clip, they are going to answer a question based on what they just saw, and play the clip “rats who steal”		Beta
1	Watching clip and pausing. Asking if this person is an amazing person or a monster.		Beta
2	Pausing the clip and then answering if they see this person as a good or bad person. Continuing clip until 3 minutes and 35 seconds into the clip		Beta
3	Pausing and Asking if they still see this person as good or bad.		Beta
4	Play rest of the clip and ask the same question. Set up next simulation and ask for volunteer	Stool 2 glass cups A spoon attached to a magnet	Beta
5	Talk to volunteer outside and tell volunteer to pretend to try not to hit the glass cups on the stool	Stool 2 glass cups A spoon attached to a magnet	Alpha
6	Have half of the room close their eyes and have volunteer run the simulation		Alpha
7	Explain the the simulation and why half of the audience had their eyes closed.		Alpha
8	Explain what BPD is and how the volunteer is the person with BPD and how the audience members are the people that interact with someone with BPD		Beta

This is a graph of the brainwaves that are active in the lesson plan. After the graph, there is the piece-wise function of the graph, and my work of how I came to the conclusion.

ALL, Brainwave Activity during BPD Simulation (2019)

ALL, My work of piecewise Function, (2019)

After reading and viewing my blog, try to consider more about mental health, and how important it is to empathize with those struggling with a mental disorder. I have learned a lot about BPD and how it affects someones everyday encounter with their friends and families.
SOURCES

“Brain Biology, BPD & Mindfulness.” NewHarbinger.com, 21 Oct. 2013

“Helping Someone with Borderline Personality Disorder.” HelpGuide.org, 13 Mar. 2019

Salters-Pedneault, Kristalyn. “How Prevalent Is Borderline Personality Disorder?” Verywell Mind