Sage-Tips

Can you have borderline personality without childhood trauma?

You might also be struggling with feelings of anger, fear or sadness. You might also experience BPD without having any history of traumatic or stressful life events, or you might have had other types of difficult experiences.

Can a child show signs of borderline personality disorder?

And yet a significant body of research suggests that signs and symptoms of BPD appear long before adulthood, often in younger children, and that adolescents can display the full range of symptoms that qualify for a diagnosis of BPD.

At what age does borderline personality disorder present?

According to the DSM-5, BPD can be diagnosed as early as at 12 years old if symptoms persist for at least one year. However, most diagnoses are made during late adolescence or early adulthood.

What other disorders come with BPD?

For example, a person with borderline personality disorder may be more likely to also experience symptoms of major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, or eating disorders.

How does BPD get present in children?

In fact, content analysis of DSM criteria by Geiger & Crick (2001) found five childhood indicators of BPD: hostile or paranoid worldview; impulsivity; intense, unstable or inappropriate emotion; excessively close relationships; and lack of sense of self.

How does BPD develop in childhood?

In many cases, kids who develop BPD have been abused or neglected. But the disorder can also come about in children whose loving, well-meaning parents minimize or discount their emotional reactions, because they seem exaggerated or inappropriate.

Does your child have borderline personality disorder (BPD)?

Borderline Personality Disorder is not disturbing for the family but also the person who suffers from it. Here are few signs and symptoms to show if your child has BPD. They might exhibit extremely impulsive behaviours that could end in dangerous consequences such binge eating, spending sprees, being reckless on purpose etc.

Is BPD caused by childhood trauma?

Gunderson also stresses that while people with BPD are more likely than the general population to have experienced some type of childhood trauma, the majority of people who experience trauma in their childhood do not develop BPD. Relatively few people in the general population who experience childhood trauma also develop BPD.

Is there a BPD gene?

While there is no single “BPD gene,” one twin study of over 5,000 sets of twins identified that 42\% of the variation in BPD features was attributable to genetic factors. Another twin study identified BPD had heritability factors of up to 70\%. For example, certain heritable factors may result in the vulnerabilities described.

Can you have BPD and not have PTSD?

In fact, more research shows that 54\% of the people with BPD did not have PTSD. While further research needs to clarify the overlaps or comorbidity between BPD and other complex post-traumatic presentations, and misdiagnoses may occur, it is clear there are individuals with BPD who did not experience early trauma.