Summary PYC4802 - Psychopathology, Personality Disorders

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PERSONALITY DISORDERS:
Borderline Personality Disorder




Student:

Unique Number:

Due Date: 09/07/2021




PLAGIARISM DECLARATION



1. I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is using another’s work and pretending that
it is one’s own work.
2. I have used the American Psychological Association (APA) as the convention for
citation and referencing. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this assignment
from the work, or works of other people has been attributed and has been cited and
referenced.
3. This assignment is my own work.

4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of
passing it off as his or her own work.
5. I acknowledge that copying someone else's assignment, or part of it, is wrong, and
declare that this assignment is my own work

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction 1
2. DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria 1
2.1 DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Personality Disorders 1
2.2 DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder 2
3. Problems related to identifying Borderline Personality Disorder 3
3.1 Stigmatization and labelling 3
3.2 Lack of research into BPD 4
3.3 Medical information and lack of recognition by medical aids. 4
3.4 Medication and financial compensation issues 5
3.5 Timeframe 5
3.6 Lack of understanding 6
3.7 Cultural background 6
3.8 Comorbidity related to identifying 7
4. Problems related to diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder 8
4.1 Underdiagnosis of BPD 8
4.2 Onset myth 8
4.3 Myth that BPD is untreatable 9
4.4 Gender discrimination 9
4.5 Incorrect assessment/techniques used to diagnose BPD 9
4.6 Labelling 10
4.7 Diathesis-stress perspective development model 10
4.8 DSM-V challenges 10
4.9 Comorbidity related to identifying 11
4.10 Lack of knowledge / reliability 11
5. Conclusion 12
6. References 13

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Keywords: Borderline personality disorder; Personality disorders; Comorbidity; discrimination;
helpful practices; stigma; self-harm.


1. Introduction


The American Psychology Association adopts a definition of the term ‘personality’ from the
Encyclopaedia of Psychology and states that personality refers to “individual differences in
characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving”. According to Castillo (1998), the core feature
of Borderline Personality Disorder is a persistent instability in relationships, the way the person sees
him/herself and emotions. When a person suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder, they have an
intense fear of rejection and abandonment as well as a need for affection and closeness. Co-morbidity
exists between Borderline Personality Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mood disorders,
Depression and Impulse Control Disorders. Other factors contributing to problems relating to
identifying and diagnosing BPD are the stigma attached to BPD, underdiagnosis of BPD, prescription
of medication for BPD (which has proved generally unsuccessful), lack of research, etc. This essay
aims to discuss and analyse the problems that Clinicians face when identifying and diagnosing
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).


2. DSM-5 Criteria


2.1 DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Personality Disorders


General diagnostic criteria for a Personality Disorder (APA, 2013, p.689)


”A. An enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviates markedly from the
expectations of the individual’s culture. This pattern is manifested in two (or more) of the following
areas: