Emotional Personality Instability Disorder: Symptoms And Treatment

Emotional personality instability disorder has this name in ICD 10 (classification of mental and behavioral disorders), but in the DSM-5 (diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders) this disorder is equivalent to the so-called borderline personality disorder. the personality. In general, the DSM-5 defines borderline personality disorder as one that is characterized by marked impulsivity and a pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotions.

On the other hand, ICD 10 understands the disorder of emotional instability of the personality as that disorder in which there is a marked predisposition to act impulsively and without taking into account the possible consequences that these impulsive acts may cause, giving rise to insufficient planning of the acts.

What is emotional instability personality disorder?

A personality disorder is a set of maladaptive traits, that is, a way of thinking, feeling and acting that is not healthy for the person or their environment. In the behavioral pattern of people with emotional instability personality disorder, outbursts of anger and violence are very frequent, which is why they are shown unable to control their own actions impulsive Well, this encourages violent attitudes, aggressive and explosive. Furthermore, it should be noted that it is common for these people to have an unstable mood.

The fact that people who suffer from this disorder show aggressive, impulsive and unstable behavior usually leads them to establish conflicts with the people around them and difficulties in establishing social relationships and interpersonal, whether because other people try to control or prevent these acts, why they decide to avoid people who suffer from this disorder, among others.

Below we present some of the symptoms of emotional instability personality disorder:

• Impulsive behavior.
• Unstable mood.
• Emotional instability.
• Poor planning capacity.
• Another symptom of emotional instability personality disorder is violent behavior and anger.
• Difficulty controlling your impulses.
• Difficulties in social and interpersonal relationships.
• Unstable and intense interpersonal relationships.
• Unstable behavior.
• They tend to display self-destructive behavior, suicidal ideation or attempts.

How many types of this disorder are there? We can distinguish two types of emotional instability of the personality disorder: the impulsive type and the borderline type, which are explained below.

Impulsive type disorder occurs when all the general criteria of specific personality disorders are met, some of these criteria being general malaise, the individual’s way of being and behaving is far from the norms accepted and expected by the culture. , negative effects in different areas (social, work…), among others.

Furthermore, in order to ensure that a patient suffers from the impulsive type of this disorder, at least: three of the following criteria one of which must necessarily be the second:

• Predisposition to act unexpectedly without thinking about the possible consequences.
• Predisposition to present aggressive and impulsive behavior and predisposition to have conflicts with the people around them, especially when these people try to prevent or censor impulsive acts.
• Tendency to present outbursts of anger and violence, resulting in a poor ability to control their own explosive behaviors.
• Difficulties in carrying out long-term activities that do not offer an immediate reward.
• Unstable mood and mood.

Borderline disorder occurs when the general criteria for specific personality disorders are met, some of them mentioned above. But at the same time, at least three of the impulsive type’s criteria must also be met and, in addition, a minimum of two of the following criteria specific to the limit type:

• Alterations or confusion in relation to one’s body image, one’s goals, and one’s intimate preferences (including sexual preferences).
• Ease of establishing intense and unstable relationships, which usually end in emotional crises.
• Excessive efforts to avoid being or feeling abandoned.
• Repeated threats or acts of self-harm, as well as suicidal ideation or attempts.
• Feelings of emptiness that persist over time.

In order to provide adequate treatment for this disorder, it is recommended to carry out a treatment that includes impulse control and impulsivity. Therefore, it is common to resort to cognitive-behavioral techniques and dialectical behavioral therapy.

Through cognitive-behavioral techniques, the aim is to teach patients self-control techniques, as well as teaching them to detect signs that indicate that they may act impulsively, in order to be able to control them before they break out. We also try to encourage and work towards greater control to distance thoughts and emotions from impulsive behaviors that usually appear automatically. Furthermore, efforts are made to enhance patients’ ability to modify their inappropriate thoughts and attitudes in order to relate effectively to their environment.

Thus, the goal that can be achieved with this treatment is related to having a greater self-control, self-confidence, reflective thinking assertiveness, functionality, conflict management, avoiding feelings of guilt and emptiness, among others.

On the other hand, it is also very important to work on self-destructive behaviors and suicidal ideation. For this reason, it is essential to resort to dialectical behavioral therapy, because it allows working on the patients’ limitations in relation to interpersonal relationships, control of emotions and the ability to control suffering. Thus, from this type of therapy, these limitations are worked on both at the group and individual level.

With dialectical behavioral therapy what is intended is, in a group format, teach basic skills and, individually, work on motivation and follow up with the patient through telephone calls to provide support and help them extrapolate the skills learned to situations in their daily life. Furthermore, the therapist seeks to support and accept the patient and encourage self-acceptance, while at the same time attempting to promote a change in the patient’s behavior. Therefore, it is important for the therapist to reinforce all the progress and efforts made by the patient.

However, it is common to use therapeutic and pharmacological treatment at the same time, which is why it is recommended to go to health professionals so that they can correctly evaluate the specific case of each patient and be able to carry out a combination of treatments adapted to each situation

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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