Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

The primary feature of Borderline Disorder Personality (BPD) is a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, emotions and sense of self. People with Borderline Personality Disorder can also be impulsive. The American Psychiatric Association defines nine criteria of Borderline Personality Disorder in their diagnostic manual, DSM-IV-TR. Having five or more of the nine criteria suggests a clinical diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder; one to four borderline... traits.

The following questions below encompass a translation of the nine DSM-IV criteria into the realm of daily life experiences, and may help you evaluate the possibility that you or a loved one may have Borderline Personality Disorder. Everyone experiences some of these feelings from time to time. It's the propensity of these symptoms that may indicate Borderline Personality Disorder.

Questions: Borderline Personality Test

**Please note affirmative answers to the questions do not indicate a fixed conclusion. They may, however, provide you with the realization that there's a possibility you or a loved one may be a Borderline Disorder Personality. A definitive diagnosis can only be made through an evaluation by a psychiatrist or mental health care clinician who specializes in Borderline Personality Disorder. We can help you find the right professional in your area.

• Does criticism from other people, even in small measure, make you feel horrible inside?
• While being successful in your work life, do you feel as though a happy, successful relationship has been the one thing that's alluded you?
• Would you say your emotional life has been characterized by anguish?
• Have you found it hard to have close friends for very long?
• Do you feel like you have less friends than those around you?
• Do you tend to, at first, over idealize people and later often feel let down by them?
• Have you ever been accused of behaving in ways that are all or nothing with nothing in between?
• Have you taken on the values, habits and preferences of people, institutions, religions or philosophies, only to regret this decision later?
• Have you experienced intense episodes of sadness, irritability, and anxiety or panic attacks?
• Have you often felt raw? exhausted? in despair?
• Do you have trouble sleeping?
• Have you experienced chronic feelings of emptiness? Have you experienced a physical manifestation of this in your stomach or chest?
• Do you have trouble being alone?
• Have you experienced intense relationships?
• Do you feel like other people's emotional needs are too great?
• Have you felt depleted from giving it your all to relationships?
• Have you felt like since you've given it all to relationships and they haven't worked, that your only choice for sanity and balance is to not be in a relationship?
• Do you often feel lonely even when you are in a relationship?
• Do you consciously or unconsciously fear being abandoned?
• Do you seem to require more time with your partner than those you observe around you?
• Does your partner accuse you of having a double standard about the relationship?
• Have you said you feel "unsafe" in your relationship?
• Do you feel like your partner isn't telling you everything?
• Have you ever experienced an overpowering feeling that your partner was keeping things from you? Has your partner expressed feeling falsely accused of doing or saying things?
• Do social engagements and vacations often end up in turmoil?
• Do you feel a strong need for control?
• Are you often afraid that the world is going to cave in on you... that your life is going to collapse if you aren't in control of everything?
• Have you demonstrated outbursts in your most intimate relationships that seemed very appropriate at the time but you regretted later?
• Have you suffered from intense bouts of anger that last for hours, maybe even a few days?
• Are your expressions of anger sometimes followed by shame and guilt?
• Do you ever feel shameful?
• After a relationship has ended, have you felt like you're experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome?
• Do you feel like any contact with that person causes you too much stress?
• Have you ever cut someone off and refused to speak to them?
• Have you continued to refuse contact no matter how hard they try to reach you?
• Do you use alcohol or drugs to soothe your emotional pain?
• Do you have, or has anyone suggested you have, an eating disorder?
• Have you been known to spend too much, eat too much, be sexually promiscuous, or drive too fast?
• Have others commented or complained you work too much?
• Has anyone ever accused you of being paranoid?
• Have you ever cut yourself?
• Have you ever experienced so much emotional pain that you felt like you wanted to die?
• Have you ever attempted suicide?