NIHM Director Thomas Insel considers the name of “Borderline Personality Disorder”

On the director’s blog at the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), Director Dr. Thomas Insel discusses the name of borderline personality disorder:

Director’s Blog
April 19, 2010
What’s in a Name? — The Outlook for Borderline Personality Disorder

Thomas Insel

In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” the question is posed to illustrate that a name doesn’t define a person’s feelings or intent. In psychiatry, the same may be said of that which we call borderline personality disorder. Noted primarily for symptoms such as impaired mood regulation, unstable relationships with others, and self-harming behaviors, the name “borderline personality disorder,” fails to capture the essence of this serious mental illness.

As currently defined, borderline personality disorder is considered a reflection of an essential aspect of a person’s character that influences his or her way of seeing and being seen in the world. Recent research, however, has shown that symptoms of the disorder aren’t constant and may not always be as enduring as some researchers and clinicians may think. Yet fluctuating moods and behavior also happen to define another mental illness, bipolar disorder, with which borderline personality disorder may be confused….

He concludes with this:

…Whatever the outcome of reclassification efforts, however, we must keep in mind the essence of the question — that “borderline personality disorder” by any other name would still be as real, as disabling, and as necessary to treat, as other serious mental illnesses.

Read the whole post here.

Related posts:

1. Four reasons bipolar disorder is accepted and borderline personality disorder is not
2. Proposed Changes in the DSM-V for Borderline Personality Disorder
3. Understanding Major Depression With Borderline Personality Disorder?
4. Charlie Sheen and Borderline Personality Disorder
5. Book Review: Overcoming Borderline Personality Disorder
6. Borderline Personality Disorder and Migraine Headaches
7. People with Borderline Personality Disorder over diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder
8. Angelina Jolie and Borderline Personality Disorder (again)
9. A New Name for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)?
10. Media Reports the Amy Winehouse may have had Borderline Personality Disorder

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