Rage in Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder is a personality disorder that affects how a person copes with emotions and often affects interpersonal relationships and lead to self harming behavior.

It is a psycho social disorder believed to be caused by the combination of an invalidating environment with a highly sensitive personality.

Borderline sufferers often cope with the world using a sense of rage against society. This rage can be unpredictable and uncontrollable on the part of the person who suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder.

Rage in Borderline Personality Disorder

Rage is anger that is out of control. People use anger to express a feeling related to a situation. When this escalates to rage, the expression of the anger becomes counterproductive and dangerous. Rage can become uncontrollable, violent and at times even deadly.

The Borderline Sufferer will often regret deeply the results of rage, but will be unable to make the repair necessary to heal the damaged relationship.

Anger in Borderline Personality Disorder

The anger experienced by the borderline patient often becomes self directed. This anger can lead to self injurious behavior such as self cutting or burning. This is seen many times in the case of women who turn their rage inward, internalizing the feeling and acting on it against their own bodies.

Men often act out, exhibiting anti-social behaviors like fighting and reckless driving when their anger escalates into rage. Either way the results can be very dangerous.

Splitting in Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline patients also often exhibit a phenomena called splitting. In splitting, the person perceives others as being either all good or all bad. This perception can change daily and can often lead to rage. This can result in physical and emotional outbursts against a subject by the borderline person, depending on their perceptions.

A borderline person can be very abusive and disruptive and then suddenly change her opinions and be ready to apologize. This inconsistency and unpredictability is one of the ways that rage can interfere with interpersonal relationships.

Suicide in Borderline Patients

Ultimately, some borderline patients will internalize their rage to such an extent that they may attempt suicide. This internalization of the anger is common among borderline patients.

Each year, about ten percent of borderline persons attempt suicide. Of those who survive the attempt, many report an uncontrollable rage against themselves for a real or imagined transgression. Often the rage prompting the self harming behavior is not intended to cause death, but can by accident.

Warnings Associated with Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline patients characteristically act impulsively. Sometimes the impulse to anger escalates to violent behavior and must be taken seriously as a threat.

If psychosis presents as part of the rage, there can be no telling what a borderline patient will do. At that time, it may become necessary to bring in professional intervention to insure the safety of all involved.