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I do not agree that the name for Borderline Personality Disorder can be accurately or effectively changed – YET!  This post is about why not.

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From the BPD Today website:

“The term BPD was coined during a time when little was known about this disorder. This name does not describe the disorder accurately and a new name needs to take it’s place. Emotional regulation disorder is very commonly used along with emotional intensity disorder.

Feel free to vote yourself on the name for this very painful disorder and read information on other’s thoughts.”

NAME SUGGESTIONS ON THIS SITE

Emotional Regulation Disorder

Emotional Intensity Disorder

Impulsive Disorder

Impulsive-Emotional Dysregulation Disorder

Impulse Regulation Disorder

Emotionally Unstable Disorder

Emotional Impulsive Disorder

Emotionally Impulsive Disorder

None of the above

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I would expect a collection of possible names for a change from Borderline Personality Disorder like this one to appear through some joint effort of a group of 5^th graders!

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Every single one of these name suggestions (except the last one!) is a simple description of what nearly half of our population suffers from to one degree or another:  A developmentally changed emotional processing ability caused by an insecure attachment disorder.  (Remember – feeling NOTHING is not a healthy way to regulate emotions, either!)

Early infant-caregiver interactions FORM the right emotional-social brain’s regulatory abilities – or not.  Given that currently experts suggest that 50% to 55% of the population has a secure attachment brain, and that the other 50% to 45% of the population does not – then – DO THE MATH!

If there is a problem of ‘stigma’ with the name for BPD, deal with the stigma.

If there is a problem with many people being misdiagnosed and tossed into this disorder’s category because it is being used as some sort of catch-all – deal with professional inaccuracy.

BUT – until researchers can specifically and accurately pinpoint the nervous system and brain changes that are FUNDAMENTAL indicators that Borderline Personality Disorder exists within the physiological BODY of a person, we cannot safely or reasonably change the name of this disorder.

This day is coming.  We might get the willies thinking about the ramifications of being diagnosed with a so-called ‘mental disorder’ through such specific and accurate means – but why would it be any different that all the current ‘medical’ diseases being diagnosed through blood tests, MRIs, etc.?

Not one single ONE of these suggested ‘new’ names carries any useful information about what is unique about Borderline Personality Disorder other than having difficulty regulating emotions – which happens to nearly half of our population that has some degree of insecure attachment disorder.

This would be like someone identifying one of my little pinky’s fingernails, and then suggesting they know EVERYTHING possible about my body from that tiny fragment of information.  ‘Emotional dysregulation’ is a result of inadequate early infant-caregiver brain building interactions.  Yes, a MAJOR problem, but nothing more than the very tip of the beginning for understanding WHAT Borderline Personality Disorder is and what it does to a human being.

My advise?  “Be extremely careful here, folks!  Do not let the ‘snake’ charm you!”  Until we can identify exactly what the venom of the ‘snake’ of the disease of Borderline actually IS, where it came from, how to handle it safely, and how to protect especially the offspring of BPD parents from the extremely dangerous potential that BPD carries for child abuse, we better quit wasting time trying to invent a senseless, meaningless, useless (innocuous?) name for a devastating disorder that we know VERY LITTLE about!

I believe that Borderline Personality Disorder is a symptom of trauma-altered infant=child development that has affected all areas of development.  The central nervous system – including the brain – has been changed so that the regions, circuits, pathways and patterns of the BPD brain DO NOT MATCH “NORMAL.”  The autonomic nervous system (the stress response (HPA-axis) and the calm/connection systems) have been changed, along with the vagus nerve system.  I believe that in approximately 10 years serious and fruitful research into BPD will also identify alterations in immune system response, as well.

THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL!  The development of ‘self’, of consciousness, of conscience, of perception of reality, of the ability to recognize ‘self and other’, of the ability to ‘feel felt’ and have a ‘Theory of Mind’ that allows for true empathy and appropriate response, of the ability to process ‘time and space’, formation and operation of all memory-related abilities, and the operation of dissociation, ‘splitting’ and ‘projection’ are all aspects of BPD that delineate this disorder into one that requires far more than a modicum of attention from 5^th-grade level imagination – and its ‘pretend’ belief that the ONLY thing that is disturbed in BPD is regulation of emotions!

To ignore the facts is dangerous as well as stupid, no matter what the supposed intentions might be to ‘spare a poor Borderline’ from social stigma.  Once upon a time someone might have been able to sanely say, “Give Hitler a cup of hot chocolate and he will get better.”  Are we smarter now about the massive complications of human early development that could create such a monster?  I suppose we might be.  There are people today who have advanced to this level:  “Give that man a cup of hot chocolate and ADD MARSHMALLOWS and NOW everything will be better.”  (i.e., “change the name.”)

Is making a reference to Hitler insensitive and just plain rude?  Think about it.  What power especially MOTHERS have to influence the total body-brain-mind-self development of their offspring!  They are affecting not only the lifespan of their children, but their children’s children.  True, a much smaller universe.  But believe me — my Mother was not a whole lot ‘less evil’ than any Hitler could have been within the domain of her very own home.

If there are currently people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder – I say again — who do NOT BELONG in that diagnostic category — THIS IS A PROBLEM in itself that has nothing to do with the diagnostic criteria for this disorder itself.

Guess what?  I don’t think so.

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FYI:

Psychobiology and molecular genetics of resilience

Adriana Feder¹, Eric J. Nestler² & Dennis S. Charney²

Abstract

Every individual experiences stressful life events. In some cases acute or chronic stress leads to depression and other psychiatric disorders, but most people are resilient to such effects. Recent research has begun to identify the environmental, genetic, epigenetic and neural mechanisms that underlie resilience, and has shown that resilience is mediated by adaptive changes in several neural circuits involving numerous neurotransmitter and molecular pathways. These changes shape the functioning of the neural circuits that regulate reward, fear, emotion reactivity and social behaviour, which together are thought to mediate successful coping with stress.

• View At a Glance HERE