BPD is a disorder of the brain and behavior. It is characterized by a pattern of unstable, impulsive, and destructive behavior, which may include but is not limited to acts of violence, self-injury, suicide attempts, substance abuse,anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders.
one of most common cause of death between people with borderline personality disorder or BPD is suicide. In the United States, the suicide rate for people who have a diagnosable mental illness is more than twice as high as that for the general population. The rate of suicide is also higher for women than for men.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that 1 in 68 Americans will experience a major depressive episode at some point in their lives. This means that approximately 1 out of every 68 people in this country will be diagnosed with a mood disorder. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, Mood disorders is the the leading causes of disability and death with people in goup of ages 15 to 64, accounting for nearly one-third of all disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) among this age group. The CDC also reports that “The prevalence of mood disorders is higher among African Americans and Hispanics than among whites and non-Hispanics. African American and Hispanic women are more likely than white women to report having an episode of major depression or dysthymia and to be hospitalized for treatment for it.” In addition, according to a study published in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (JNMD) in 2007, African-American women were more often diagnosed as having bipolar disorder than their white counterparts. (source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2909739/ )
In addition to these mental illnesses, Bipolar disorder can also be a precursor to other disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder.
According to Dr. Robert Spitzer, a psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, in an interview with the New York Times: “There is no such thing as a ‘normal’ mood. There are no normal moods; there are only normal states of mind.” He goes on to say that the term “bipolar” is “a misnomer” because “it’s not a disease, it’s a state of being.”
There are many different types of bipolar, including mania (manic-depressive disorder), hypomania/hypomanic depression (depression with manic symptoms) and mixed states (a combination of manic and depressive symptoms). The term manic depression is used to describe a condition in which a person is in a manic state for an extended period of time, often for several weeks or months at a time. For example, someone who has been manic for two weeks may be depressed for another week or two, but may still be manic the next day. A manic episode can last from a few minutes to several hours, depending on the person’s level of alertness and the severity of their symptoms. Some people may have only one episode a day, while others may experience multiple episodes a week, month, or even a year. People with bipolar disorders may also experience periods of depression during their manic episodes, as well as periods when they are not depressed at all. These periods are referred to as “mixed states” or “unipolar periods” and may last anywhere from one to five days. During these periods, people can experience feelings of happiness, sadness, excitement, irritability, restlessness, sleepiness, anger, fear, guilt, shame, helplessness, hopelessness or other emotions. They may not be able to control their mood or may feel that they have no control over their emotions, even though they know they do not have the same feelings as they did during the manic phase. However, they may continue to experience these feelings throughout their life, regardless of whether or not they were manic or depressed during those periods. Many people experience their first mixed state or unipolar period as early as the age of 15 or 16, although it can be as late as 30 or 40 years of age. As the years go by, more and more people begin to develop bipolar symptoms, with some people experiencing a full-blown bipolar episode every day or every other day for up to 10 years or more.