How would you explain what borderline personality disorder is to someone who doesn’t have it?
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Best way I’ve heard it described is:
People have skin to protect us, so a person with no skin would feel extreme pain at even being touched.
People with BPD have little to no “emotional skin,” so they can feel extreme emotional pain in response to small triggers.
For example: Boyfriend hasn’t texted in several days. Person without BPD might be miffed. Person with BPD has a brain that informs them “he’s abandoned you, now you are completely alone in the world,” maybe with a side of “he abandoned you just like everyone always does because you are such a piece of shit and you deserve it.”
The person might try to hurt or kill themselves because they feel shattered, are desperate to escape from excruciating emotional pain, and/or feel self-loathing.
The person might also take frantic actions to bring bf back and thus relieve emotional pain. For example, self-harming so bf will come to the hospital.
It’s worth noting that there is a LOT of overlap between symptoms of BPD and Complex PTSD.
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