Borderline Personality Disorder

A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following: 

(1) frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. 
Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5. 

(2) a pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation 

(3) identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self 

(4) impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, Substance Abuse, reckless driving, binge eating). 
Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5. 

(5) recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior 

(6) affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days) 

(7) chronic feelings of emptiness 

(8) inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights) 

(9) transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms

Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Copyright 2000 American Psychiatric Association