Difficulty Diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder in 16 Year Olds.
DIFFICULTY DIANOSING 16 YEAR OLDS WITH BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER
INTRODUCTION:
For many years, Borderline personality disorder was considered a mental illness only associated with adults above age 18, however in recent years mental health professionals have begun to consider the possibility of Borderline Personality Disorder being diagnosed in adolescents. Borderline personality disorder is characterized by extreme patterns of impulsivity such as promiscuous sex, spending sprees, reckless drinking or abusing substances, unstable and intense personal relationships and an unstable self-image, amongst a few other symptoms. It is important to remember when making a diagnosis of Borderline personality disorder that quite often some of the symptoms associated with this illness are experienced by many people from time to time, however people with borderline personality disorder experience these symptoms severely and consistently over a long period of time. The characteristic symptoms of this illness make it difficult to diagnose it in adolescents because the symptoms are often similar to other disorders such as conduct disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
1. CLASSIFICATION OF PERSONALITY DISORDERS ACCORDING TO THE DSM-IV:
The DSM-IV-TR classifies a personality disorder as a lasting pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviates markedly from expectations of an individuals cultural, that is pervasive and inflexible and has an onset from early childhood or adolescence. It should be stable over a period of time and lead to distress or impairment of functioning.
The development of personality disorders is mainly regarded as deriving from immature and distorted patterns of personality functioning, which has resulted in inappropriate and maladaptive ways of interacting with and perceiving others.
The DSM-IV identifies 10 personality disorders:
1) Paranoid Personality Disorder, which is characterized by patterns of
INTRODUCTION:
For many years, Borderline personality disorder was considered a mental illness only associated with adults above age 18, however in recent years mental health professionals have begun to consider the possibility of Borderline Personality Disorder being diagnosed in adolescents. Borderline personality disorder is characterized by extreme patterns of impulsivity such as promiscuous sex, spending sprees, reckless drinking or abusing substances, unstable and intense personal relationships and an unstable self-image, amongst a few other symptoms. It is important to remember when making a diagnosis of Borderline personality disorder that quite often some of the symptoms associated with this illness are experienced by many people from time to time, however people with borderline personality disorder experience these symptoms severely and consistently over a long period of time. The characteristic symptoms of this illness make it difficult to diagnose it in adolescents because the symptoms are often similar to other disorders such as conduct disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
1. CLASSIFICATION OF PERSONALITY DISORDERS ACCORDING TO THE DSM-IV:
The DSM-IV-TR classifies a personality disorder as a lasting pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviates markedly from expectations of an individuals cultural, that is pervasive and inflexible and has an onset from early childhood or adolescence. It should be stable over a period of time and lead to distress or impairment of functioning.
The development of personality disorders is mainly regarded as deriving from immature and distorted patterns of personality functioning, which has resulted in inappropriate and maladaptive ways of interacting with and perceiving others.
The DSM-IV identifies 10 personality disorders:
1) Paranoid Personality Disorder, which is characterized by patterns of
References: Goodman,M., Hazlett, E.A., New, A.S., Koenigsberg, H.W., & Siever, L. (2009). Quieting the affective storm of Borderline Personality Disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166,522-528 Gunderson, J.G. (2009). Borderline Personality Disorder: Ontogeny of a diagnosis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 530-539 Kernberg, O.F., & Michels, R. (2009). Borderline Personality Disorder, American Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 505-508 C. Phend. (2009). APA: Borderline Personality Disorder often missed first time around. Medpage Today Mash, Eric, J and Wolfe, David (2010) “Abnormal Child Psychology” fourth edition, Wadsworth Learning